The editors of WordFactory, the School’s creative writing magazine, took Prayers on Monday where they introduced themselves to the School and awarded prizes for the competition they ran at the end of last term. The competition was judged in-house by Head of English Andrew Schagen and Head Librarian Abegail Morley. The theme was Spirit and the winning entries will be published by WordFactory later this term.
Afterwards the team launched the new writing theme of Time, encouraging everyone to spend some time thinking and writing in the next few weeks, so that they can submit poems, stories or scripts by 21 November.
On Wednesday, Student Librarians gave a fitting introduction to guest Theresa Lola’s performance – an engaging and inspiring evening from one of the UK’s top poets. She gave a premiere reading from her second collection due to be launched by Penguin next month.
On Thursday, the Upper Fourth had a virtual meeting with Manjeet Mann, the author of the book they have been studying this term, The Crossing. Manjeet talked about how she was inspired to write the book while living in Folkestone and seeing refugees arrive from Calais across the English Channel, and the students had a chance to ask her questions about the characters and her writing process. We look forward to her words inspiring the next generation of Young Adult fiction writers.
The open mic on National Poetry Day beautifully combined music and spoken word performed by students across the School.
We’re excited to hear the announcement by Ms Bailey in Monday’s Prayers about who this year’s School Poet Laureate will be.
