Empowering girls event to inspire next generation of authors

In response to studies that show that children’s books are still dominated by male central characters, St Mary’s Lower School are joined by Annelise Gray, author of the Circus Maximus series, on Saturday 5 October to deliver a talk to parents and daughters from St Mary’s and the wider community.

St Mary’s Aspiring Authors event on Saturday 5 October, 10.30am – 12pm will help inspire the next generation of authors. This free event for Year 2-5 girls at St Mary’s and in the wider community will encourage girls to think about strong female characters through an inspiring talk and practical creative writing workshops.

Annelise Gray will talk about the daring exploits of the main character of her Circus Maximus stories, Dido, a young, horse-mad girl who dreams of becoming the first female charioteer to compete at the legendary Circus Maximus, the greatest sports stadium in ancient Rome. Annelise’s first title in the series was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week, and has since been followed by three more action-packed adventures, all published by Zephyr Books.

Annelise will also give an insight into how she was inspired to create the character of Dido, from the influence of her favourite childhood stories – including Enid Bagnold’s National Velvet – through her study of the lives of women and girls in ancient Rome and her lifelong love of horse-riding and sport.

Mrs Griffiths, Principal said: “We are thrilled that Annelise Gray is supporting us in our vision to empower girls. At St Mary’s we believe girls are remarkable and the themes in Annelise’s books align perfectly with what we teach our pupils in terms of encouraging them to show determination to succeed whilst having a courageous mind-set. We recognise that girls have different educational needs and at St Mary’s we provide an enlightened, empowering and complete education, designed specifically for girls to thrive.”
Places for St Mary’s Aspiring Authors event are limited and can be reserved at www.stmaryscolchester.org.uk/aspiring-authors