Tuesday 31 January 2017

Stingers Will Be a High School Set Work



I have some news that I've been bursting to share. I've been holding back for a few months now, because it hasn't been confirmed yet.

Now, I can finally talk about it.

I am ecstatic to announce that my book, Stingers, is going to be a set work for the Grade 9 English class at Bracken High School in Alberton, South Africa, next term!

To have something I wrote studied, interpreted, and picked apart by students is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to my writing career. It's scary too, to be honest, and I hope I get to hear what the kids thought.

Let me explain briefly how this came about. My brother's girlfriend is a teacher at the school, and she read Stingers as an e-book around the end of 2015. She absolutely loved it, and immediately ordered a print copy for their school library.

Since then, she's strong-armed most of the faculty at the school into reading it, and they've all been very impressed. So last year, when it came time for them to choose set works for 2017, one of their choices was Stingers.

Apparently, the education department has a requirement that all South African schools focus more on books by South African authors and, well, I'm a South African author, and I was top of mind.

Besides, Stingers is about what happens when High School bullying goes too far, and what could be more relevant? In fact, it fits well with the subjects of both English and Life Orientation (both of which are required subjects in Grade 9).

I'll definitely post more when they start next term, and I hopefully get to find out how it's going.

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