We were very happy to welcome two well-known authors into school this week, as part of the Dorchester Literary Festival. Tia Fisher spoke to the whole of Year 10 about her verse novel ‘Crossing the Line’, a powerful exploration of the effects of County Lines on the life of a vulnerable young person, as well as their friends and family.

Based on a real life story, it was a real eye opener and pupils were fully engaged with the narrative of the story, as well as the unusual structure of the novel as a series of poems.

Clare Furniss spoke to the whole of Year 9 about her dystopian novel ‘The Things We Left Behind’, an unnervingly familiar potential scenario of the country in a dystopian future where normal rules have been thrown out of the window and we are all living as refugees.

We were joined by some Year 8s who had read this book as part of a book award and were thrilled to meet the author behind the book they knew so well. Both authors also spoke about their journey into writing and gave a window into their life as a published author.

Thank you very much to them both for coming to visit us.