KAA LITERARY FESTIVAL

LITERARY FESTIVAL ‘22

The KAA Literary Festival from Monday 7th March to Friday 11th March was a roaring success; a week full of guest speakers, workshops, competitions and (of course) staff fancy dress! Monday kicked off Lit Fest with three incredibly varied speakers; gothic horror author Lindsey Barraclough, ‘Private Eye’ journalist Richard Brooks, and poet/ podcaster Arji Manuelpillai. Lindsey Barraclough was also guest judge for the ‘create a supernatural character’ competition at lunchtime, won by Betty (7 Taylor) with a manga-inspired creation. The first day finished with a Year 7 debate after school on the motion “This house believes that children should choose what books we study in school,” with Mr Clayton & Mr Dickinson judging the opposition as victors in a very close debate. Tuesday’s Wordle competition in the library was a huge hit, and won by Angelou for 50 house points (who somehow conjured the word ‘vivid’ from nowhere). There was also great excitement for actor Leo Suter’s visit, talking about his new Netflix show ‘Vikings’. Performance poets Harry Baker and Lola Oh wowed the students on Wednesday, and a group of lucky Year 10 headed to The Globe to see an incredible production of Macbeth. The brilliant ‘Definamites’ and ‘Design a Book Cover’ lunchtime challenges brought fun and creativity to the library (with Pankhurst coming out on top this time for 50 house points). Two more brilliant authors visited on Thursday and Friday; Sam Angus and Sita Brahmachari. Sita’s book ‘Artichoke Hearts’ is one of the most popular KS3 Morning Reading texts, and a select group of Year 7s took part in Friday’s theatre workshop by the producers who are adapting the book into a stage play! The Poetry Slam interim house competition was a true highlight; the winner Tymo (7 Mason) wowed the judges with his moving poem about the war in Ukraine. And of course staff fancy dress ended the week in fitting fashion, with characters from the like of Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and 101 Dalmations bringing much colour to the corridors. Ms Gogarty, Ms Peel & Mr Dickinson thank everyone who helped contribute to KAA’s best Literary Festival so far! Bring on next year…

BY MR DICKINSON (LIBRARIAN)