Wednesday 17 June 2015

ShoutSouth 2015 Festival - Be Inspired!




Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water but Jack fell down a crater caused by a volcano and tumbled into upside-down land, along with a fire-eating dragon. It's a nursery rhyme but not as we know it...

Taking a well-known story and adding an imaginative new twist was just one of the exercises at ShoutSouth for 9 to 12 year olds from primary and secondary schools in South London last week. ShoutSouth is a story-making festival run by published authors and illustrators from CWISL.  It celebrates all forms of storytelling, with writing, drawing, and drama all fired by the power of imagination.

Lots of ideas - now go forth and spark! 


I was one of the authors leading a workshop and mentoring the kids as they created their own stories. My workshop focused on finding a spark for a story.  It involved lots of props - a random word game, music, pictures, and objects.

Jack and Jill having a different sort of adventure under the watchful eyes of author Cate Sampson and yours truly 


Other workshops included illustrations and storyboarding, spotting the plot, and Mad, Moody and Murky - adding that extra layer of description and emotion to show how characters are feeling.

It was SO much fun and I got some new ideas for my own writing too.  Now all I need is the time to write them...

A taster of the books written and illustrated by CWISL.  

Well done to all the pupils attending from Granton Primary, English Martyrs Primary, Lilian Baylis Technology School, St Mary's Primary, Bolingbroke Academy, Sacred Heart Primary, London Nautical, Christ Church Primary, Isleworth & Syon School, and Jessops Primary.

* All the authors and illustrators of CWISL put on the festival unpaid because we believe it's so important to bring our imaginative worlds to children.  After all, they're all readers and writers themselves but don't often have the chance to meet Real Live authors and illustrators.  The good news - we learn from them as much as they do from us. We're also grateful to Derwent for their generous donation of art materials.








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