Today we welcomed author Lou Abercrombie to Tranby.  Lou brought her books Coming Up For Air and Fig Swims The World. Both are aimed at readers aged 10+. Her influences come from the books she read as a teenager, including anything by Judy Blume and SE Hinton and series such as Sweet Valley High and Chalet School. 

Writing Fig Swims the World combined Lou's love of maths, music and swimming. The inspiration came from a group of people she started to meet on her various open water swimming adventures.

She has always been a keen swimmer, but a chance reading of an article a few years ago, about Lord Byron, inspired her to follow in his footsteps and swim the Hellespont, a 5km stretch of water between Europe and Asia. Since then she has swum a 10km marathon swim down the River Dart, learned to free dive like a mermaid, swum round Brownsea Island and Burgh Island, competed in the annual Copenhagen Trygfondenswim and completed a night swim complete with glow sticks! 

Lou met with students in the library for a Q&A followed by an assembly for Year 7 and 8 where she spoke about her passion for writing and those who inspire her. There was also a book signing opportunity for students.