St George’s was delighted to welcome award-winning novelist and dramatist Nicky Singer to the school on Wednesday 27^th April. Mrs Singer is visiting various schools around Luxembourg to share her work, knowledge of writing and experiences as an author.

Mrs Singer’s first children’s novel, Feather Boy, won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. The novel was subsequently adapted for television by the BBC, later winning a BAFTA for Best Children’s Drama.

Nicky gave the Secondary students, from Years 7 to 9, a creative writing workshop showing students how to use their own experiences to make fiction.

Her novel Knight Crew (a story based upon the Arthurian legends, but set in a contemporary world of urban, gangland-violence) was commissioned as an opera for the prestigious theatre, Glyndebourne; the music composed by Julian Philips. During the initial writing of Knight Crew, when Nicky had written only 150 pages, she was invited to visit a prison to provide further research and insight for her book. She recounts that during this visit she was astonished to see an inmate who appeared almost identical to her main character: OG… ‘This was OG, the leader of my gang, who I thought I’d made up. What clinched it was that the man [called Khaine] was wearing a cut-off baby-blue T-shirt – the colour I’d chosen for my Knight Crew gang’ this prompted her to ask him (Khaine) if she could visit him again so that she could gain more insight and improve upon the authenticity of her street language. Following this first meeting, she would go on to see him on multiple occasions over 4 years, in several different prisons. She recollects one particular line, originally spoken by Khaine, which she used in her novel: ‘the sun is so bright you think there can’t be darkness anywhere in the world.’

In 2012, Mrs Singer’s play Island opened at the National Theatre. She has recently re-written Island as a novel - with illustrations by UK Children’s Laureate, Chris Riddell. Nicky discussed her work with the students and conducted creative writing workshops. These workshops included topics such as global warming and man’s responsibility in nature. Mrs Singer urged the students to consider their roles, actions and responsibilities towards our fragile planet.

Mrs Singer explained she believes that we were all born storytellers but that those who ultimately become writers often have a trigger. The trigger, in Mrs Singer’s case, was the sudden and unexpected death of her father when she was just 14 years of age. During one of her workshops she pointed out that ‘Happiness doesn’t make good stories’ and a vital aspect of writing is ‘tapping into emotions’ and ‘understanding the importance of empathy’.

Students were given the opportunity to ask questions towards the end of the extremely interesting day filled with presentations and workshops. Among other things, Mrs Singer disclosed she is currently writing a book on Migration and that it takes her approximately 18 months to complete one book. One of the students asked when she started writing; to which she responded ‘I started writing from the age of 6 and won a chocolate bar. This is easy money, I thought; I’ll do this again.’ Mrs Singer then started entering competitions sponsored by Cadbury’s chocolates.

Following the day’s events the Head of Secondary, Mr Mark Fleet, expressed gratitude on behalf of the students and staff. This visit was a prime example of the benefits that can be derived from giving students direct interaction with successful exemplars of their field, especially in the creative arts, and we hope to host many more.