by Jo Charlton

joanne.charlton@essnmedia.co.uk

A teacher and author has joined forces with the council to help budding novelists.

Christian Ainley, who teaches science and psychology at Riddlesdown Collegiate, is sharing his expertise at two workshops.

Mr Ainley, who had his first novel published last year, said: "I feel we live in a very one-sided, parochial society and that more should be done to help aspiring authors."

"After all, once-upon-a-time the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Émile Zola used to walk our (Croydon's) streets."

After voicing his complaints about a lack of encouragement in the borough for children to become writers, the council got in touch with him and he has been working closely with children's services and family learning manager Margaret Fraser ever since.

Mr Ainley, who is the head of critical thinking at Riddlesdown and has worked there since 2004, also runs a school book club, which meets every Friday lunchtime to review books.

His teen fantasy novel, The Enchanted Amulet, made it to the final of the Young Adult Fiction category in the National Best Books 2009 Awards.

The first workshop, where Mr Ainley will be speaking, takes place next Saturday (January 23) between 2pm and 4pm at Sanderstead Library, in Farm Fields.

The second workshop is hosted by Croydon Writers' Circle and takes place on February 8 between 8pm and 9pm at Croydon Clocktower, in Katharine Street.