Book Week

Telling stories for a living

If there is such a thing as a benevolent tsunami then Book Week is it for me each year. It looms on my horizon, it causes me a little trepidation, it descends on us and leaves me in a slightly fascinated daze wondering what that was all about.

This year’s Book Week has been no exception. Every year is gets just that little bit grander. It morphs, it grows - it seems to have a spirit of its own. This year we introduced directors to our array of guest speakers throughout the week. Bell Shakespeare Company brought the diversity that were looking for and we held onto the wonderful novelists and short story writers who have supported us in the past. We almost managed to bring in an animator and then we discovered that we were going to be charged $1250 an hour for the pleasure of it. Never mind, we will find a way, next year.

This week's guests were author Sasha Wasley, former journalist Nadia Heisler from Centres for Stories, film director Dan Holliday, flash fiction writer Laura Keenan from Night Parrot Press, Fremantle-based young readers author Raewyn Caisley and Black Swan Theatre’s Rachel Murray who presented “Page to the Stage” to our Year 12 ATAR Literature  class, drawing from Stevie Rodger’s play The Pool.

I would like to thank my team for their generous engagement. It doesn’t matter if it’s dressing up as characters from Alice in Wonderland, acting out as Handmaids or forming themselves into a coven; they never shy at the challenge and they help to set the tone that everyone lives up to. They create the crosswords and make the displays and graciously offer the support that have made all of our Book Weeks the enormous successes that they prove, each year, to be. 

I would also like to thank the staff, particularly the Library staff, the parents and the students of St George's for your spirited support of this celebration. I believe that the way we engage with this day says a great deal about who we are and how we differ from other schools.

Thanks for the enthusiasm, thanks for the spirit and thanks for celebrating the magic of reading.

Write a Book in a Day raises $1246 for Cancer Council

Last Friday, the following students participated in The Cancer Council’s annual book-writing challenge:

Sophie Bell, Izabella Kodituwakku, Ke Yi Zhang, Alovera George, Mia McGurk, Zara Jones, Cate Williams, Elisabeth Holbeach, Diya Makwana, Ariana Sita, Ruth Duuring, Sabine Zuideveld, Julian Pivac, Jaya Chopra, Chloe Zhang and Asha Freeman.

The students were charged with the goal of planning, composing, illustrating and publishing a 3500-word story over the course of eight hours. Each team was tasked with incorporating particular conflicts, characters and terms into their stories. For example, the Zoolander Team was required to conform to the following parameters:

Where: Motorway

Who:  Electrician, baseballer, crocodile. 

Issue:  Finding buried treasure, 

Key words: Swept, dazzling, faded, wrinkled and quirky. 

While there were some deadline histrionics at 3.57pm when files were lost, or 1000 words were lost, or files didn’t save, all three groups came to this task with an impressive sense of purpose. This was the first time that I can recall hearing a group speak of “not wanting to sound derivative”. By the end of the challenge, three new and original texts - Twin Circus, Forgotten Tunes and I Know a Guy - had made their way into the world.

I would like to thank Ms Kelly Newbold and all the participants for bringing so much composure to the day. In total, the group raised $1246 for children with cancer. That was, ultimately, what the project was all about. 

The finalists for this year’s Write a Book in a Day contest will be announced in November. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Mr Damien Kerrigan

HoLA English and Languages