Writing Extension attends the Dunedin writers and readers festival.

On Friday the 10th of May, 29 students from the Writing Extension group travelled to Otago Girls’ High School to attend the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival. Two famous Authors came to speak to us to share some stories and give us some helpful tips on writing fiction. The first speaker was author of “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas” John Boyne. He shared how he came up with some of his most famous books. He also told us, that in one of his most recent books, he wrote for 60 hours straight because it was all coming to him at once. Finally he told us about his newly released book, “ My Brother’s Name is Jessica,” which touches on modern issues of gender identity.

The other author was Markus Zusak. With his novel, “The Book Thief,” which has sold over 16 million copies, he has become very well known particularly as his second book has taken 13 years to finish. He shared some very funny stories about his childhood and showed us that little details count. Markus gave examples that showed how the little details make you believe the story more. Overall it was a great learning experience and very exciting to meet such famous authors as it was inspiring and gave us all lots of useful tips to develop our writing.

Harry Bates