AN ASPIRING author is over the moon to have his first published story in his hands – aged only ten.
Yattendon School pupil Oliver Hankin is one of 50 young scribes whose story was chosen to be included in the Young Writers' Yearbook 2013.
He saw off 1,500 other applicants to take his place in the book, with a tale of adventure and dinosaurs.
The story – which began life as a school project – tells of a boy named Bob who gets embroiled in a fantastical adventure after meeting an unexpected character on a school trip.
Oliver said: "I was at school and we were told to write about going on a school trip somewhere, so I picked the Natural History Museum.
"I was thinking about the famous landmarks."
He added: "In the story, Bob goes to the Natural History Museum and he is really excited because he likes dinosaurs.
"He meets a man who is an escaped highway man and he gets a bone from a Not-so-common-a-saurus."
Oliver, a keen reader, spotted an advertisement for the contest in a magazine and decided to go for it.
His mum, Tracey, said: "He has always had a passion for writing, and his teacher wrote in his recent school report, that she looks forward to reading his first book – she must have been psychic. We are immensely proud of Oliver; his work is always his own and we never help or change anything he has written."
But Oliver, who wants to be a writer when he grows up, was amazed when his tale was chosen. "I came home from school and mum had been reading the e-mails," he said. "She told me mine had been picked.
"I was so excited; I want to be an author of stories and poems. I quite like writing poems."
Mrs Hankin praised the support her son gets at the Oakwood Road, Horley, school as one of the keys to his success.
The anthology, which feature stories in the categories 7-plus, 9-plus, 11-plus and 13-plus, is published by A & C Black and is available now.
