AN acclaimed teen author has visited a Bradford school to lead writing workshops for pupils.

Bradford Grammar School recently welcomed Melvin Burgess to the school.

He gave a talk to the whole school in an assembly and led writing workshops in the library for Years 9, 10 and 12 during their English lessons.

Mr Burgess built his reputation as one of Britain’s top writers for teenagers on the back of a novel about drugs. Published in 1996, his heroin novel Junk came just a few months after Danny Boyle’s film of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting shocked audiences with its vision of addiction in Thatcher’s Britain. Junk went on to achieve cult status, multiple awards and a legion of loyal fans.

He said: “It’s always great to meet your readers. There’s also a lovely element of reading for pleasure at Bradford Grammar School that’s’ taught in English lessons and I’m a big believer in this.”

Lesley Purcell, BGS Library Manager said: “We are very much involved with helping pupils with reading for pleasure, which then lends itself to research skills and independent learning, which is really important particularly when our pupils go into Sixth Form.”

Lee Hanson, Head of English at BGS said: “We were thrilled that Melvin ran this day of literature workshops and we all really enjoyed the unique opportunity this gave our pupils to get creative with the help of such an experienced teenage book writer.”