All of Year 7 and 8 were fortunate enough to spend last Thursday morning in the company of children’s author Julian Sedgwick, who talked to us about his life, his writing, and inspirations. And what a fantastic talk it was! He took us on a fascinating and very human journey describing the personal challenges he
has faced and the twists and turns of his career as a writer.

His talk centred on the East Coast Earthquake and tsunami and how the disaster unfolded that day. The way he tied this together and explained how this formed the genesis of his book Tsunami Girl was really enthralling. It was great learning about how this and other stories take shape, and about the resilience of people caught up in terrible situations. He shared with us his life-long passion for Japanese culture and mythology, telling us some great folk stories and myths along the way, such as the tale of Monkey and his
arrogance in challenging Buddha, and the tale of the ghosts without faces. The way he conjured faraway places and atmospheres was brilliant.

Julian mixed self-deprecating humour with serious themes which made his talk relatable and enjoyable. He gave us lots of advice on writing; in particular, the importance of completing stories and keeping going. You can always improve them afterwards. He encouraged us not to give up when things go wrong or when we feel we have failed, using his fire juggling and bigger milestone moments as examples.

It was awesome to hear how he has combined his writing with his passion for magic and circus tricks. It was really interesting to see a preview of his new book Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe and to be told that we were the first school to see the front cover! Some of us were lucky to get a signed copy of
his books, including the first in the Mysterium series, the Ghosts of Shanghai and of course his latest, Tsunami Girl. And as he signed them we got to talk with Julian personally!

We’d like to thank Julian Sedgwick, and the Library team and English Department for organising this incredible experience. We can’t wait for future author visits!