Tuesday 1 May 2012 Conrad Burdekin knows how to engage his target audience, whether he is tantalising Year 6 with tales of Tudor terror or challenging Year 3 to hurl ever more grisly insults at each other Viking-style. Storyteller, poet and author Conrad spent a week in Junior School at The Grammar School at Leeds, working with all the year groups and their teachers to inspire the children to new creative heights based on stimuli that link to their classroom curriculum. Conrad, from Wakefield, has written stories ever since his own primary school days and turned his hand to poetry as a university student. Armed with an MA in Creative Writing, he found work in a school library until he was ready to go it alone as a writer and storyteller. He has now published two books of children’s poetry and fulfils a busy schedule of storytelling and creative writing workshops in schools across Yorkshire and further afield. He said, “What I love about going into schools is that they are all different and the children are so enthusiastic and imaginative. I’ve met children who write really well; my advice to any aspiring writers would be find out what you love and doors will open. Read a lot too.” “I never know what to expect when I go into school except that the children will surely come up with some good ideas. In fact they give me most of my material for stories and poems!” Junior School Literacy Leader Mrs Victoria Bindloss organised the week of workshops. She said, “The children love Conrad, he inspires and enthuses them with his original take on topics they are studying in class. The teachers have had fun and picked up some new ideas too!” Conrad Burdekin has written a children’s novel and published two books of poems ‘The Hungrumptious Blumph’ and ‘Teachers pick their noses’. He also offers a range of interactive workshops for children in Reception up to Year 6, covering many aspects of creative writing, as well as storytelling days, drama days, speaking and listening workshops, and seminars for teachers. General Primary News
