Watch Taran Matharu talk video games and website book deals

Published on: 03 September 2017

The ridiculously imaginative Taran Matharu, author of the fantastical Summoner series, became our sixteenth Writer in Residence back in 2017. In this first blog Taran introduced himself and what his plans were for his residency.

Taran Matharu

Meet new Writer in Residence – and keen gamer – Taran Matharu. Here's what he has planned for us over the next six months...

Let us know what you're looking forward to hearing more about!

Read this news story on Taran becoming our Writer in Residence

Learn more about the BookTrust Writer in Residence

Taran Matharu is the new BookTrust Writer in Residence

Hello everyone, my name is Taran Matharu. I'm the author of the Summoner series. 

I'm so incredibly honoured to be joining BookTrust as their Writer in Residence. Over the next few months, I'm going to be sharing my thoughts on various topics, including why video games and reading don't need to be mutually exclusive. 

I'm a huge gamer and that's been a huge influence on my writing.

I'll also be talking about being a young writer, and how you don't need to be someone who's studied writing or someone who's much older and has a lot of experience to become a writer.

For example, I got my start on Wattpad, and that's a website where many, many people are writing at a young age – and teenagers have actually got huge book deals for sharing their work on there.

And that's the other thing I'll also be talking about: online writing, sharing your work with the world and reading being a social experience.

Meet our latest Writer in Residence

Every six months, BookTrust appoints a new Writer in Residence to write blogs, run competitions and give us their own unique perspective on the world of children's books. Our current Writer in Residence is Rashmi Sirdeshpande.

Find out more