Words by Sophie Bannister
As a child, I read a lot of Malorie Blackman books, so I was unbelievably excited to find she was holding an event as part of the Manchester Literature Festival. In preparation, I got out my (rather old) copy of Noughts and Crosses to take along with the hopes of getting it signed. It had been a while since I’d read the book so I casually flicked through to the first page and was instantly hooked all over again.
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| Malorie Blackman with St. Paul’s Catholic High School Students |
As Malorie typically deals with very controversial topics, sometimes her readers wonder whether there is anything she thinks is unsuitable to write about in teenage fiction. ‘I think it’s in the way it’s done. I don’t think there is any topic I wouldn’t tackle’, she explains. Looking at her new book, Noble Conflict, it highlights the respect she has for her readers in this sense. The main character, Kaspar, has to choose between becoming a whistle–blower and fighting against authority or allowing horrendous acts of torture to continue. Not only is this shocking and politically orientated, but it is very relevant today. As in all Malorie’s books, there are no easy answers in Noble Conflict, as she prefers to raise questions instead. “Each and every one of us has a voice and we have to know that, we have to believe that, we have to stand up and use it”, she told her audience.
I caught up with Jackie Roy after the talk. A few years ago she held a Malorie Blackman event as part of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival, even though Malorie could not be present. How did Jackie feel this event went in comparison?
“I think it went really well”, she said. “Today was massively better because we had Malorie in person – and you can’t ask for more than that.”
Sophie Bannister is Co-chair of Manchester Metropolitan University’s English Society, where she is currently in her third year studying English Literature. She hopes to complete a Master’s degree after her time at MMU. You can view Sophie’s blog here and follow her on Twitter @SophieBan92
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