UK Literacy Association conference

I've just returned from the UKLA conference at Liverpool Hope University. One theme that came across very vividly to me was the experience of place in people's formative experiences of literacy. David Almond, the author of Skellig, was convinced - and really very convincing! - that his lifelong love of literature and determination to write that lasted over several decades before he attained any success - began with his first encounter with his uncle's small printworks. OK sounds reasonable - but he was 9 months old at the time! (I also loved the way he talked about using word processor software - how he occasionally turns the view down very small so that just the shapes of the paragraphs are visible, not the words themselves). In this interview he explains how he uses a sense of place in his writing. Steve Martin, a historian who works with children and recently published his first children's novel (Jupiter Martin) explains how he uses visits to local archives and walks around their locality to stimulate children's imaginations and writing work through revealing some occluded aspects of history including the presence of black people in British cities even centuries ago.

Julia