Peter’s pride in publishing his second book
Peter, who is a member of our friendship and dating project Love4Life, has been celebrating the publication of his second book – which he both wrote and illustrated.
He said: “I have always loved being creative and started writing in 2010 during the Easter holidays. I really enjoy reading fiction books, especially ones by Roald Dahl and Tony Ross, I love reading authors from across America and England.” In 2019, Peter was nominated for The Learning Disability and Autism Leaders List for his outstanding contribution to art.
“One of my favourite books is ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson, which gave me my idea for my first book, ‘The Bluegaloo’, which I wrote between 2013 and 2018. I wanted my book to be different, so the Bluegaloo is a friendly monster and he is the hero of the story. When they published that book I was so happy, and then the idea for my most recent book ‘Pooky Beaumont’ came to me in a dream. Pooky is an eight year old Victorian girl. You’ll have to buy the book to find out the rest!
“When I found out it was going to be published I felt very proud and privileged, and now another publisher wants to publish it again later on this year. My friends and family are really happy for me. I really love writing books and making up stories, it’s a bit like being William Shakespeare!
Love4Life has definitely helped my creativity, I love the drama sessions the most. I would love to be an actor one day, that is my next step. David Walliams is my hero, he’s written books, done comedy and has been a presenter. To be able to work with him would be my dream.
“I joined Love4Life in January last year, and it has been brilliant – I have made new friends and really enjoyed the events. I was sad when they went on Zoom when the pandemic began, but if I didn’t have the Love4Life Zoom events in lockdown I would have missed my friends a lot more.”
Hayley, Love4Life coordinator, said: “Peter is so creative. He has often read excerpts of his many stories during Love4Life events, accompanied by his extremely talented drawings.
“We’re very proud of his recent news and all of us at Love4Life are very happy to see him achieve such wonderful success!”