Melvin Burgess workshop at Abergele Library

Abergele Library invited 90 learners from Emrys ap Iwan to participate in a workshop with acclaimed author Melvin Burgess.

The learners gained a fascinating insight into his works and were able to discuss with him his own childhood and how he became a writer and the long journey it took before he got his first book published.

Learners also listened to a number of extracts from Burgess’ books, bringing his work to life. The excitement generated from this experience has really bolstered learners’ enthusiasm for creating their own stories and reinforced a pleasure of reading.

About Melvin Burgess

Melvin Burgess is one of today’s most controversial writers for young people. He is often described as the ‘godfather’ of Young Adult Fiction in Britain. Burgess has won various prestigious awards, including the Carnegie medal for Junk. One of his strongest qualities is his ability to avoid patronising his teenage readers, which he discussed in his article in The Guardian, ‘Then, thank God, we grew up’. He vividly remembers his own adolescence and therefore identifies with teenagers, but also appreciates how unpleasant most of us are during this stage of our lives. On reflection of his own memories of his life as a teenager, he discussed his belief that we all have a lot to learn from teenagers; about how to keep on our toes, about how to be lazy, about how to be playful, and most of all, how to just grow up.