Oxfordshire author Julia Golding visited Our Lady's Abingdon to talk to pupils in Years 7 and 8 about why and how she writes, answer questions and autograph copies of her books. This was followed by two writing workshops for Year 10 students.
Julia Golding’s writing career followed work as a diplomat for the Foreign Office in Poland and working for Oxfam as a lobbyist. Her first novel, The Diamond of Drury Lane, won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2006 and the Nestle Children's Book Prize 2006. In 2007 Waterstone's nominated her as one of their 'Twenty-five authors for the future'.
The Diamond of Drury Lane is set against the backdrop of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in 1790 and is full of local colour and authentic detail. Cat Royal is an orphan who lives at the back of the theatre, who mingles with the actors on stage to the lords and ladies in the stalls to the barrow boys in the grimy marketplace, as a gripping diamond mystery unfolds.
Many of her books are available for loan from the school library.
