There was an early Hallowe’en treat for year 7s today as author Katy Birchall teleported in to talk about her new book Morgan Charmley: Teen Witch, about a 13-year-old witch who is finally allowed to attend a normal school after proving she can control her powers and is keen to make friends but struggling to keep her spells a secret. In a fun interactive session Katy talked about her love of reading as a child and how she has achieved her dream job as a published writer.
Originally from Essex, Katy talked about how the county’s fascinating dark history of 17th century witch hunting along with a childhood obsession with the television series Sabrina the Teenage Witch and a love of Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch books inspired her to write her Morgan Charmley: Teen Witch.
We took a look at the variety of witches in books and films, their different powers, their familiars and how they became witches before pupils gave wildly imaginative suggestions for creating their own witch character, complete with familiar and villainous counterpart, skilfully drawn by Alice at the front of the hall.
During the Q&A session, pupils found out about who illustrates books, the need to find a literary agent before an editor, how authors get paid, that Katy also loves funny books and thinks there should be more female comedy writers, has a rescue dog called Bono and her favourite ice cream is mint choc chip.
Thank you so much Katy for visiting us and Scholastic UK for providing the opportunity.
– Mrs Pett, Librarian & Careers Leader
