These current two weeks are my favorite of the school year. I love it when we have authors visit the school and this year our Love of Reading week coincides with the wonderful Shanghai Literary Festival where there are over 50 authors presenting on the Puxi side of the river at M on the Bund, such a glorious venue. So not only do we have Sara Holbrook with us at S.A.S. but I also get to mix up my genres by attending as many events as I can handle crossing the river for.

On Saturday Simon and I enjoyed a very civilized lunch in the Crystal Room at M and had a wonderful time sitting and chatting with fellow book-lovers and authors such as Kristin Bair O’Keefe whose debut novel, Thirsty, was published in October of 2009. We were there to listen to a conversation moderated by a very clever and intelligent woman, Rebecca Albinus. The literary lunch was celebrated as Northern Lights: Nordic Literature. Smoorrebrod and Aquavit and featured Lars Bukdahs and Sjon (who I will have the pleasure of listening to again this Wednesday night at the Glamour Bar) as well as Riita Jalonen and Asne Seierstad who I saw later that afternoon where she discussed among other things, the success of her international best-seller The Bookseller of Kabul. Simon and I are quite besotted with all things Scandinavian and this session only added to our passion, the discussion was rivetting and we were delighted we had attended.

Ideas I wrote down as I listened to the authors speak at the Northern Lights session are below; I am going into more detail on some of them in class but here are the raw notes I took directly from the presentation.

“I had to write, I had no choice.”

“The books are already within me, then they come out.” said Riitta Jalonen

This was not the case for Asne, as a journalist, she finds her writing outside of her, the stories start ‘out’, then they come ‘in’ and then they go ‘out’ again. She also said that when someone tells you you can be something, then you can be something, as was the case with her when she wanted to interview someone as a student, and was told she would have to pretend to be a journalist…so she did…and she was! So students, when we tell you you are writers, you ARE writers… You must believe in your capabilities. Asne said it has always been a struggle for her to write, it does not come easy, but it is a great way to find things out about the world.

“The room was covered in books, the walls, even the windows, so I had no idea there was such a thing as play and sunshine, I just knew the books. Untio I was 7 or 8 there was nothing else but the books for me. There’s a whole world in each of thee books-there was no need to go outside.” Lars Bukdahl

Lars also talked about the wonderful Danish author born over 200 hundred years ago Hans Christian Anderson and how he never talked down to children but talked eye to eye with them. I am sure many of you are familiar with Anderson’s work and his ability to have you laughing and crying in a single story, or laughing in one and crying in another. Lars discussed the Danish disposition towards melancholy and I loved the term he used to describe his feeling sometimes, he said “even when he was feeling aggressively glad, melancholy still creeps in… even reading the alphabet he can feel melancholy in some sections.” He really was extremely entertaining.

Sjon said that reading kids become writing kids- the reading comes first…READ EVERYTHING. If you read enough then your brain will start to produce. I agree, what a great observation.

The following morning I felt so lucky as Hannah and I were able to attend a writing workshop for kids given by Sarah Brennan titled “How to Write a Riveting Story.” It turns out that Sarah was born in the same town, city, state and country as me… how ‘cool’ and ‘awesome’ is that? Sarah gave the group a friendly hint mentioning that teachers were pretty sick of seeing words like ‘coo’l and ‘awesome’ in the writing we read; save those words for when something really IS cool or awesome… Overusing words can really take away from the power they have when they are used sparingly at a really appropriate moment.

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When asked by an audience member why she writes Sarah answered “When I am writing I am happier than almost any other time.”

Advice that Sarah Brennan gave the group on how to write a riveting story was echoed later by Sara Holbrook and also previous authors that have been to our school such as Keith Baker and Ralph Fletcher, (not to mention your wonderful teachers of past and present years!)

*PLAN PLAN PLAN Do the planning and the piece can write itself; forgo planning at your peril; writers block is no fun at all and really interferes with the flow of your ideas.

*Take ordinary situations and put a twist on them, ideas can come from anywhere, always ask ‘What if?’ and remember ‘Who is your audience?’

*Grab your reader’s attention in your introduction

*Once you have done your first draft, wait, then wait a little more, and THEN go back to it, 48 hours is ideal but if you don’t have that amount of time don’t despair, just don’t make the mistake of thinking you can revise and edit it adequately while it is still so fresh in your mind. (I love this tip, it works for every piece of writing, including blog posts…I have been working on this for three days, have I made any errors students?)

*The first draft is never the final draft

*The first draft is never the final draft

and in case you skipped that last bit…

*The first draft is NEVER the final draft

Stay tuned for the next installment of the wonderful goings on of the Literature Festival and students, get online and have a look, I am attending four more events for children and all of them would be suitable for you, especially given your recent obsession with cane toads, why not check out Morris Gleitzman, an author Australian children (and more) have adored for years…His session is free and is on Sunday March 21st at 12 p.m. at M on the Bund…

Sara Holbrook, our very own visiting author talked to us about how poets trim down their poetry so that it contains the raw things in life, the essential elements. She spoke of how you take real life situations and turn them into a narrative; you can then go another step further and turn them into poetry. Sara had the class put this idea into practice by reporting back to her on what had happened in Haiti and condensing it into five sentences.The structure should be fact number one, fact number two, a sentence starting with unfortunately, a sentence starting with fortunately and a sentence starting with finally. While the kids had a practice at crafting a poem while first looking at an essay I also had a turn looking at a current event that we are talking about in class.

Version One

The World Expo is on in Shanghai China from May to October 2010.

An Expo gives many countries the brilliant opportunity to showcase their produce, agriculture, resources and skills.

Unfortunately it is going to be extremely busy with so many visitors from China and also very far away.

Fortunately as a ‘local’ I will be able to go back and forth frequently and at different times in the day that might be less busy.

Finally I hope that Shanghai will benefit at all levels from the international attention that such an event attracts.

Version Two

(after I underlined what I thought were important words I took out all the words that were not so important)

World Expo

Shanghai

2010

Opportunity

Showcase

So many visitors

Go back and forth frequently

Shanghai

Benefit

Students, your task is to take my above words in version two and post them on your own blog as a finished poem. Remember you will need to add some details to make it more poetic and interesting… The first three students to have their version of my ‘poem’ posted win a prize!

Thanks for a wonderful session Sara and for some great ideas for our class to work with.

And yes, students I failed the driving test…again…

Tonight Simon and I have the pleasure of again listening to Lars and Sjon at the Festival… why don’t you join us parents if you have the opportunity?