AN AUTHOR AND HIS MARTIAL ART
Equine Park, Selangor, Malaysia: 26 November 2009….. The Alice Smith School - Secondary
Campus at Equine Park was proud to welcome multiple award nominated author from the UK,
Chris Bradford. Chris entertained a transfixed audience with readings from his book,
interspersed with hair raising demonstrations of Samurai swordsmanship and anecdotes from
his many travels and experience as a writer, musician and martial artist. When Chris was ready
to sign copies of two of his books - Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior and Young
Samurai: The Way of the Sword, the library was filled with enthusiastic and curious autograph
hunters and readers.
Chris also managed to find time to conduct a workshop with some of the talented writers from
both the Primary and Secondary campuses. A select group of students from years 6, 7, 8 and 9
had the opportunity to share inspirational tips on the craft of writing and also enjoy lunch and a
closer informal chat with the author. Chris shared the significance of narrative hooks to draw
the reader into the story, the need to create plausible but intriguing and different scenarios that
sustain the readers’ involvement with the story and explained that his own Samurai series
comprises essentially of thrillers which use an exotic and different setting for narrative
purposes. “Writers must always strive to write about what they like and find interesting” adds
Chris. Chris’ visit was a great inspiration to writers at the Alice Smith School, be it writing for
fun, as part of the curriculum or for publication.
Here at the school, the English faculty initiated a unique project, The World Book which is
comprised of a compilation of writing from students all over the globe. The 2008 edition
featured stories, poems and non-fiction from schools in Malaysia and five other countries in
Asia. This year the school has received entries from a range of schools in Malaysia, Chile, Peru,
Bolivia, Nigeria, Turkey, Hong Kong, Ethiopia, Bali, Sin