Students inspired by fantasy author Rudi

Author Rudi Jennings captivated his student audience when he visited a Wisbech academy.

​Rudi made a return visit to the Thomas Clarkson Academy to mark the publication of a second fantasy genre book following the success of his debut novel The Last Myon, which sold out on Amazon on its first day.

After a special assembly with Year 7 students last week, he led a series of workshops on creative writing with students in the academy library.

“His visit was brilliant and everyone enjoyed his workshop, it was really good,” said Laura Heasell, raising standards leader for Year 7.

During the workshop he spoke about the writing process and how he comes up with ideas and structure. Students were tasked to work on a piece of creative writing based on the characters, coming up with a back story. 

He said the work would be judged and he would return to award prizes when the winners have been chosen.

“I would like to say what an absolute pleasure it was to talk to so many welcoming and bright students. Their creativity matched their enthusiasm and I'm certain there will be several writers emerging from among them in the near future. Thank you to Mrs Heasell for inviting me in, it felt like one of the best school visits I have ever done,” he said.

“Our students were able to enjoy a special opportunity to be able to work with a published author. It was fantastic to see them listening so intently to what he was saying about his writing process and character development. The students threw themselves into the creative task,” said academy librarian Leanne Robinson.

Rudi’s latest book, Raith Ascended,  is a sequel to the first and is set around five years after events in The Last Myon. It has received a clutch of five star reviews and was published just before Christmas. Both his books are available to students from the academy library.

The author lives close to Wisbech and was brought up in and around West Norfolk where he attended the College of West Anglia, King’s Lynn, and studied film and media. His keen interest in psychology and fantasy inspired him to write his first book which was published in 2017.

Both books have been published by Olympia and are available via Amazon and Waterstones, among others.