Ex-St.John’s students, Emily Randall-Jones and Matthew Fox, will be talking at LitFest about their journeys to becoming award-winning children’s authors. Emily, who left St John’s in 2004, won the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition with The Witchstone Ghosts and Matthew, who left St John’s in the 80’s, won the Bath Children’s Novel Award for his debut, The Sky over Rebecca. They hope their talk will give inspiration to budding authors as well as encouraging everyone to read more. ‘You are never too old to read a children’s book,’ says Matthew. They are appearing at Marlborough LitFest on Saturday September 28, at 2.30pm in St Mary’s Church Hall. Book your tickets here.
Emily and Matthew spoke to Marlborough.news and a gave a brief insight into becoming authors, the inspiration for their books as well as their experience of growing up and going to school in Marlborough. This is what they had to say…
Emily: ‘I was at St. John’s from 1997-2004, and despite having some struggles that turned out to be undiagnosed ADHD, I had the most wonderful experience, with supportive teachers and librarians (shout out to Ms Round who’s writing this article and Mrs Stokes who’s still there!) and a great group of friends. I wanted to be an actor back then but scribbled stories constantly, and creative writing was the only homework I managed to hand in on time!
I went to drama school after St. John’s and worked in the theatre for a decade, but I still kept scribbling those stories. After working for the National Trust for a while and having two babies, I decided to write the story of my heart – The Witchstone Ghosts – which is a bit of everything I love: the sea, Cornwall, folklore, magic and ghosts. It tells the story of Autumn, a girl who sees the dead. But when her dad drowns and he’s the one ghost that doesn’t appear, she has to solve the mystery of his past before it comes back to haunt her…
I was lucky enough to win two competitions with the manuscript – the Mslexia award and The Times/Chicken House Award, which offered me an agent and a publishing deal in one fell swoop! Since publication it’s been The Times Book of the Week and longlisted for the Branford Boase award for exceptional debuts alongside my brilliant editor. I’ve now signed a deal for two more gothic ghosty books… watch this space!
In between writing I work for WriteMentor, an organisation that supports children’s writers. For twenty years I’ve lived in London, Windsor and Edinburgh and now I’m happily back in Wiltshire with my two littles who love stories and showing off almost as much as I do.’
Matthew: ‘I was at St Johns in the 80s. I remember it as a very creative place: strong on English, Drama and writing. There were amazing school plays the children co-wrote with the teachers like Stone Guardian and Shouts & Whispers and wonderful English teachers like Mrs Cummins (who used to give up her lunch hour to run a drama club), Mr Lindsay, Miss Leadbetter, Mr Cope, Arnie McConnell… We spent a lot of time writing our own stories, I remember – and of course I knew back then that I wanted to be a writer. I’m over 50 now – it’s taken me a long time to get here.
I’ve done lots of different jobs, but I was always writing in the background. My first book, The Sky Over Rebecca, was just something I wrote for my daughter to read when she’s a little bit older. Somehow it won the Bath Children’s Novel Award – and that was the breakthrough I needed. I got an agent and publishing deals in the UK, USA and Japan.
My latest book, The Lovely Dark, the one I’m going to talk about at Marlborough Litfest, blends Greek mythology with the recent history of the pandemic, inspired in part by the Orpheus mosaic at Littlecote House not far from Marlborough. The reviews have been super-positive so far: I was especially glad when it was picked as one of the Financial Times’ children’s books of last year.
I’m looking forward to meeting Emily and talking to her about St John’s and her book. We’re going to interview each other, I think; I’m going to read a chapter from Emily’s book and she’s going to read a chapter from mine. Which is much less nerve-wracking than reading from your own book. Of course we’ll also be dishing out lots of advice to anyone in the audience who wants to be an author – however old they are. And remember, you’re never too old to read a children’s book!’
Susie Watson Designs – grand opening party
