Students enjoyed meeting author Yarrow Townsend when she visited the Sir John Colfox Academy during Bridport Literary Festival.
Yarrow, who used to teach at Colfox, gave younger students a fascinating illustrated talk about her adventures around the world, including the Amazon Rainforest, and explained how her travels helped inspire her first novel ‘The Map of Leaves’.
Enid, 11, who came to the talk said: “It was very interesting, when I got home, I drew a picture of Orla, one of the characters, in a boat going down river. I also learned lots of new things about plants, like large carnivorous plants that can produce terrible smelling liquid to trap prey. I’ve always been a fan of writing stories, mine have been about 1,000 words though, I haven’t done 65,000 words like Yarrow yet!”
Luke, 11, said: “I found it amazing how she’d been to the Amazon and used the things she’d seen in the book, it made me want to read it, I am glad we got the book.”
Lucy Wright, Head of English at the Sir John Colfox Academy, said: “It was lovely to see Yarrow again, our group of Year Sevens loved her fascinating talk. It was brilliant to see students asking very insightful questions and sharing their own ideas for stories with Yarrow.
“Thank you to the Bridport Literary Festival, especially Joanna Jacobson, for helping to arrange visit and thank you to Bridport Town Council too for supporting these enriching author visits to schools.
“Thank you also to Antonia Squire from Bridport Book Shop, who gave us a discount on Yarrow’s book, which allowed us to buy copies for the students who came to the talk and several more for our School Library.”
Around 30 students, aged 11 and 12, attended the talk on Tuesday (1/11) and many stayed behind after school to ask Yarrow more questions and get their new books signed.
‘The Map of Leaves’ is an exciting, action-adventure story for young people set in a world where plants talk, friendship is hard-won, and adventures lie around every bend in the river. It is published by Chicken House and signed copies are available at Bridport Book Shop, while stocks last.
Author Yarrow Townsend comes to Colfox