The Oxfam Moot tent was packed out with fans excited to see beloved children’s author Jacqueline Wilson speak this afternoon at Hay Festival.
Though she readily admitted that maths was never her strong suit, at last count Wilson said she’s written around 108 during her impressive career and spoke about her latest, Rose Rivers, today. The book is set in Victorian times and describes how the 13-year-old female protagonist overcomes the loneliness of her luxurious family life in Kensington to make some more lively, and perhaps unexpected, friends. The novel’s setting is inspired by real London locations and she researched social history for the project.
Having written from a young age and enjoyed English at school, Wilson kept writing and after a stint at secretarial college was taken under the wing of publishers D C Thomson. Fans might not know that she is the Jackie of Jackie Magazine – her department managers at the time named the magazine after her.
Wilson has loved seeing her characters come to life on TV and on stage and a new spin off novel from one of her most successful series will be out later this year, My Mum Tracy Beaker. She welcomed many young audience members’ questions about her favourite characters, her own tips for budding writers (to keep a diary and write daily) and looked forward to reading one particularly plucky child’s review of Rose Rivers which she was handed during the talk.
If you missed this you might enjoy Event HD96 Authors4Oceans on Tuesday 29th May, at 10am.