Congratulations to St Mary’s English teacher Catherine Bruton whose latest children’s book  ‘Bird Boy’ was recently shortlisted for one of the UK’s biggest book awards.

Mrs Bruton, who teaches English at SMC and runs our popular Writers’ Guild, is also a critically acclaimed author of children’s fiction, including  the multi-award winning ‘No Ballet Shoes in Syria’ and ‘Another Twist in the Tale’. Her latest ‘Bird Boy’, the tale of an unbreakable bond between a boy and an injured osprey,  which was recently named ‘Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week’, has been shortlisted for several major awards, as well as being selected as one of the top four unputdownable books on this year’s Nero Shortlist.  

The Nero Book Awards – formally The Costas – celebrate outstanding writing by great authors living in the UK and Ireland. The expert panel of judges – headed up this year by Bill Bryson, Emily Maitliss and Bernadine Evaristo – chose books from the past 12 months which they would most want to recommend to others for their quality of writing and readability. From a shortlist of 16 unputdownable books, a winner is named in each of the following four categories: Children’s Fiction, Debut Fiction, Fiction and Non-Fiction. An overall winner earns given the Nero Gold Prize for the 'Book of the Year'.

Mrs Bruton attended the glittering prize ceremony in London’s West End, alongside other celebrated authors including Patrick Ness, Susannah Dunn and Zeinab Badawi. But she’d rather be spinning stories in the St Mary's Library with the talented young wordsmiths of Writers’ Guild. ‘I am constantly inspired by the endless creativity, imagination and inventiveness of the young writers I have the pleasure to teach at St Mary’s,’ said Mrs Bruton. ‘I know we’ll be seeing lots of their names on the literary awards lists of the future!’ 

Writers Guild runs every Tuesday lunchtime in the library and is open to pupils of all ages. ‘We always have a Competition News slot,’ says Mrs Bruton. ‘So students can find out about local, national and international writing competitions and opportunities, as well as taking part in writing challenges, sharing tips and tales about the joys and frustrations of writing and connecting with fellow scribblers.’