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15 Jun 2010 11:46:22
Schoolchildren will be given the opportunity to explore the use and power of words at a two-day creative writing event later this month hosted by the University and promoted by Luton Borough Council.
The former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion will be a keynote speaker at Words – A Children’s Writing Festival at the University’s Park Square campus on 24 and 25 June. Sir Andrew will be joined by a host of other notable speakers, including the performance poet John Hegley and the Malawian poet and political prisoner Jack Mapanje.
The event, which is supported by Luton Borough Council as part of the 2010 Luton Year of Literacy, is aimed at Year 9 and 10 pupils from the town’s schools. The youngsters will have the opportunity to explore how the written and spoken word is used by television and radio, and to consider what role writing could play in their own future careers. They will also hear from Gemma Hunt who became a children’s BBC television presenter after graduating from the University with a Media Performance degree.
In advance of the festival, Luton Secondary School students were invited to take part in a writing competition. Imagining they are a camera in their local community, they were asked to describe in poetry or prose what they see around them. The winner of the competition will be announced by John Hegley on 24 June.
Keith Jebb, Senior Lecturer and programme leader in Creative Writing at the University said: “This festival will give a real taste of what it is like to work in the media and the creative industries. It will showcase the enormous variety of uses of writing in the modern world: television and film need scripts, radio needs text, computer games have speech and dialogue, and, of course, journalists are writers.
“We hope to encourage students to see writing as an enjoyable challenge, not a chore, and through writing to give expression to the important things they want to say.”
Latest news» 2010» June» University shows it has the write stuff
