Fantasy writer inspires students and staff during visit to Chichester College

Chichester College welcomed author Philip Womack for an insightful lecture last week, which was livestreamed across the college group. 

Philip – who has written several fantasy novels including the Darkening Path trilogy – visited the college’s library ahead of his talk where he spent time chatting with staff and finding out more about further education, the students and how they engage with the library. 
 
He then took centre stage for his talk, where he gave the audience a glimpse into his early story-telling life, writing his first book at the age of just 14! Philip explained the process of his subsequent books and gave an honest and entertaining account of the ups and downs of being a published author. 
 
He followed this with a creative writing exercise which captivated the audience in the room as well as those watching via the livestream at other Chichester College Group colleges and concluded his time by answering some well thought out questions from the audience. 
 
One of the students said: “The author visit was incredibly interesting and presented in a unique way that engaged the audience. The creative writing element was really fun to do, and it showed how easy it was to actually start writing. 
 
“When he asked people to read out, it was great to hear the different styles of other people. When he read out extracts of his book, it captured the attention of all, and his writing style is superb. He is very talented and captured everyone’s love for English, reading and writing.” 
 
Stella Hine, librarian at Worthing College (part of Chichester College Group), organised the visit. She added: “We are incredibly grateful to Philip for spending his time with us, and for sharing with us some of his expertise.  
 
“Seeing everyone engaging with Philip, from our colleges across West Sussex, as he challenged and inspired us to develop our own creative writing skills was fantastic. It was lovely to see so many of our students join in – I know several spoke positively about their experience and have taken away a lot of learning. 
 
“Thank you to everyone who helped make this event happen.”