The British School brings the Jaipur Literature Festival to its Premise. Authors visited the School

Feb. 24, 2012 - PRLog -- New Delhi Feb 2012:- The British School, New Delhi being an ardent advocate of literacy, arranged for a group of students to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival.  The students braved the cold to attend the various sessions.  They particularly enjoyed the sessions with Taiye Selasi, Fatima Bhutto, Ben Okri, David Remnik and Gulzar.  Needless to say, they were very enthusiastic about the interview with Oprah Winfrey.    Exposure to a variety of writers propelled our students to the bookshop, where they picked up books they now wanted to read.  In all it was a successful trip, with a wonderful glimpse into the world of writers and books.

The British School, was able to bring a bit of the Jaipur Festival to its premises through school visits by Teju Cole and Taiye Selasi. Teju Cole shared his thoughts with the students and they gained some important insights into the writer’s craft.  He read out excerpts from his novel Open City (a novel that deals with 9/11 issues) and discussed the techniques he employed in them.   Probably the most important message that Teju Cole gave students was they must pen down their thoughts and experiences, for what they don’t write, will disappear. He finally pointed out that writing begins with the belief that one’s own story is worth telling!!

Taiye Selasi gave students important tips on how to decode text.  She read out an excerpt from her short story “The Sexual Lives of African Girls” and then took  students through the process of figuring out what the text was about.  She highlighted the magical power of literature to transport the reader to the writer’s world.  Students were intrigued by the lyrical quality of her prose and were inspired to read her work for themselves.

In essence, this past fortnight has been quite an achievement as it has opened new avenues of reading for our students, and teachers.

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Arun Sachan   
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