Author visit

Friday 27^th January saw actor, author and self confessed geek, Andy Robb, come to Chew Valley School to promote his debut novel – Geekhood: Close Encounters … of the Girl Kind. Andy Robb (who stars alongside Daniel Radcliffe in the film `The Woman in Black`) met with students to answer questions and get some feedback on his first foray into the world of teenage literature.

     Geekhood tells the story of fourteen year old geek, Archie, who is struggling to deal with his dysfunctional family, playground bullies and members of the opposite sex. When `beautiful goth` Sarah joins his school, Archie falls head over heels in love. There’s only one problem - girls like Sarah don’t usually go for boys who spend their evenings painting miniature gargoyle figurines and playing Dungeons and Dragons! Archie’s attempts to win the girl of his dreams are both entertaining and excruciating to follow, making for compulsive reading.

     Andy made a lasting impression on the students, offering advice about getting published for the first time and describing a number of amusing anecdotes from his teenage years; the novel is obviously semi autobiographical!

     Whether you’re a geek looking for some advice, or someone who just likes laughing at other people’s misfortune, this is the book for you!

By George Phillips (Year 8)

Geekhood is being released in May 2012 by Stripes publishing.