Inspiring Young Minds : Ruth Eastham on Reading, Writing and Imagination

You’re an award-winning Author and a Teacher Librarian – how do these two roles inform and inspire each other in your work at Harrow Bangkok?

Miss Ruth - My lifelong love of writing has definitely gone hand in hand with a love of reading, finding  its first footholds in the library of my own primary school!

My Author visits to schools over the years in the UK and overseas, giving talks and running creative writing workshops, means that I have worked with children and young people of all ages, but Harrow is definitely next level and very special. It’s an exhilarating pace because I get to see all the Lower School classes every week – close to 700 children! It’s also an absolute joy to see pupils given dedicated Library time at Harrow. It is already clear to me how much this intelligent timetable commitment, and the value given to books, helps foster a love of reading in the school, starting from the very earliest age.

The book chosen for each session is at the heart of the learning experience of course. Our Harrow Libraries are impressively resourced, with new outstanding texts coming in all the time. I have the wonderful Library Team to support me in my role, helping children find books that inspire them. There are many truly astounding books out there, often seemingly simple stories but with deep things to say.
Importantly too, the emphasis of sessions is on reading for pleasure. To read for reading’s sake, with an agenda of pure enjoyment!

Your books are rooted in powerful ideas like memory, mystery and real-life history. How do you encourage students to find their own stories and voices through reading and writing?

Miss Ruth - Yes, my books are always on themes that excite and inspire me! I very much encourage students to tune in to what it is that they are inspired by in life. Library sessions are a wonderful opportunity for children to browse and choose book on topics that they are excited about - their ‘magical passions’ we call them - as well as to immerse themselves in wonderful stories to take their imaginations to limitless realms!

It’s very interesting for me that you ask about helping students to find their voices. Discussion is often a key part of our sessions, so all children can feel that what they say is valued. I love how we can use stories to understand that there isn’t just one way to look at things, and that it’s okay to have a different point of view from others. We also get tastes of the balance between expressing yourself and quiet contemplation.

Going back to themes that excite me, I have also been fascinated for some time now with the ‘alternate histories’, the (beautifully controversial!) mounting evidence that our human history is not what we have been led to think it is! This is definitely inspiring my own writing at the moment and really fun to explore. I love it that these intriguing ideas can be explored playfully through creative writing, where fiction and non-fiction may merge, whether the setting be an ancient temple in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, the mesmerising circle of Stonehenge, the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza, or the mysterious locked cupboard under the stairs in the Bell Library!

What do you love most about working with young readers at Harrow Bangkok?

Miss Ruth – High-quality texts, and even the most seemingly simple picture book can have deep layers of meaning, that we can all take wisdom from for our own lives. I call this ‘Conscious Reading’, and every day I have the chance to explore this with our young readers at Harrow. Could we say that we are all on our own Hero’s Journey through life, navigating the twists and turns on the path? I love getting to hear the children’s unique ideas, to challenge and develop my own ideas. They inspire me to open my mind to new possibilities and points of view. They are awesome!

You’ve lived and worked in several countries around the world. How has that global experience shaped the way you connect with students and families here in Bangkok?

Miss Ruth – Yes, I am from the northwest of England originally, and have lived in Cambridge and the Adriatic coast, Italy. It is always a privilege to work with children in International schools  and before coming to Bangkok I was most recently a visiting Author at a British school in Cairo.

In my own life I’ve become aware that our personal experiences inevitably shape us. We can unconsciously take on beliefs and treat them as if they are facts. Meeting people from other cultures is an ideal way to open the mind and helps me not to be so fixed on one point of view about how life works. Likewise I can offer my own unique current perspectives. Thank you for the overwhelmingly warm welcome I have received from students and families. It has been very moving.

If you could give one piece of advice to a child — or a parent — who wants to start writing but doesn’t know where to begin, what would it be?

Miss Ruth – Write what you know. Start with a personal story that comes to mind and has charge for you emotionally. Find a quiet place, free of distractions; free of noise and free of screens. Make a space for yourself and sit, perhaps with a favourite notebook and a favourite pen, and then just write! Just let the words flow, don’t analyse, don’t judge yourself. You are not trying to prove anything. Allow yourself to be in the moment. Write from the heart. You may be very surprised where your writing takes you!

If you would like an experience of this, you are warmly welcome to join me in our special “My Memory Object” Writing Workshop for Parents on Wednesday 25th March.

Choose an object that means a lot to you, and bring it along to the Bell Library.

See you there!