{"id":13911,"date":"2024-11-21T09:53:42","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T09:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=13911"},"modified":"2024-11-21T12:06:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T12:06:56","slug":"tiny-serendipitous-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2024\/11\/21\/tiny-serendipitous-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny Serendipitous Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ahead of the University of Reading’s Children’s Winter Lecture, CONNECTED spoke to English poet, performer, children’s author, and alumnus, A.F. Harrold, about all the tiny serendipitous moments that built up his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A.F.During the Children\u2019s Winter Lecture on Wednesday 18 December, Ashley will be using fun activities to give insight into two of his favourites: The Imaginary<\/em> and The Book of Not Entirely Useful Advice<\/em> and prove how he can make poets out of all of us!<\/p>\n

Book your space<\/a> for the Children\u2019s Winter Lecture.<\/p>\n

Read on to discover how Ashley went from handing out booklets of poetry about teenage angst, to becoming a bestselling poet and author, with a Netflix adaptation under his belt.<\/p>\n

Turning points<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Ashley never set out to become a children\u2019s author, but the twists and turns of life \u2013 or the \u201ctiny, serendipitous moments\u201d ended up leading him there.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI started writing as a teenager and I used to go to my local library, in Horsham, and put coins into the photocopier to make booklets of my poems. It was awful poetry about teenage angst, with an occasional funny one thrown in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming to Reading to study philosophy<\/a> was one of many turning points for Ashley as he was thrown into a melting pot of culture and different artistic scenes. He said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was 30 odd years ago now that I wound my way around Reading\u2019s one-way system, following the road signs until I found the campus. After I arrived in Reading, my life just unfolded here really.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As the first person in his family to go to university Ashley wasn\u2019t sure what to expect. He lived in St Andrew\u2019s Hall \u2013 now the MERL<\/a> \u2013 where he loved being part of the halls community. But he reflected that \u201cphilosophy kind of broke my brain. It taught me critical thinking and how to look at the world with an eye for what\u2019s underneath things. But it can make it almost impossible to make decisions in everyday life because you\u2019re trained to look at things from all angles!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really transformed me during my student years was becoming very involved in the arts, music and poetry scenes in Reading. I ran poetry cafes at South Street Art Centre, comp\u00e8red\u00a0Bohemian Night at the Town Hall, and ran an open mic night at the Reading Student\u2019s Union called \u2018And Other Poems\u2019. If I hadn\u2019t been in Reading then my life wouldn\u2019t have gone in this direction \u2013 none of this cultural and artistic activity was happening in Horsham for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The poetry thing<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It was open mic nights that opened Ashley\u2019s eyes to the joys of making people laugh through funny and performative poetry, as well as competing in poetry slams.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI decided to try and take the poetry thing a bit more seriously, but it didn\u2019t pay well. I then discovered poetry workshops, where you visited schools and ran workshops and poetry slams \u2013 and got paid for it. I found that I really enjoyed these, particularly in primary schools. There is creativity, positivity, enthusiasm and ideas leaking out of these children\u2019s brains everywhere. Primary schools have such a positive energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was his time spent in primary schools that inspired Ashley to write children\u2019s poetry, until one day a child asked \u2013 \u2018these poems are all well and good but have you ever written a proper book?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke that night with an idea in my head and I jotted it down in the dark,\u201d Ashley recalled. \u201cIt was the idea of a clown running away from the circus and joining the library. This turned into my story of Fizzlebert Stump.\u201d<\/p>\n

After submitting his book to several publishers, Ashley was taken on by Bloomsbury and suddenly he was a children\u2019s author.\u00a0He said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI never planned or expected it \u2013 I thought I\u2019d be a serious, respected poet, a Seamus Heaney or something! Turns out I\u2019m a silly man with a beard, spending my career writing books for children and I\u2019m very happy with that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBeing a children\u2019s author is an important job. Whether the book you write is the only book a child has in the house, or is one of hundreds of books a child has \u2013 you have a duty to make it as good as possible. Your book could be responsible for turning a child off reading forever, or it can be the spark that hooks them and turns them into a reader at a young age.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo I hope that my books have enough heart, empathy and spark in them to do a service to the children reading them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Watch Ashley read an excerpt from his book,\u00a0The Imaginary<\/em>:<\/p>\n