I spent World Book Day itself at my old secondary school, Newport Girls’ High School, at the kind invitation of Head of English, Bethanie Lord. I gave talks to Years 7 and 8 where, among other things, we thought about what World Book Day might have been like in 1666.

At lunchtime, Susan Caroline from Shrewsbury’s independent bookshop Pengwern Books kindly came along to sell copies of The White Phoenix. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to the girls as I signed copies of the book.

In the afternoon, I led two creative writing workshops for classes from Year 7 and 8. Thank you so much for having me. I am still trying to get over the size of the school which has grown enormously since I was there.