17 May 2002

Memories Of Keele Campus

Francis Spufford, the son of Peter Spufford, a Reader at Keele, before leaving in 1979 for a post in Cambridge, and Margaret Spufford, a former Senior Research Fellow at the University, has written a much acclaimed book about his early life on the campus.

He was born in 1964 and spent the first fifteen years of his life at Keele. His book,`The Child that Books Built' is subtitled `A memoir of childhood and reading' (ISBN 0-571-1913 -0), and strongly evokes the atmosphere of Keele at that time. It says on the book's sleeve:"What would you find if you went back and re-read your favourite books from childhood? In this beautifully written memoir Francis Spufford discovers both delight and sadness. The Harry Potter phenomenon has reminded us all of the amazing power a story has. Now `The Child That Books Built' explores the many worlds that reading can take us to, in a way never attempted before. Fairy tales and `Where the wild things are', `The Lord of the Rings' and the Narnia books, `Little house on the prairie' and the Earthsea trilogy ... re-reading and re-living these books and investigating their literary origins and rich histories, Francis Spufford reveals what it is like to be an obsessive reader as a child". All the books he consumed were from the Keele University bookshop and the Newcastle public library.

This week:

Vice-Chancellor's Committee - 13 May 2002
(Keele access only)

Appointment Of Director Of Finance

Keele Moves Up Times League Table

ESRC Liaison Visit

National Dual Diagnosis Conference

National Award For Keele Graduate

Memories Of Keele Campus

Recent Research Grants