A RAPT audience of Year 9 pupils at Abbey Park School enjoyed a talk from best-selling author Lisa Williamson yesterday as the 10th Swindon Youth Festival of Literature began.

Lisa discussed the inspiration behind her two novels.

Her debut ‘The Art of being Normal’ won acclaim for its exploration of transgender issues through one of its main characters who realises that the gender he identifies as is different to the sex he was assigned at birth.

She was inspired to write the story after working with teenagers with gender identity issues for two years.

Lisa added: “There weren’t many stories about transgender characters because no-one was really talking about these issues, though that has changed over the last few years.

“The stories that were out there were really gloomy and had unhappy endings but the people who shared their experiences with me were going through all the normal stuff that teenagers go through, good and bad.

“It’s important to see yourself in a book, to feel recognised, and the story can stimulate discussion.

“It’s important to show that if you are LGBT you are living just as happy a life as anyone else.”

Students discussed the nebulous meaning of the word ‘normal’, suggesting that it meant ‘ordinary’, ‘boring’, even ‘lifeless’.

Lisa added: “’Normal’ is kind of a nothing word yet we spend a lot of our teenage years trying to be normal, though really, we decide what our ‘normal’ is.

“David and Leo feel like outsiders and struggle to fit in, which everyone can relate to, but a friendship builds between them.

“The story is also about family and falling in love for the first time and you don’t have to be transgender to get something out of it.”

Her newest novel ‘All About Mia’ follows the life of a precocious middle child who is popular at school but has a rocky relationship with her parents and siblings at home.

Many hands shot into the air when Lisa asked for questions.

The liveliest response came from a question about how much the author earned.

After advising the asker not to start a career as a writer if they wanted to be rich, she invited everyone to guess how much she earned from the sale of each book.

Lots of figures were shouted out but the correct answer - 60p - was met with shocked gasps.

Several students stayed after the talk to speak to her one-on-one, buy books, and have them signed.