This Monday our Year 7 students were delighted to virtually welcome celebrated author Sufiya Ahmed to their classrooms.
It was such an honour to hear Sufiya share her story of becoming an author, as she delivered a fantastic workshop where our students learned about the world of publishing. Our students gained knowledge of how books are published and distributed and what careers are available in the world of literature, for example, illustrator and editor were a couple of the jobs discussed.
The workshop was completely interactive with Sufiya asking lots of questions of our Year 7s. Our students impressed the author with their knowledge of democracy, freedom of speech, the function of parliament and national identity. Our students also asked some fantastic questions that really explored why the life of Noor Un-Nissa Inayat Khan is celebrated in this novel.
The main character, Noor, tells readers the story of how she and her family are forced to flee Nazi-occupied France. Despite her mother's protests, Noor joins the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, where she quickly impresses her bosses, and then transferred to become a spy! Noor returns to France under a new identity, with the mission to report back to London and Winston Churchill any information that might help the Allies win the war.
Sufiya shared a special reading from her novel, which is based on true events during World War II, and our students gained an insight into the life of the novel's protagonist's as a spy.