AUTHOR and DJ Simon Mayo was in Swindon today to speak with young people about his children’s novels - and revealed the title of his topsecret new project.

Simon’s visit was one of the standout events of the Swindon Youth Festival of Literature, which runs until tomorrow.

Hundreds of Pupils from schools across the town packed the Wyvern Theatre to hear the BBC Radio 2 host talk about his inspiration behind his three books about young boy Itch, who is an element hunter.

The 56-year-old, who presents the station’s drivetime show, said: “It has been absolutely fabulous, as I love coming and meeting the readers of my books.

“The key piece of advice that I would give to any young person who wants to become a writer would be to read as much as you can as that’ll help form your own ideas.”

Simon has written Itch, Itch Rocks and Itchcraft, after writing his first book in 2012, as something that his then 10-year-old son would enjoy to read.

The science-themed books were inspired by American teenager David Hahn, who became known as the Radioactive Boy Scout in the 1990s, when he built a homemade nuclear reactor at his home.

“The idea of my work is that all the themes in my books are real and can be done. There’s no magic or anything like that,” Simon said.

“Writing is thrilling, most of the time, but it is also hard work and my books take about a year to write.”

During his workshop, he revealed to the audience that he’s currently working on his fourth novel.

He said: “I’m writing at the minute and it is nothing to do with Itch, I can’t say too much about it but I’ll give the people of Swindon an exclusive, it is called Blame, and the main character is a girl.”

Children asked Simon questions during the event with him speaking about the prospect of Itch’s adventures heading to the big screen and the differences between being a writer and a radio presenter.

He said: “They are two completely different things. I do the radio five days a week and the writing I do when I can. I love the radio and it helps give me the opportunity to be a writer.”

Book tokens were given to 11 lucky schoolchildren at the event and Simon also signed copies of his novels.


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