Sheffield pupils interview author of one of UK's biggest-selling children’s books

Onjali Q Rauf wrote the multi-award-winning novel The Boy at the Back of the Class, which has been adapted into a play coming to The Lyceum theatre next week as part of its world premiere tour.

Year 4 and 5 pupils from Mylnhurst Preparatory School in Ecclesall, and Year 4 students from Westways Primary in Crookes, who are all reading the book in their classes and going on school trips to see the play, spent 40 minutes on a shared live video call with Onjali. They asked her everything from her inspiration for the novel, and whether she knew bullies at school, to where she sits to pen her books.

And the author, who spoke to the children from her green writing chair at home in London, revealed she’s making a surprise visit to Sheffield next week to see her work jump from page to stage.

“I’ll be there to support the cast but I’ll also be in the audience, experiencing the show as a theatre-goer would, and pretending to be a bit of a spy!” she laughed.

The Boy at the Back of the Class tells the heartbreaking and heartwarming story of a nine-year-old refugee called Ahmet, who arrives at a British school having fled war-torn Syria. Portraying the refugee crisis through the eyes of a child, the book highlights the power of friendship and kindness.

Onjali, who is a women’s rights and refugee aid activist as well as an author, has worked in refugee camps in northern France since 2015, and told the children she got the idea for her book after meeting a newborn baby boy called Raehan in a camp in Calais.

“I had an hour with him, our first and last meeting, I never saw him again,” she said. “But I never stopped thinking about him, and a year later I had the idea to write The Boy at the Back of the Class. I wondered what had happened to him, whether he had gone on to make it to a classroom like yours.

“The book itself is fictional, but it is based on that true story, and the wonderful illustrations inside are all based on real images from the camps that I gave to my illustrator.”

Explaining her writing process, the 43-year-old told the children: “An idea will come to me anywhere but my house! Usually when I am travelling, on the bus, in an art gallery, anywhere.

“I use a pen for my notes – I think a pen and paper is magical – and I like to write in a notebook. I sit here in my green chair in my room in the attic. My cushion is pretty low now because I have sat on it that much!

“Then when it comes to the serious bit I use my computer, and it might take me about half a year to get the first draft written, and another half a year to edit it.”

Westways pupil Sydney Smith, aged nine, asked Onjali what her schooldays in London were like, and whether she had known bullies like the book’s character Brendan, or horrible teachers like the cruel Mr Irons.

“Yes, sadly, whatever our age, I think we will all have met and known people like Brendan and Mr Irons, people who can be quite mean, and confusing, and teachers we are scared of,” said Onjali.

But she said the kind character of Mrs Khan had been based on a beloved teacher at one of the primary schools she attended, Mayflower, in Tower Hamlets.

“Mrs Koumi would read to us for 20 minutes every day before home-time, and from the age of about seven I would dream of one day writing a story myself that Mrs Koumi might read to children at my school,” she said.

Mylnhurst student Om Shukla, 10, said Onjali’s website explained she accepted her MBE in 2022 only ‘after much debate’, and asked her why.

Onjali, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, said: “For me, the word ‘empire’ in the MBE is contentious. I had family impacted by the Raj, people who were taken from their lives, their history burnt. So for me there is conflict around that word.

“When I first received the MBE letter I actually threw it away. But my mum found it, and was furious with me! When she came to this country my grandmother told her this was a country ruled by a Queen, and she would have more opportunities here as a woman because of that.

“And I thought of all the people who had written pages of letters of how proud they were of me, and of my ancestors who could never have imagined I would one day go into a castle and accept an award like this from the Royal family.”

Onjali told the children she hoped they would take away a message of friendship from her book and the play.

“Always remember no action is too small,” she said. “If you see someone friendless being bullied, be like the children in the book – give them a lemon sherbet, or bring them a pomegranate, whatever it might be to show friendship.

“And always remember, you never know someone’s story until you have the courage to ask. You have to be brave enough to ask the questions.”

Onjali’s top tips for would-be writers

• “If you are dreaming of telling a story – a book, a film, whatever it might be – never stop. If you love something don’t let it go. Never lose your passion for what you want to do.”
• “If you get stuck, look around you. All of us are surrounded by awesome characters, real people, that could make it into any books.”
• “Carry a notebook with you everywhere you go, and write everything down! The children’s author Cressida Cowell is still using pictures and notes for her books that she made when she was seven or eight years old. She kept it all!”

• The Boy at the Back of the Class is at The Lyceum theatre, Sheffield, from next Tuesday, March 5, to Saturday, March 9, with performances at 10am, 1.30pm, 2pm, and 7pm depending on day. Ticket prices start from £15. Visit www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk to book.