Juniors welcome former King’s pupil for author talk

It was a pleasure to welcome children’s author David Barker (OKS 1988) back to King’s recently. 

David is a former King’s pupil who describes himself as a boardgame-loving economist and spent most of his career in the city. However, when he had an idea for a children’s book in 2014, he couldn’t let it go and his journey as an author began.

David visited Junior School to talk to pupils about how he became an author, a subject of great interest to many of the budding writers in the audience. 

Emphasising the importance of reading yourself and using your imagination, David inspired the children with extracts from his London Falling series of books. 

Jonathan Melville is the lead teacher for English in the Junior School and he introduced David’s talk. 

He said: “It is always very special when authors visit us in school. Not only does it inspire the children’s own writing, it also introduces them to new books and genres. 

“It is, however, even more special when that author is a former pupil. Knowing that David was also a King’s pupils opens the children’s eyes to what they can achieve with their own writing.”

After the talk, pupils had the opportunity to speak with David as he signed copies of his latest book from the London Falling series, Pax & The Forgotten Pincher.