Dunedin Readers and Writers festival

Liam Scaife reports:  On Friday the 10th of May, a group of students from Logan Park High School attended two talks as part of the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival. We travelled by bus to Otago Girls soon after the start of school. The two morning speakers, John Boyne and and Markus Zusak, talked about their writing careers and wider life. Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, spoke about his new book and gave us sixteen wonderful writing tips. Zusak, author of The Book Thief, told a couple of stories from his childhood and linked them to various writing skills that he feels are important.

Two of the tips which we found interesting were a) to highlight adjectives and adverbs and cut them down if there are too many or b) to treat your first draft as a crude block of stone and to carve away at it at every rewrite.

One of these skills/ideas is to utilize the unexpected in your writing, which he exemplified by pointing out that we, as the audience, enjoyed the unexpected elements of his stories more than the others.

Lizzie Marvelly Q and A session

Rosa Miller and Beth Lynch report:

In the afternoon of the festival, we were treated to an entertaining Q&A with Lizzie Marvelly, author of ‘That F Word; Growing Up Feminist In Aotearoa’. Uncensored and highly passionate, she outlined her point of view on many topical questions surrounding feminism and equal rights around the globe, in both past and present. She touched on the double standards surrounding body image and emotional expression as well as the intersectionality of feminism; understanding race, gender, sexuality and any other kind of marginalised identity. We were thrilled to be representing the only co-ed school, and a school so supportive of the arts, LGBT community, and student independence. We felt that we really stood with Marvelly in what she was speaking for.

All in all, a fantastic experience that we are all very grateful for! We look forward to reading books from all the authors present, and encouraging more wonderful works of writing from the students of LPHS.