The 7^th Biennial Literature Festival at Newington College ran from Wednesday, 6 May to Friday, 8 May 2015. Featuring more than 29 authors, illustrators, poets and journalists who came and gave lectures, participated in Theatresports and judged the Writing Competition, the festival was a huge success with both boys and staff walking out of lecture halls and classrooms buzzing with enthusiasm.

The Literature Festival is made possible each year due to the generosity of the Newington Parents and Friends’ Association who have long seen the value of sponsoring the best of speakers for our community forums and festivals while also increasing the opportunities for parents to connect with each other and the school. The funding for this number of quality workshops and presenters is an enormous boost and encourages literacy amongst the boys—at a time crucial to them choosing to be life long readers.   

Among those who attended were some who have been regulars at the previous festivals, and much loved by the boys, such as Archimede Fusillo, Arnold Zable, Michael Gerard Bauer, Oliver Phommovanh and Barry Heard, as well as new authors including P.M. Newton, an ex-policewoman turned crime writer and Claire Dunn. Claire wrote ‘My Year Without Matches’, the memoir of her extraordinary journey living in the bush for a year learning wilderness survival skills. Claire’s experience enabled her to talk about change and discovery to the Years 11 and 12 students. Another highlight was on the Friday with the two stage performances of I Am Jack by the Monkey Baa Theatre Company for the younger boys.

A panel discussion on ‘Why Is Literature Still Relevant in the Modern World’ was held on the opening night of the festival. Felicity Plunkett (poet and critic), Will Kostakis (author/ON 2006) and Archimede Fusillo argued that indeed literature was more important than ever. Parents and boys attended this event which was chaired by Mr Richard Wheeldon.

During the festival, a select group of boys under the guidance of journalist Michael Carayannis (ON 2004) and Dr Yvonne Smith produced a festival magazine Postscript showcasing the talks given each day which was made available to the boys and staff. During the three days of the festival, students from neighbouring public schools in Ashfield, Haberfield, Newtown and Petersham travelled to Newington College as our guests to take part in some of the activities. Students made collections and held a sausage sizzle to help raise funds for the festival’s chosen charity Room to Read, in particular for their work in Nepal.

Click here to see the student publication Postscripts and author testimonials.

Ms Ann Jagger
LitFest Coordinator