Today, Nayland College was very privileged to host New Zealand's very first reading ambassador, Ben Brown. He visited the Year 10 Guerilla Publishing class and the 'All Write' creative writing group where he shared his thoughts and stories about the power of reading and writing, and sharing your voice with the world. The students in this session asked some very thoughtful questions and Ben passed on some great wisdom from his extensive experience in the world of writing and publishing. 

Ben then spoke to a special assembly for our Year 9 and selected students. They were enthralled by the power of his words and his engaging presence. His final poem was positively gripping with it's use of rich, and occasionally very colourful, language. The purpose of this final poem was to share the message with our young people that they all have a story to share and their voice is valid.

In the context of his art, Ben Brown used 'street' language to portray an authentic voice of a teenager struggling to work out who they are in the midst of life in the youth justice system.

Ben Brown and Nayland College would like to reiterate that while the use of such language is sometimes relevant in the context of poetry, music or art, we in no way condone the use of such language around our school grounds. 

We would like to thank Ben Brown and the Te Awhi Rito team for taking the time to share poetry and the power of story to inspire our young writers and readers to discover their creativity and voice.