We’ve been busy celebrating in the library this term. In May we welcomed Julie McNeil, poet and football fan supreme. What great timing for the Euros! We learned how emotions and sport are closely linked, shared our own sporting memories and started to turn these into poems. There was inspiring discussion and writing from Mr. Devlin’s S1 class. The S2 Writing mentors joined in working alongside and encouraging everyone. This workshop was part of Glasgow Libraries Wee Write Festival, supported by the Scottish Poetry Library.
Julie’s Workshop
It was brilliant meeting Julie and hearing her feedback afterwards: “What a fantastic group of writers! Really enjoyed their company and hearing all their great ideas”. We now have copies of Julie’s books ‘We are Scottish Football’, and ‘Mission Dyslexia’ in the library, to borrow and enjoy.
Also in May, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of our White Water Writers Project, funded by the School Library Improvement Fund. Since writing their own book, the group has gone from strength to strength, mentoring a ‘Writing for Fun’ club for S1 pupils, taking part in Scottish Book Trust 50 Words writing competition, writing poetry, sharing book reviews, and generally having a brilliant time.
It’s always a party when the Writing mentors are around!
S2 Writers Celebration
In June, we had a special visit from Charis, Careers Adviser, who admired the work of our hardworking S1 and S2 lunchtime team, and presented prizes.
Visit from Charis, SDS
We feel very lucky to have so much support for Creative Writing here at Holyrood, both from everyone in the school and from Glasgow Libraries, and also from visitors who help us.
Whether any of our writers go on to do this as a career, or just as a hobby, writing is an incredible talent to have, and we want to hear your voices. So keep writing – You’ve been absolutely fantastic this year!
Euros competition
Have a wonderful holiday.
Our S3s were absolutely captivated and our only five copies of his book went just moments after the talk concluded.
Fabia & Hunnah in S3 are keen readers of new and trending fiction and popped in after school to chat about books.
“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” is such a thrilling book! It’s about a high school girl named Pip who decides to investigate a murder case for a school project. As she delves deeper, she uncovers secrets and twists that keep you on the edge of your seat. The book is full of suspense and unexpected turns. It’s a real page-turner! If you enjoy mysteries, you’ll love this one! Fabia, S3
“The Inheritance Games” 
For World Book Day, I recommend ‘A Song of Wraith and Ruin’ by Roseanne A. Brown. I rated this book five stars. It is a fast paced, action-packed story about two people who experience love, loss, betrayal and it is very bingeable! It honestly felt almost like watching a movie (I even bought my own copy after reading it).
I loved that this book doesn’t portray black people as the negative stereotype seen in films, but instead portrays us as exactly what we are. Human. Chantelle, S6
This quirky title is an unusual mix of manga and traditional novel styles, with cartoons then followed by a chapter of writing. The story itself is great too. It’s about Julian who meets a rabbit called Chie-san who leads him to the Tokyo Ghost Cafe. There Mama-san welcomes them to this strange and unusual place, and tells them that she has found a young boy called Akira-San who has wondered into the cafe and told her that he is lost and needs to go home. Mama-san asks them to guide Akira-San home. However, this isn’t straightforward as Akira-san doesn’t quite know where home is and no-one really knows who he is. As each trip progresses, Akira-san seems to remember more and more about home along the way. However the group are met by set backs such as tigers, temples, crocodiles and snow blizzards – which stop them in their tracks. You’ll love this action packed adventure – with the unusual styles and Japanese words to learn thrown in – you won’t be able to put it down… Lochend loves it !
S1 pupils enjoyed our special writing competition for Book Week Scotland. This competition was pupil led and inspired by award winning author Lindsay Littleson’s book EuroSpies. The mission was: “Write a job application to become a Spy” Some great entries. Lindsay thought they would definitely get the job!
