The NZ Post Writers Festival

Six Hamilton Boys’ High School students attended the prestigious NZ Post Writers’ Festival in Wellington during the last weekend in August. Daniel Madley, Calum Redpath, Aditya Vasudevan, Ivan Robertson, Michael Donovan, and Nicholas Oxborrow (supervised by Mr Brown and Mrs Redpath) were instructed and encouraged during several workshops by some of New Zealand’s best authors. 

In the weeks before the festival, the boys worked to produce a number of key pieces of work to be presented for discussion and critique. On Saturday and Sunday morning the boys were divided into small workshop groups, each led by a critically recognized New Zealand author. Our students submitted their work with some trepidation, but all of the boys felt that the specific, constructive criticism was valuable and that they have certainly learned a great deal about the process and mechanics of writing. They had the opportunity to put their developing skills into practice as they worked to produce new work throughout the weekend.

In the afternoon lecture sessions, some of the best pieces of writing were read out and discussed at length to help everyone present understand how to develop and improve the quality of their work. One of the highlights of this experience was the selection of Calum Redpath’s drama script, which was performed by students during the feedback sessions and will be published in the Writers’ Festival Anthology. 

At the end of each day, the boys also had the opportunity to hear writers’ talk about their own work. In the course of these sessions, students were able to ask the authors questions, which ranged from straight forward queries about how the names of characters get chosen, to more pressing concerns like whether or not plot or character development should drive a story.  The most useful feedback given by the professionals is relevant to all English students at HBHS – even professional writers get writer’s block, and the only way through it is to keep on writing.

The boys have established email contact with student writers from other schools and we have been invited to join workshops and competitions at St Cuthbert’s School in Auckland. Many of the authors have offered to visit HBHS to run workshops in school and we have been asked to return to the festival next year. 

Competition for places on the 2010 festival trip will be fierce. Let your teacher know, sooner rather than later, if you would like to begin to work towards this goal.