At the beginning of July, the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour visited 10 secondary schools in the Teeside area with the fantastic poet Theresa Muñoz!

Theresa is a Canadian-born poet, now living in Edinburgh, and the poems in her debut collection Settle explore 2 main themes: her own experiences of emigration and the impact of the digital age on today’s society.

The sessions took place with pupils in Years 7-9, in classrooms and libraries throughout Teeside, and the aim was to introduce pupils to the wonderful world of poetry and to make poetry accessible to them.

The sessions were interactive, with pupils given the opportunity to engage with Theresa’s poems and to explore a number of concepts, such as the impact of the internet and social media on their daily lives. Theresa shared her own experiences of moving to a new country and becoming a poet. She also talked about where her inspiration comes from, giving the pupils insight into her own creative process and providing plenty of tips for the many aspiring writers in the audience.

As part of the session, pupils were given the opportunity to write their own poems, using poetry stones. They each took one or two stones – each of which had a word written on it – and they were encouraged to use this word as a prompt to create their own pieces of writing. The pupils really engaged with the task at hand and produced a variety of creative masterpieces!

We would like to say a huge Thank You to all the schools who took part and to Theresa for such a brilliant and inspiring event!

Super Stats!

• 45 poetry stones, resulting in approximately 265 unique, deep and imaginative poems!
• 3 chicken parmos (a Teeside delicacy) eaten!
• 1 brick train in Darlington, visited twice by the touring team (and genuinely worth navigating the lack of road signs to the carpark!). For a live action shot of the brick train, keep an eye on the resources section of the Scottish Book Trust website where Theresa will be sharing her top tips for aspiring young writers.

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