and sharing stories. Stories exercise our imaginations and open us up to infinite possibilities. Quantum physics has come round to the view there could be infinite possible worlds and it comes to more or less the same point that storytellers have been at since forever. Science can be just as creative as art and literature. Anything a child loves and engages with and wants to do should be encourages. There are many ways to be creative and many kinds of intelligence.”


“Massive bookstacks towered over him, as big as buildings, packed with books and parchment scrolls. On the walls were enormous maps of cities. If Solomon’s shop was like a treasure cave this was like a gold mine: the place the treasure came from.”


SF describes libraries as being almost like a nexus point, a place where the secrets of the world are stored. “If we are trying to imagine other worlds, they are all there in the library, collected in one place. Anybody who undermines that or threatens that is directly attacking freedom of thought, democracy, and literacy. Libraries, bookshops, and schools seem to be vital


spaces in our world as much as in the fictional world of Tyger. They are spaces that we have seen under attack. It feels like we are in a war and we’ve been in a war for sometime.”


As SF explains, it is a war worth fighting. He points out: “Children who read for pleasure do better in almost every way


than children who don’t. It appears to be more significant and a bigger factor than anything else. That’s extraordinary when you think about the implications. It has to be the number one priority for all education. Once you’ve got the idea that reading is something fun, that actually opens doors constantly.” PEN&INC.


SF Said.


Spring-Summer 2023


PEN&INC. 11


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60