Inspiration for children workshop with writer Jon Mayhew

Author Jon Mayhew has been doing creative writing workshops in Primary and Secondary schools as part of Writing on the Wall's Make Doves Not War project.

Flora and Michael wrote about their session.... 

We walked into the room, with a number of other pupils already sat down and Jon Mayhew and Mrs Ludlow standing at the front.

            Jon started by introducing himself to the class, continuing by showing us his many fantastic books and explaining what they were about.

            He told us about the new campaign called “Make Doves not War.” It is a children’s literary competition to commemorate world war one’s one-hundredth anniversary.

            During the experience we watched a short clip from the film of Michael Morpurgo’s book, War Horse. We then discussed how the poor horse would have felt and different topics we could base our flash fiction or poem on.

            After we discussed this, the sheets were passed out and we all started to let our imaginations flow onto the page. We were allowed to write a flash fiction, poem or fable. Jon used his experience and story-telling ability to help us, giving hints and guidance all the way through the time that we had to write, with excitement and pleasure. We then had our books signed. It was a wonderful experience and we really enjoyed it!

                        Flora Stinson and Michael Hart 

7GR

The Bluecoat School