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Interview Matthew Syed


Writer and broadcaster Matthew Syed has a more interesting CV than most: award-winning author, Labour Party candidate and two-time Olympic table tennis competitor. He discusses his latest book, You are Awesome


Text Natasha Onwuemezi


THE PING PONG GUY I


30


n a time of reports of increased anxi- et and mental health issues among adults and children alike, Mathew Syed’s You Are Awesome is swooping in, with its inspi- rational protagonist Kid Awesome to help save the day. Syed decided to write the book—a motivational title designed to inspire and empower young readers—due to his growing sense of unease at hearing stories of children struggling with mental health issues from a young age. “I think that oſten a crippling fear of failure can hold us back, and I wanted to write an empowering book to help with the issues children are facing and build confidence to enable them to pursue their goals and dreams,” he says.


Syed has had an incredibly varied career. Before becoming


a writer, journalist and radio presenter (see BBC Radio 5 Live’s “Flintoff, Savage and the Ping Pong Guy”), Syed was a table tennis player who represented Great Britain at the Olympics, an experi- ence from which he draws many stories in the book. “I learnt early on that failures were an inevitable part of learning and my sporting career helped me build resilience,” he says. “Although I was a good table tennis player, I certainly wasn’t the best in the world and that experience taught me something really important too.”


While there is no official blue- print for success, Syed says that feeling free to pursue our passions, daring to fail and giving tasks


everything we have will set us on the right path. “Those early sport- ing experiences gave me confidence to try things and I took a risk in writing a children’s book—a genre that was new to me and new to many of the readers. And I am so pleased I did. It has been the experience of a lifetime.” Syed’s adult non-fiction title Bounce, about the myth of talent Continues overleaf 


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