Newington College students and their parents were privileged to hear from 65 authors over three days as part of school's annual Literature Festival recently.

The Year 1-12 students were introduced to writers and illustrators, who spoke to the boys at a series of seminars that addressed what makes them tick, how to come up with a concept and how to publish a book.

"They answered the boys' range of questions honestly and earnestly," she said. "In fact, they get a real buzz out of working with our students, and I think their enthusiasm really rubs off on the boys."

Years 3 and 4 were shown by Morris Gleitzman how to draw a fish that looked like John Howard or a box that becomes a cow. Authors Tony Williams and Dennis Clare addressed the Year 7 and 8 boys on issues of mateship, safe sex and safe driving amongst many others that were portrayed through mime, song and performance.

Archie Fusillo had Year 10 boys shedding a tear with the story behind his book, Boys Don't Cry, and Anita Heiss unravelled the language of being "black" in a humorous, yet insightful way.

"Our aim is to engender a genuine love of literature in the boys and now in our third festival, we have seen a fantastic transformation of our boys in their approach to reading and writing," she said.

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