Students who are taking part in shadowing the Yoto Carnegie Medals had the opportunity to meet Carnegie shortlisted author Nicola Davies, during a virtual visit, as part of their elective session.

Nicola has written more than 80 books for children and her work has won awards around the world and been published in more than twelve different languages.

Nicola spoke to our students about the inspiration behind her book ‘Choose Love’, a book of poems that retell the experiences of refugees, which has been chosen as one of the shortlisted books for this year’s Carnegie Medal for writing. She also answered questions that were put forward to her by our students who are taking part in shadowing the awards.

Nicola said, ‘The poems in this book were born out of my association with the charity Refugee Trauma Initiative. I learnt about the real-life experiences of people who are forced to leave behind their homes, lives and loved ones by the violence of war, famine, or oppression. It is those real people that I have tried to represent in this work, giving a voice to people who don’t have one.’

Carnegie shadower, Aaron Angell Y8 said, ‘I really enjoyed the virtual author visit with Nicola Davies because I had read her book, and it meant that I was able to ask her a question about it, and she answered me back directly, so it felt more personal. It was a really engaging visit and allowed me to understand more about what is happening in the world regarding the refugee situation, as Nicola is someone who is very passionate about helping refugees, which is great in my opinion.’

Find out more about Nicola’s book ‘Choose Love’ here.