Still pinching myself after my visit to Hornsey School for Girls last Friday – my old secondary school and the place where so much of who I am began. Honestly, teenage me would never have believed that one day I’d be invited back as an author. She’d assume I was lost and looking for the canteen. 

But last Friday was one of those beautiful full-circle, pinch-me moments. Standing in front of the girls – girls who reminded me so much of who I once was – felt emotional in the best way. We laughed, we talked books, we talked dreams, we talked about what it means to feel different or “othered” and how those very feelings can become our biggest strengths.

Growing up, I didn’t always see myself reflected in the books I read or the spaces I moved through. And yet, here I was, sharing my story with a room full of bright, curious, brilliant young women who deserve to know that they can achieve anything – absolutely ANYTHING – they set their minds to.

I hope I left them a little inspired. I know they inspired me!

Thank you, Hornsey School for Girls, for the warm welcome, the gorgeous nostalgia, and for reminding me just how far a girl with a big imagination and a slightly chaotic schoolbag can go!