Croydon Author Sheeda Queen isn’t wasting any time using her profession to promote diversity in literature and encouraging pupils to read for pleasure in the area where she grew up.
The Oasis Academy Shirley Park where Sheeda used to go to school has been the location for several workshops that use her recently published novel Chestnut to promote diversity in literature and to discuss how literature can be relevant in reflecting students’ lives.
A coming of age story Chestnut is the tale of a young girl adapting to the challenges of a South London school, while holding her inner values intact and is instantly relatable for many of the pupils that attend Sheeda’s workshops which in turn gets otherwise uninterested pupils to read and enjoy doing it.
Neela Choudhury, Director of Literacy at the Academy has said that Sheeda’s workshops and her novel has “provided our students with the opportunity to discuss reading with someone who they can relate to, and this has meant that their interest in literature has finally been ignited!” and Sheeda herself states that “If the youth are the future and diversity is indeed alive then Chestnut should be read by all who claim to want change, not just in the literary world but in real life.”
With her novel offering suggestions and solutions to the complex cultural issues faced by today’s society Sheeda has tapped an audience that is far too often overlooked and hopefully has created many more reading addicts in the process.
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