World Book Night 2018
On 26th April 2018, students from Gimnazija Vič were joined by those from a number of primary schools around Ljubljana for our annual event to mark World Book Night. This international celebration of books and reading has been part of our school calendar for several years now and we are thrilled to share it with an increasing number of other institutions.
Our focus for this year was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as 2018 is the 200th anniversary of the first publication of this classic novel. As well as a source for numerous discussions, it was the basis for the themes of this year’s creative writing competition.
Students were given the task of using one of the phrases taken from Frankenstein and use it as a theme for an original short story. As a further challenge, the story they came up with could be no more than a hundred words in length. We are happy to say that the young writers did a great job and, with both secondary and primary school level considered, over 250 stories were put forward to the judging panel. The best and favourites of these were shortlisted and published in a special publication to mark the event and the judges then chose a small selection to receive special commendations and awards.
In addition to this prize-giving ceremony, members of the Gimnazija Vič book club prepared a presentation covering different anniversaries and news events of this year. With dramatic performances that included Little Women and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, poetry readings from sources as diverse as Trainspotting and international poet laureates, and musical performances inspired from a range of artists from Peggy Lee to Kate Bush, there was plenty to entertain the audience.
Events like this are vitally important to keeping students interested in the world of reading and having awareness of the news events which are connected in different ways to the world of literature. We look forward to further such events in the years ahead and even more cooperation with the other schools involved.
The project mentors, Blanka Klobučar and Tim Gallagher, would like to thank the students and mentors from:
- OŠ Bičevje
- OŠ Brezovica pri Ljubljani
- OŠ Dobrova
- OŠ Kolezija
- OŠ Škofljica
- OŠ Šmartno pod Šmarno goro
And thanks as well all those from Gimnazija Vič who took part in the projects and in the presentations on the day as it was the readers, presenters, performers, musicians, choir, and artists who all worked together to make it such a great event.