Writers Festival

Students on the Library Committee, and our top readers, enjoyed a day out to visit the Auckland Writers Festival l Waituhi o Tāmaki 2024 Schools Programme Hōtaka Kura, in mid May. The lineup of speakers included:

• Elizabeth Acevedo, a multi-award-winning international writer and slam poet from New York 
• Steph Matuku, an award-winning author and screenwriter from NZ
• Airana Ngarewa, a best-selling author and educator from NZ

The students really enjoyed the variety of authors, their eclectic presentations, and four books by the authors were purchased for the library.

Freddie Gillies Visit

A huge thank you to author Freddie Gillies for coming to St Paul's College Library on Friday 17 May and sharing his writing journey with us. Freddie's talk inspired the students by firstly stating writing is an option for all, that journaling every day is a good starting point to be a writer, and finally how important it is for young men to share their stories. I received a lot of great feedback from the students, many of whom had not met a published author before.  

Please encourage your sons to come into the library before school, or during the second break, and take out a few books to read at home. Encourage them to read for at least 30 minutes every night and discuss what they choose to read with you. Ask them open-ended questions like:

• What do you think will happen in the plot?
• Why do you think the author used this book title?
• How do you think this story will end?

As the famous writer of horror stories Stephen King said, "books are a uniquely portable magic”, great to be taken home and read in bed.