King Ecgbert School invited young author, Safiyyah Umar, into school.  During an assembly, we discovered that she published her first book at 18 years old and is now working on a prequel at the age of 21.

As a teenager she was inspired by the well-known dystopian series, The Hunger Games.  Umar aspired to become an author. After many trials and tribulations, this dream became a reality and her book The Heart Crusher was published, without any help from her cat. The author, who is now studying at Leeds and Cambridge universities, is determined to release more books.

The Heart Crusher is a dystopian novella about a girl with telekinesis who is wanted after [accidently] killing her mum. This story addresses racism and violence which are two of the world’s most serious issues.

Our year 8 students attended a workshop with Safiyyah Umar where they got to create their own characters. Some of the characters produced were Dingbat & Dufis with a killer hamster and Tripster with a goldfish called Jerimiah. Students got to meet Safiyyah at lunch and buy her book.  Some people got their book signed.

We are very grateful to have this opportunity to meet a real author and hopefully inspire young adults into a writing career.