Marcus Sedgwick Visit

It’s not often that our students manage to delight, entertain and frighten me half to death all in the same day.  The 25^th of May was one of those days.

It all started last year, on the way to the Carnegie Awards.  

Didn't they all look innocent?  I began to hear whispers as we waited at the station, rumours on the Tube, hints at the possibility of a planned kidnap attempt.  Shortlisted author Marcus Sedgwick was in danger.  They’d all really loved Revolver and had had decided, in a marvellously Stephen King-esque way, that the best way to show their admiration would be to kidnap him and seal him in the library office with nothing but food, water, wine and a computer with no internet connection.  Research requests would have to be passed under the door to an eager group of volunteers. Luckily, that day passed without incident.  Marcus was warned and managed to step over the trip wires.  I though their plans had been forgotten.

I was wrong. 

The day started with delight.  Preparations for the visit had been going on for several days and from 8am that morning, there was a steady stream of baked goods being delivered to the library.  Among others, tiny sentence cakes made by Ellie, a gorgeous White Crow cake by Louise, wonderful personalised cupcakes by Elle and a huge cake topped with more glitter* than a nineties club night were delivered safely to my desk.**. The time, care and enthusiasm that had gone in to all these cakes was truly remarkable and I admit I teared up a little bit***.

It all started to change at break time, when the conversation turned suddenly ugly.  Their plans from last year had not been forgotten.  In fact, they were now being added to.  A larger Carnegie group also means that there is a larger field of crazy for all these ideas to be drawn from.  The kidnap plan was back in place, with the added bonus that the poor unsuspecting writer would innocently bring himself right here, to their clutches.  Tempted through the door by cake, he would then be fed almost to the point of death and forced to work off cake calories by writing new stories for us****.  It didn’t stop there.  The added crazy and the influence of White Crow also led to ideas of religious interrogation, chaining to chairs and possible beheading.  The crazy led to more crazy, the pitch of conversation increased as Ellie got more and more shrill, and by the end of break I was scared.  Very scared. 

I tried to warn him.  Concerns were posted on Twitter, and Marcus had the very good sense to be concerned.  

But then he arrived and was delighted by the mass of baked goods awaiting him.  

At 1pm an excited mass of Shadowers poured into the library with their packed lunches.  Slightly star-struck, everyone settled down to demolish the feast in approximately five minutes, rendered their plans unfeasible as they scoffed their way through the most shocking quantities of cake to ever be consumed in such a small time frame.  Sated by sugar and loaded up with questions, everyone settled down for the interrogation.  

Evil machinations of the Shadowers aside, Marcus was a wonderful guest and took the time to speak to everyone, answering every question incredibly honestly and in detail.  He talked about the process of writing, the way that ideas come together from the strangest places, writing as a business (I think we were all horrified at how little money from the sale of a paperback goes to the author) and the publishing process.  He told us about his evolution as a writer, from the early stories that were rejected, to finding an agent and securing a publishing deal.

There was a lot of interest about the early years and about what he’d been like a teenage reader, what he’d read then (Gormenghast) and tips for those who would like to take their writing further (Plan!  Finish everything!) and how being a writer has influenced his role as a reviewer too. 

After answering every question we had time for, the entire group lined up to have books and postcards (thanks Marcus!) signed and the last remaining questions were mopped up while the rest of us finished off the cake table.  

We’d all like to say a massive thank you to Marcus for visiting us and being so very generous with his time! 

 Anytime you need cake, you know where to come…

*  THERE IS STILL GLITTER EVERYWHERE...

**   They really were safe! I ate very few of them before everyone else got there.  Very few.

***  It must be remembered that I was ill and high on cake taking lots of over the counter medication.  
****  I was later assured that this plan would have failed as Marcus, being some sort of super human, is incapable of gaining weight.