The Centre for Creative Writing and the School of English were delighted to host a book launch for Scarlett Thomas (Professor of Creative Writing and Contemporary Fiction) this month. The hugely acclaimed author of such contemporary classics as Popco, the bestselling The End of Mr Y and, most recently, The Seed Collectors, Scarlett launched her first novel for children at the popular Creative Writing Reading Series.
Dragon’s Green is the first in the Worldquake series, a world which lacks the internet (and creative writing), but it does have quests, riddles, magic, and dragons, as well as a School for the Gifted, Troubled and Strange. And books are restored to their full power: ‘Some people think opening a book is a simple thing. It’s not. Most people don’t realise that you can get truly lost in a book. You can. Especially you.’
‘The most exciting debut in children’s fiction since Harry Potter. Immersive, engaging, original; delightful in its details (a bun shop that serves as a portal to Otherworld; a library of Last Editions; a Princess School in which girls are trained to be appealing to dragons); playful, warm and yet thrilling, too.’ Joanne Harris
Scarlett also launched the book with her publisher Canongate this month in London. You can also see her appearance on ‘Meet the Author’ on the BBC website.