Michael Catchpool
If you were to have asked the much younger me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said, an author. (That's the much younger me on the left.)
I was obsessed with books. A favourite gift for birthdays or Christmas was books. As a child, I read, and read, and read. And the idea of being someone who actually wrote stories that others could read was something I was desperate to do. And I even had a go. I would try writing my own stories, sometimes based on well-known characters that I'd read about myself such as Winnie the Pooh. (The grand phrase is 'innovating' – others just call it copying). I shared them with family members whose feedback was kind . . . because it had to be! And at school, I enjoyed writing stories whenever we had the chance. I have the memory of reading out one of my stories to the whole school during an assembly. What a privilege to have a ready-made audience. And, since it was an assembly, and all the teachers were there, the other children had to listen, and at least look as though they were enjoying it.
Stories have always fascinated me. The way they engage the emotions – they excite, they scare, they can make you laugh out loud, they can even make you cry – but they seem to be at the very heart of what it is to be human - The idea of how we relate to each other, and the way we deal with or react to the many experiences, opportunities, challenges and even struggles that we face.
If you'd asked the little bit older me what I wanted to be when I grew up then I would have said a wildlife film cameraman . . . or an author. Yes, if I couldn't film tigers or lions chasing after their prey, or elephants cooling themselves off in a waterhole, then I still wanted to write. What you wouldn't have got as an answer was one of the things I actually became – first a teacher, and then a headteacher.
However, working in schools actually allowed me to continue with that love of story. As a teacher, I relished the chance to read a story to my class at the end of each day. As a headteacher, I invented stories to share with the whole school — tales with messages about values such as kindness, caring, perseverance or about how we should treat others or behave. (A number of those stories have ended up in resources for schools to use). And, whilst I was teaching, I was also writing and sending off story ideas, some of which eventually got published. So, if the older me (that's the older me on the right) was to have a conversation with the much younger me, I would be able to say – "You did it, you did become an author."
My hope is that the stories I write can do those things which I felt stories did for me – That they excite the reader, make them laugh, make them cry, even, but most of all, make them love stories so that they want to read . . . and read . . . and read.
Want to know more?
Whether you're a parent, teacher, librarian, or a young reader — I'd love to hear from you!
Contact Michael