Gibraltar Literature Week has hosted a variety of school talks and workshops. Local authors were invited to be a part of the event and speak to different year groups based on the subject matter and content explored.
UK author Ele Fountain addressed Westside and Bayside’s Year 8 cohort, guiding them with stories of her writing and what inspires her using her first book Boy 87 as the main focus, drawing attention to world issues such immigration and refugees. Ele also ran workshops at Bayside and Prior Park to focus on the early stages of developing a story, the characters, plot and writing the first line of a book.
Teacher Karim Vatvani proved popular with the younger pupils as he focused on his latest children’s publication ‘The Chorizo Monster of Catalan Bay’, stimulating them with an animated storytelling session. Also dressing as an Eskimo in relation to his earlier publication.
Former politician and teacher Clive Beltran visited St Anne’s School to relay stories relating to his ‘Yodo Morao’ book, and anecdotes relating to a bygone Gibraltar. Here, he provided a nostalgic look at traditions relating to life on the Rock, contrasting life for young people in the 50s and 60s with today’s life as a young person.
Former teacher and storyteller Corinne Massetti entertained with her original story ‘They Clapped’ a quaint tale to capture their imagination. Showing them some examples of her drawings on recyclable materials, encouraging them to write and illustrate their own stories.
Eleanor Taylor Dobbs workshops focused on illustration and stories with the artists using Beatrix Potter characters which she creates as her focus, and the Harry Potter Hogwarts Crest with a distinctly Gibraltar twist as another of her ideas.
Julian Felice delivered a hands-on workshop, carrying out a number of exercises to help the students come up with an idea for a play and to give them an opportunity to develop characters, dialogue etc.
Jared Cruz has recently completed his first novella as part of a mentorship scheme with GCS. He reflected on his experiences and journey and spoke about the value of this programme.
Storytelling sessions at the John Mackintosh Hall Library were also well received with authors Corinne Massetti and Viv Brough, the latter who recently launched her children’s book based on her chihuahuas providing fun entertainment for the children. Monica Monton one of our regular volunteers also led an interactive session at the library.
Gibraltar Cultural Services would like to thank all the authors and contributors involved for their support and the schools for their involvement once again.
