Kiran Millwood Hargrave; a British poet, playwright and novelist; visited Portsmouth High School to inspire girls from Year 5 to Year 8 with their creative writing.
Many of Kiran’s ideas for her writing stem from fascinating scientific facts and discoveries as well as things she notices around her. She also finds people watching very helpful for developing her characters.
‘Story writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum and inspiration can be gained from other subjects,’ said Kiran.
The audience heard about the publishing process and what it takes to get a book from its first draft to the final copy and then on to the shelves.
The pupils were enthralled to hear about Kiran’s new trilogy, The Geomancer, and asked pertinent questions at the end. In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen was the first book of the series and was published in August 2023 followed by The Storm and the Sea Hawk in August 2024.
Many of the girls took the opportunity to buy one of the new books and get it signed by Kiran; she was also very happy to sign books that the girls already owned.
‘It was a very successful and interesting morning,’ said school librarian, Mrs Bartlett. ‘Kiran has certainly inspired the girls to think widely and gather ideas from all sources which will enrich their creative writing going forward.’
‘Knowing that she had started out as a normal person, just like you and me, and then her imagination blossomed from all the books she read, has inspired me to read more and more,’ said Sabriya, Year 7.
