Ali Sparkes set the Reading Festival alight with her sparkling talks to OLA pupils.
Years 9 and 10's creativity was kindled through the stories which inspire computer gaming. The students needed no persuading to produce some clever and fun mash-up game story beginnings, which were delivered to the group. These included Slender Tubbies, Noddy and GTA, Call of Duty Ghosts meets OLA!
Music is a strong theme in many of her stories - her sparkly boots a nod to the time she released a single - featuring in Frozen in Time, Dark Summer and her sci-fi adventure Destination Earth. Years 7 and 8 pupils heard about Ali's link with legendary 80s funk pop band Level 42 and their lead singer and bassist Mark King, who are in the story, helping to save the earth from aliens.
Pupils from our Junior School enjoyed an entertaining and interactive talk on 'How I Became an Author', explaining how her determination and enjoyment of writing spurred her on. Her early career in journalism gave her good grounding in writing and lead eventually to her full-time career as an author. With a 'hypnotic disc' creating an optical illusion, flash cards to elicit groans, ahhs and cheers as she told her stories, this exciting session needed no trigger for the spontaneous applause which came at the end of each of her sessions.
Thank you Ali Sparkes for your energetic and fun sessions!
