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Friday, 28 May 2010
As part of an off-curriculum day, Bolton School Year 9 girls got
to meet Bali Rai, author of many successful novels aimed at
teenagers.
Bali gave talks to the girls about his books and about life as
an author followed by Question and Answer sessions, in order to get
pupils more interested and excited by reading. He also spoke to the
girls about issues surrounding multi-culturalism, ethnicity,
citizenship and politics which he often covers in his books. He
explained to the pupils that they don't have to have been on an
amazing journey or involved in extraordinary situations to be
able to write great stories, and that the stimulus for much of his
writing is everyday life.
Bali's debut novel, (Un) Arranged Marriage was published in 2001
to fantastic reviews and has since been shortlisted for nine
regional book prizes, winning The Angus, Stockport, North
Lanarkshire and Leicester Book awards. The novel is now in eleven
languages and Bali is firmly established as a leading voice in
teenage fiction after following his debut with a succession of
acclaimed titles.
Besides writing novels, Bali spends his time doing interviews
and appearances at schools and libraries or writing 500 word rants
for his local paper, and he has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival.
His influences are wide-ranging, listing his favourite writers as
Roald Dahl, Sue Townsend and crime writers such as James Lee Burke,
James Ellroy and Walter Mosely.
As well as the author visit, the off-curriculum day involved a
Treasure Hunt, Global Village events and a Maths talk.
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