VISITING AUTHORS

 

A number of activities relating to reading for pleasure revolve around the Fiction Library and the older fiction section in the Information Library. For a couple of years now there has been a Book Club attended mostly by sixth form and staff with visits from KS4 students and the occasional KS3 student. We have read such novels as Orwell’s “1984”, and Du Maurier’s “Rebecca”. We meet on a Friday lunchtime and typically have a quiz after discussion, the prize being the right to choose the next book, as well as the admiration of all present. Cake is often a feature of these meetings which are held once each half term in the Fiction Library.

In preparation for the expected visit by Mallory Blackman to talk for the Ilkley Literature Festival in Lower Hall the Book Club read the first novel in her trilogy “Noughts & Crosses”. Unfortunately ‘flu has led to the postponement of her talk until February, but the discussion of her novel, attended by KS3 students has resulted in the choice of a more KS3 oriented book “Inkheart” by Cornelia Funke for next discussion, and the possibility of a new KS3 Book Club to run alongside the old KS4, KS5 and staff Book Club, which is still reading “Small Island” ready for an as yet un set date for discussion.

A KS3 Book Club ties in well with the Carnegie Shadowing exercise which we have run each year for three years now, where a large number od KS3 students read the Carnegie Medal shortlist between its announcement around the end of May and early July when the selection of the Medal winner is made. In common with most other schools which shadow the Carnegie Medal selection process we have never agreed with the panel of public librarians who actually award the prize, but we all enjoy reading and talking about them.

World Book Day (Thursday 1st March in 2007), is the other big day for the Fiction Library. The school is sent a shed load of £1 book tokens, one for every pupil, to be spent in participating bookshops. We always do our best to arrange a book fair to run during the week, and we usually have a day’s visit from an author (Andrew Matthews: “The Light Witch” trilogy, G.S.O.H., “Stiks and Stoans”) which involves workshops for G & T students and an author talk to both mini-schools of year 7.

We have had, and will probably revive, a regularly weekly slot on Wednesday lunchtimes where people who like to read can gather together in an informal meeting in the Fiction Library to talk about their latest bibliographic finds, sharing recommendations and lending books amongst themselves, as well as persuading the Librarian to purchase the latest new book.