Walliams was in the Grand Duchy as part of the tour for his new festive adventure Santa and Son, released in October. At St George’s, he spoke to pupils about his life, his forty four books and the people behind some of his best loved characters, before signing copies and visiting classrooms.
Primary Librarian Gillian McLeod, who organised the visit, called it “a once in a lifetime opportunity” for students, noting that Walliams’ books are among the most borrowed in the primary library.
Speaking to RTL Today Radio after the event, Walliams said he had been moved by the reception in Luxembourg.
“It is quite an amazing thing when you come to a country you have never been to before. You do not really know if people know who you are or care, but yeah, it was an amazing reception… I have been totally blown away by it today.”
He also highlighted the importance of meeting the children who actually read his work.
“It is great to connect with the people who actually read your books, you know, because when you write you are on your own and when children read the books, they are often on their own or just in an intimate setting with their family. And so to be in the same room and be laughing together, it is fantastic.”
Walliams described Santa and Son as a Christmas story with the pace and scale of an action film.
“Santa and Son is a story about a father and son who get locked in a toy shop between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The dad plays Santa in the shop, and they have to foil a robbery by the evil elves. I describe it as, if I was pitching it in Hollywood, I would say Home Alone meets Die Hard.”
Beneath the humour and chaos, he said, there is always something for children to take away.
“There should be laughter and there should be thrills and spills, but there should be a theme of some kind and there should be something for children to take away from it. This is about a single parent family and the dad has been a bit of a deadbeat dad and he has not been there for his son. Over the course of the night he has to regain his trust and they become father and son again when they had not been for many years.”
Walliams also spoke about the role of illustrations in his books, and why they matter so much to young readers.
“When I was a kid going to the library, when I was selecting a book I would flick through it and look at the pictures. It is almost like a trailer, is it not? If there were not many pictures I would not be that interested because I really loved looking at the pictures, so they are very important to me and to have as many illustrations as possible.”
He added that lots of visuals help reluctant readers feel less intimidated by books and keep them engaged with the story.
Asked for advice for young writers, Walliams said a good idea and the patience to sit with it are essential, but that children should not be afraid to simply start.
“The good thing to remember is the only limit is your imagination and books for kids are the most imaginative of all, because kids live in a world a bit between the real world and the magic world.”
He encouraged would-be authors not to wait for the perfect first line.
“The thing that intimidates people is they cannot get started. The best thing is just start doing it… you cannot become a writer without just splurging some words on a page and then you start to realise, like a lot of things, you learn how to do it by doing it.”
St George’s Principal Zeba Clarke said hosting an author of Walliams’ popularity helps bring reading to life for students and gives them a deeper appreciation of the craft behind the books they love. David Walliams’ books have sold more than sixty million copies worldwide and been translated into fifty five languages.
For St George’s students, his visit, and the excellent talk he gave, offered a rare chance to meet the mind behind the stories that have filled their bookshelves.
