Young Authors' Day 2018
On a bright and sunny morning, close to 200 students exhibited their fruits of labour through poems, short stories and books to their parents and grandparents at NPS International. Young Authors' Day is an annual event that provides an ideal learning opportunity to hone and exhibit their creativity, imagination and writing abilities. Over a period of close to 4 months, students of grades 4 and 5 are inspired and motivated to lend words to their imagination and nurture the writer within.
A day in the life of a chicken, a brave warrior and his pursuits, a troubled girl who find help in her dead parents’ spirits and an animal cricket premiere league – these were just a few of the varied stories that were on display. Short stories and books authored by the students covered different genre including mystery, fantasy, horror, realistic and science fiction.
It is said, poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. In a bid to expose our young learners to the art of poetry, the event also included close to 200 poems that they have written themselves. After being acquainted with terms like cinquain and acrostic poems, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia amongst others, students of grade 4 and 5 exhibited their carefully drafted poems for all to read.
The display area bore an aura of festivity with bright and artistic creations on display, illustrated covers, charts on famous authors and book reviews written by the students. Students were seen explaining their characters, the setting of the story and the intricate plots to avid listeners.
For many students, the programme helped them discover the budding writer within. Several are in the process of writing a sequel to the present novel – such is the impact of this programme.
While Young Authors’ Day presented an excellent learning opportunity for our students to pick up key skills like independent thinking, creativity and imagination, the entire process of novel/poetry writing was a memorable one for all.