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Posted on: October 5th 2023

Alex Wheatle MBE visits CHS

 

Yesterday, Chichester High School students had the amazing opportunity to listen to an inspiring talk by author Alex Wheatle MBE and then have copies of their books signed.

Alex W 2

Students have been reading 'Cane Warriors' as part of their programme of study in the Library and Alex was very much able to bring his writing, his journey to publication and his own story to life in vivid and captivating detail.

Particularly poignant was the polarising idea of him as a young man in a prison with a bucket for a toilet, compared to the successful author who received an MBE from The Queen in 2008. 

Visiting us as part of Chichester Bookfest,  and his first school visit in nearly a year following a spell of illness, Alex captivated students with the true story of his difficult upbringing both as a child of the care system in the early 70's, his involvement in the Brixton Race Riots resulting in a spell in Wormwood Scrubs Prison, and the engagement he found with reading whilst an inmate there. He spoke passionately about how reading created so many opportunities for him that he felt would otherwise not have been easy to access based on the attitudes towards black youths at the time.

He also referenced the Steve Mcqueen produced 'Small Axe - Alex Wheatle' production for the BBC which many students expressed enthusiasm to watch over the weekend!

Alex W

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