Written by Lara, Esther and Grace, Year 12
On Monday 19th June, we were very lucky to be able to host Jeanette Winterson ‘In Conversation’ for our sold out Ada Benson Lecture. The conversation ranged from how she writes about Napoleon’s dining habits to the role AI plays in our future. Students, parents, and teachers alike really enjoyed it.
She gave us a range of valuable advice, such as how after her discussion of writing the critically acclaimed Oranges Aren’t The Only Fruit (telling us about her approach of writing a novel), she said “if you can write yourself as a fiction as well as a fact, you have a chance of writing literature.”
She spoke to us about how she felt about her past works, a sneak peek into her works in progress (including a dramatisation!) and life as an author. It was truly memorable, and you can only feel inspired to pick up a pen and start writing your own novel after hearing her speak.
We really enjoyed talking to Jeanette and relished the opportunity of being able to ask her some questions (of which we had many). We were really struck by how she managed to tell us so much, but ultimately provided the answers to our questions. She was very encouraging to us as interviewers, and really engaged in the conversation.
Being on the lecture planning team has been a really rewarding experience; being able to be a part of the organisational process which culminated in this event was amazing, and being able to interact with Jeanette firsthand was so gratifying. As well as attending the lecture itself, the creation of it was so exciting—from the planning stage to creating the promotional materials which were distributed to teachers, friends, and family.
We are so excited to begin to plan our next ABB lecture for the Autumn term… watch this space!
