CLiPPA Award-winning poet Matt Goodfellow on writing for the child he was

"I was aware that there was more of a story that I wanted to tell,” Matt Goodfellow tells me, speaking over video call from his home in Stockport. “I was adamant that I would do a sequel only if it was as good as or better than The Final Year.” The Final Year, his debut novel, was published in 2023. A middle-grade verse novel chronicling 10-year-old Nate’s final year at primary school, it is both lyrical and life-affirming, and has attracted wide acclaim. The sequel, The First Year, will be published by Otter-Barry Books in April, once again featuring the reflective illustrations of Joe Todd-Stanton. The focus now shifts to Nate’s secondary school experience. “I wanted it to be a very different book,” he continues. “I like the idea of shapeshifting and never doing the same thing twice. I believe it’s more subtle and textured, slightly more sophisticated.” 

Nate’s move to secondary school, expanding his world beyond the bubble of primary school life, gave Goodfellow the opportunity to broaden the horizon. Nate deals not only with the transition to a new school, friends and teachers, but undergoes upheaval in his home life. “It’s a scary time. He is exposed to more of the nuances of adult life and starts to understand the reasons as to why the people around him behave the way they do.” In The Final Year, Nate’s mum, Gemma, was a background figure, not even named, but The First Year develops her character significantly. She has been, he admits, quite a divisive character among readers: a young, single mum with a love of bingo nights and cider, frequently leaving Nate to pick up the pieces and care for his younger brothers. “Some people were really cross with her and her perceived failings as a mum,” he explains. In The First Year we learn more of her back story, Goodfellow writing with a humanity that reveals her strengths. “I think that Gemma does the best she can as a mum, given her position and her experiences of life.” Goodfellow also felt The Final Year to be a male-centric book, focused on Nate’s teacher Mr Joshua, and the three brothers. In The First Year the role of women in Nate’s world is explored, through Gemma, her friend known as Auntie San and Nate’s new school friend Muna. “There’s a lot of female strength within this book and Nate is beginning to recognise that.”

I’m trying to create an authentic voice. The education system is central in expecting young people, in an increasingly beautiful, diverse England, to speak like the ruling class from a few hundred years ago.

Much of what Goodfellow wants to write about is, he says, quite difficult at times. “I write about sadness and – without being pompous – the human condition and the difficulties. I started writing for the child I was.” A background in teaching in a “pretty tough” part of Manchester also informs the realistic nature of his work. Nate and many of his classmates are from working class backgrounds, living lives far removed from young people more typically represented in children’s books. “I’m also writing about kids who weren’t necessarily able to access some of the literature being published for young people; things like dragons and fantasy weren’t part of their world.” He thinks that one of the reasons his work has resonated with so many people is because they recognise within it the struggles in life. “That’s what poetry offers me, a chance to begin to try to make sense of the world.” His writing does tackle big issues but it is also infused with love, humour and hope, particularly in Nate’s relationships with his family and friends.

Goodfellow’s route into writing was not linear. “The dream was that I was supposed to be a rock star,” he laughs. His teens and early 20s were spent pursuing this ambition, although he did study English at Manchester University with no less than Carol Ann Duffy as his poetry tutor. What he absolutely didn’t want to do was teach, but when the rock star dreams failed to materialise – “a complete lack of musical ability on my part” – some work experience at a primary school proved to be transformative. “It really excited me.” In his second year of teaching he read David Almond’s Skellig to his Year 5 class and knew that was what he wanted to do. Writing poems and songs for his students led to his work being published in anthologies and, eventually, several solo poetry collections, all of which allowed him to develop his voice.

Continues…