Arts Week with Judy Murphy

The role of a good teacher in a pupil’s life can never be underestimated.   It was an observant and caring primary school teacher in Wexford who put Clarenbridge based author Serena Molloy on the road to academic success and, ultimately, to a career writing for children.

Serena, whose debut novel, Wider than the Sea, has just been published by Hachette Children’s Books, grew up in an era when there was far less support for children with dyslexia than there is now. This is a condition that commonly causes difficulties with reading, writing and spelling, and which had affected her early schooling.

In her final two years of primary school, Serena was lucky enough to have this teacher, who realised there was an issue and took action.

“She engaged with the things I could do and took the focus off what I couldn’t. That was a big shift for me.”

The teacher also encouraged Serena’s parents to take her to the local library, where “I was so fascinated by the stories, I kept going”, Serena recalls.

“If you keep working hard at it, your brain will get it,” she says of reading.

Her two grannies who lived close by and were mutual friends, were also a big influence on the young girl.

“Words were a problem for me but I loved stories and was fascinated by stories.”

Her mother was also a powerful supporter, putting the letters of the alphabet up on a kitchen wall and getting Serena to look at them, until eventually they stuck.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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