Sarah Crossan at Edinburgh International Book Festival

Award-winning author Sarah Crossan joins us for a very special edition of Authors Live in partnership with Edinburgh International Book Festival. Sarah delves into her latest beautiful free-verse novel, Where the Heart Should Be, which is set in 1840s Ireland and explores themes of romance, family, class and hope.

Sarah also speaks passionately about how we can help teenagers to recapture the joy of poetry, making it enjoyable and accessible to everyone. Expect to be moved, amused and emboldened by this special event.

If you only do one thing...

We know time is tight, so here is just one activity you can complete with your class before or after watching this broadcast.

Make a jigsaw poem (LIT 3-02a, LIT 3-09a, LIT 3-10a, LIT 3-14a, LIT 3-20a, LIT 3-26a, ENG 3-27a, ENG 3-31a )

Ask pupils to work in pairs. Choose a poem your pupils haven't read before and cut into words and phrases. Pupils then work together to create a poem from the words and phrases of their choice. Why not leave your new poems on the tables and walk around the classroom so you can read each other's creations?

This idea is adapted from our Introducing poetry activities, see below for the full resource.