Popular author heads to Salisbury (From Salisbury Journal)

Popular author heads to Salisbury

12:50pm Saturday 4th February 2012 in News By Corey Ross

A FORMER headteacher who has turned his experiences into a series of popular semi-autobiographical novels is heading to Salisbury.

Jack Sheffield, author of the Teacher, Teacher books, will be signing copies of his latest novel in the series, Educating Jack, at Waterstone’s next Saturday.

Educating Jack is the sixth book in the series and follows Jack as the 1982 school year begins at Ragley village school and he is in store for the biggest surprise of his life.

Sheffield became the headteacher of a small village primary school in Yorkshire in 1977 and during his time there he kept notes of the funny things the children came out with and wrote short stories which he read to his mother at Christmas.

He said: “Looking back on my career, that was definitely my happiest time Right before she died she made him promise he would turn his stories into a novel and when he retired he did just that.

Sheffield found himself at the centre of a bidding war between six mainstream publishers and signed a two-book deal with Transworld.

Teacher, Teacher, the first book in the series, was Waterstone’s Book of the Year in 2007 and Educating Jack went straight to number five in the original fiction national charts when it was published January 19.

He said: “It’s interesting seeing how many people have bought the books, remarkable really, and it adds to the pleasure knowing a lot of people get enjoyment from it.”

Although he spent much of his life in Yorkshire, Sheffield is now based in a small Hampshire village called Medstead with his wife and enjoys visiting the surrounding area, including Salisbury.

“Salisbury is a beautiful place, I like the blend of old and new and I love the cathedral. I’m hoping to have a tour while I’m there this time.”