On Monday, Robert Newton came to visit the Year 8s to talk about his life as an author and his novel we have been studying in English called Runner.
Robert told us all about his interesting childhood, moving around schools because of his father’s military career. He entertained us with his many hobbies he had in primary and secondary school, including trumpet and a diverse range of sports. Robert also told us about being unsure of his career after graduating and trying a few different classes at university before his realisation about wanting to be a firefighter. He joined the Metropolitan Fire Service and is still serving with them today.
Robert also told us about how his brother moved to Switzerland and how he started writing him letters with stories in them. His brother loved the stories so much he showed his friends and soon enough he had an audience in Switzerland. He started to write his first book after support and encouragement from his brother.
Robert also explained his writing process of letting an idea grow for some time before going into a detailed research stage. The Year 8s were welcome to ask questions and he even read some of the book to us whilst explaining his thought process. Overall, this experience was an extremely rewarding one that all the Year 8s enjoyed thoroughly.