Reading: The Great Educator and Leveller

Lower School Pupils were treated to a virtual author visit by Alex Wheatle, the award-winning author of Straight Outta Crongton, Home Boy and The Humiliation of Welton Blake, as part of World Book Day celebrations.

Organised by Authors Aloud UK, Alleyn’s pupils were joined virtually by more than 1,000 pupils across the country, all eager to hear about Alex’s life and the inspiration behind his books which are packed with passion, wit and a huge amount of empathy for the characters.

Alex told pupils about his turbulent upbringing and where his love of reading had come from. He recalled reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as a young boy under his duvet covers with a torch while growing up in care in Croydon. He said, “Reading gave me a space to escape.” And Alex’s love of reading did not end there. During a year he spent in prison following the Brixton Uprising, his cell mate and mentor introduced him to a huge number of books. He found that reading gave him great confidence, describing it as “the great educator and the great leveller”. Later in life reading became a therapy to deal with mental health difficulties.

Pupils from across the country submitted their questions to Alex, from what was the inspiration behind each of his characters to what his advice is to children struggling to find their talent. One of Alex’s key take-home messages to pupils was the importance of perseverance. He said, “You might be a genius at something, but you must work hard and keep persevering,” explaining to pupils that even the best authors in the world still face criticism and rejection. When he heard that Stephan King had faced more than 50 rejections before Carrie was published, it gave him the drive to keep pushing despite knock-backs from publishers.

Alex’s fascinating talk finished with a reading from his book, Cane Warriors, a story inspired by a real-life rebellion in British-owned slave plantations in Jamaica in 1760.

Thank you, Alex for a fascinating and inspirational talk.