Matt Goodfellow is a poet and author of the phenomenally successful verse novel The Final Year. A instant favourite amongst school staff, The Final Year took on an almost mythical status last year as the original print run quickly sold out, and teachers and librarians were begging and borrowing through online communities. The Final Year follows 10 year old Nate in the last year of primary school, his friendship issues and his family struggles, whilst trying to find his place in the world.

LoveReading4Kids editorial expert Joy Court praised The Final Year as "highly accessible, lyrical and life affirming, this is a must-have novel that will authentically resonate with so many under-represented children and perfectly captures what this crucial transition period feels like. As such, it is a must-read for adults as well as the children who will devour it. It will also resonate with children who have made that transition and perhaps help them with their own feelings, as well as encouraging them to write for themselves."

The Final Year has just been nominated for a Carnegie Medal for Writing, following the win at the CLiPPa Award for Children's Poetry and The Children's Book Award for Older Readers, and shortlisting for The Branford Boase Award and The Week Junior Book Awards.

We loved it. The Final Year is one of our LoveReading4Kids outstanding Books of the Year, and, if you haven't read it yet - DO! We are all eagerly awaiting the publication in Spring 2025 of the follow up, The First Year. 

Matt has a golden backlist of poetry collections; you can scroll down and find these below, and he is well known and loved for his school visits, poetry performances, and as an ambassador for the power of poetry.

We are delighted to welcome Matt Goodfellow as our Author of the Month.

Q. The characters in The Final Year are gloriously northern AND working class, and these aren't voices we hear often in children's literature. Why was it so important to you to give a voice to the often voiceless? Were there challenges involved in developing these voices?

A. I’d had Nate’s story in my head for a few years before I finally got it down, and knew that I wanted to write in a way that let Nate sound like he was from the areas I’d taught as a primary school teacher – I wanted him to be able to use his accent, his dialect – to be proud of the voice he’d grown up with and say ‘this is me, this is who I am.’ I also wanted young people living lives like Nate’s the opportunity to recognise themselves, to see they’re not alone. 

Q. The Final Year has become a must-read novel for KS2, and is also recommended to older children who have made that transition to secondary school (and their parents!). How does it feel to have written such an influential and well loved novel?

A. It’s been a beautiful thing to watch Nate’s story unfold across the UK and beyond, and I’m so proud to be able to go and work all over the place talking about why poetry matters and how it can help young people and teachers find a shape for their thoughts. I hope the book continues to reach new markets and audiences because I genuinely believe we wrote a multi-layered story with texture which can be enjoyed by both adults and children anywhere.

Q. In The Final Year, Nate discovers a passion for David Almond novels, Skellig in particular. Was there a novel that turned you into a keen reader?

A. I actually struggle to spend long periods of time reading because my ADHD means I need regular breaks – I also spent a lot of time as a young person purposefully not reading as a rebellion against my very bookish parents! I really began to understand the power of words by listening to music. Poetry was also a great way for me to get short bursts of powerful reading under my belt. I discovered Skellig in my second year as a primary school teacher – and I was just blown away by the story and David Almond’s skill as a writer.

Q. Mr Joshua is a fine teacher, gently offering guidance and support to Nate, encouraging his confidence and helping him grow intellectually and emotionally. As someone who spent a decade teaching at primary school level, do you miss the classroom, and what do you enjoy most about visiting schools now?

A. I can honestly say that there’s very little I miss about teaching – it’s such an incredibly stressful, busy job. I am constantly in awe of teachers and their ability to inspire the minds of the next generation whilst basically having their hands tied behind their backs by the bureaucracy of the job. Let’s hope a new government can help teachers out – and change the way they have to teach writing! In terms of school visits, I love what I loved when I was a teacher: engaging with young people – it’s such a privilege to be in schools on a weekly basis.

Q. We're all looking forward to The First Year...any hints on what to expect? Will you be exploring the stories of Nate's brothers?

A. Aha, well, I don’t want to give too much away, but what I will say is that The First Year is a very different book than The Final Year. I’ve absolutely no interest in writing the same book twice and therefore readers should find a different feel to this story – as Nate navigates his first year in high school and all that life brings him.

Q. Tomorrow We Begin is another brilliantly accessible book for young people, told in your unique voice. We love the fact that it speaks to everyone about this "space called poetry" and invites them to get involved. Do you have a favourite poem in the book?

A. Thank you very much. I actually love so many of the poems in there – but I suppose the one I enjoyed writing the most was ‘7C’ – that was my form group in my first year of high school and the poem basically explains who we were – a rag tag group of odds and ends all thrown together – with disastrous behavioural consequences for the school!

The book is really special to me because it’s sort of the last bit of what I wanted to say in my poetry for young people – the last age group I wanted to write poems for. I now have a full set of poetry collections that go from KS1 (Caterpillar Cake), into LKS2 (Chicken on the Roof), KS2 (Bright Bursts of Colour), UKS2/KS3 (Let’s Chase Stars Together) – and now Tomorrow We Begin which is KS3/KS4. It allowed me to follow the journeys of my own kids through high school, but also go back and mine my own experiences at that age. It was always slated for me to write the book just after The Final Year had come out and gave me a great bit of research in the writing of The First Year.

Q. You were first introduced to poetry via music lyrics, when did you realise that being a poet was a real career option for you?

A. I always knew I was good with words and was always tremendously disappointed I didn’t have any musical talent! I’d worked as a journalist before I became a teacher and was knew a pathway into something creative was open to me – and would be supported by my family.

Q. From an early age, children love hearing and composing their own rhymes. How can we encourage children to keep reading poetry as they get older?

A. Keep exposing them to poetry and music – let them see the connection between the two. Show them videos of poets and songwriters – let them watch how they have different skin colours and accents and talk about whatever they want however they want. Empower young people by showing them that poetry allows them to be proud of their identity, their voice, their cultural heritage – tell them that the current education system is not built for individuality and that teachers are forced by the government to teach a way of writing that is not how writers write. Show them that poetry will always be there for them outside of the education system. That it matters.

Tomorrow We Begin, Matt's most recent poetry collection takes the reader on an emotional journey of self-discovery from the first day of secondary school in Year 7 to Year 11 - read our full review here and you can buy a copy knowing that with every purchase on LoveReading4Kids a school close to your heart benefits.

www.mattgoodfellowpoet.com

@EarlyTrain