2016 School Magazine

BRISBANE WRITERS FESTIVAL

style poetry and explained her story through an animation on the SBS website. Her speech reminded us that literature is everywhere around us and that the colour of our skin should never separate us from anyone else. We finished our day by taking a look around the State Library and visiting the bookshops where various new and best-selling titles were available. This motivating day encouraged us to follow our dreams and try our best to help construct a better society. The highlight of my day was meeting the authors and listening to their expert advice and various stories. I am sure we all enjoyed the trip and thought it was a brilliant opportunity for us to be inspired by these authors.

The Brisbane Writers Festival is an annual celebration of Australian authors and their impact on our society. It gives young authors a chance to learn from the best through a series of interactive events held in South Brisbane, including author talks and book signings. On Wednesday 7th September, a group of excited Grammar girls accompanied by Ms Littler and Ms Peck, travelled to the State Library of Queensland to experience this amazing opportunity. We started our day by meeting Christopher Currie, a Brisbane- based author, who spoke to us about what it means to be a writer, and his recently published book, Clancy of the Undertow. This fictional young adult novel is about a teenage girl named Clancy who is struggling to work out who she really is. Chris Currie taught us that being a writer takes three things; creativity, patience and empathy. These things are not only important in writing but are also valuable skills that are needed in day-to-day life. Our second session was with Yassmin Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese Muslim who started a charity organisation named Youth without Borders. She told us her inspiring story about growing up in Australia and fighting for what she believed in. Her newly published book, Yassmin’s Story, was available for us to buy and have signed at the Brisbane Writers Festival Bookstore. The Hate Race is a memoir by Maxine Beneba Clarke that is about growing up in Sydney in the 1930s as a child of Afro- Caribbean background. Maxine delighted us with her modern

WIJDAN (WIJI) RAHIM (7G)

GRAMMAR GOES GREEN

Grammar Goes Green provides an opportunity for students to give back to the community and help the environment. Once a term, girls from all year levels meet at the Rangakarra sports campus for a relaxing and productive afternoon planting trees and shrubs. Each working bee has helped replenish and enhance the surroundings of our sporting field immensely, creating a beautiful landscape for the girls to play sports in.

EMMA KENDALL (12B)