Barry Comprehensive School

Barry Comprehensive School pupils attended the 6th Glamlit Festival at the University of Glamorgan on Wednesday 12th December and Thursday 13th December where they had the inspirational opportunity to meet some of Britain’s most exciting writers, enjoy exclusive performances of their work and hear how they developed their craft.

On Wednesday, Year 7 pupils met Mal Peet, novelist and winner of both the Nestle Children’s Book Award and the Carnegie Medal. He read them some exciting extracts from his novel “The Penalty” and pupils were amazed to discover that to write his tale, set in the South American rainforest, Peet relied not on research into that environment but purely on the richness of his own imagination.

After lunch, Valerie Bloom, one of the world’s greatest performance poets, was not content with performing her poems alone, and enlisted the help of the entire audience. Pupils joined in with actions, chants and even learning Jamaican Patois with enthusiasm and a lucky few were delighted to get the opportunity to take over the microphone and ask her some probing questions.

On Thursday, Year 10 pupils had the pleasure of an incredible double bill. Nick Hornby - renowned novelist of such best-sellers as “Fever Pitch”, “High Fidelity” and “About a Boy” – introduced pupils to his new novel “Slam”, his first specifically for children. He was followed in the afternoon by Lemn Sissay, whose thrilling and touching poetry about his childhood spent in care and his long search for his Ethiopian family was both inspiring and entertaining.

Many pupils on both days took the opportunity to buy copies of the authors’ books which they then had signed; for some pupils this was the first book they had willingly purchased with their own pocket money! Hopefully their experiences at the festival may lead to Barry Comprehensive School producing a famous writer or two in years to come.

Photo: Novelist Mal Peet with Year 7 pupils C-Jay Mort and David Walters