On a very cold Tuesday, with the threat of snow, EBS welcomed author Bali Rai to run workshops with Years 8 and 9, and to give a talk to Year 8.
Bali has been writing since 2001 and has published over 40 books which is an amazing achievement. He talked about his inspiration for writing which was growing up in the multi-racial community of Leicester in the 1970s. He described in great detail some of the people on whom he based his characters, the prejudices he encountered both within his own community and in our wider society as a whole. He has transported these characters into his literary world and they seem very real because they are all based on actual people, including his own family members.
In the small workshops, he really engaged with the students and encouraged them to write in different ways. A picture of a rollercoaster could inspire a student to write about their “rollercoaster life” and thus produce a more exciting piece of writing.
A selection of Bali’s books including Unarranged Marriage, Web Of Darkness, Rani and Sukh and Dream On are now available to borrow in the library – please do come and borrow one!
