Author Clare Owen visits Penrice Academy

Local author Clare Owen visited Penrice on Monday to speak to Year 8 students and lead a creative writing workshop.

Clare is a former student of Oxford University where she studied an English degree before spending much of her career in the Creative Arts. Her name came to the fore in 2021 when her novel ‘Zed and the Cormorants’ was published, breaking through into major online retailers, available as a paperback, e-book and audiobook.

The day started with the entirety of Year 8 spending a lesson in the Assembly Hall as Clare discussed how she turned her initial idea into a popular published story.

After the assembly, Clare led a workshop with selected students to work on creative writing and character development. The workshop focussed on positive associations, with students asked to write about a food they love, using as many descriptive words as possible whilst also considering their memories associated with foods (e.g. treats from grandparents, beach days etc).

Students were then required to swap their foods and memories with other students in the class, mixing up ideas and applying them to their own fictional characters.

This visit formed part of the Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature which runs from 10th – 18th May 2024.

Angela, a representative of the Fowey Festival, said:

Each year we always run a children’s writing and art competition. That culminates in a presentation and prizes during the festival. The ‘Authors In Schools’ is a strand of the Fowey Festival that we are looking to expand further, hoping to inspire more children with these valuable experiences.

Penrice would like to thank Clare for her visit and the Fowey Festival for offering us this opportunity.