Trenton Lee Stewart

Trenton is the author of the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling The Mysterious Benedict Society series as well as the critically acclaimed novel The Secret Keepers. His work has been translated into dozens of languages. TIME Magazine named The Mysterious Benedict Society one of the Best 100 Young Adult Books of all time. Stewart's writing for adults includes the novel Flood Summer and short fiction published in literary magazines including New England Review. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.

On Tuesday 7 March Year 7 enjoyed Trenton Lee Stewart's  post Book Week author visit as part of the Words Go Round Festival here in Singapore. He spoke to the students about how to create interesting characters and the importance of getting the right balance of quirkiness and character traits to drive the narrative and make the story work.

Trenton shared tips on building complex and relatable characters. We heard about clever disguises and half-truths, orphans and unexpected friendships.  He also taught us all about how to plot heart thumping (and at times, heart-warming) adventures. I know many students went away feeling inspired and well equipped to emulate Trenton's Lemony-Snicker style of writing and ready to start mapping adventure stories of their own!