Earlier in the year, prolific author Anne Fine visited Bolton School Girls’ Division and spoke to the Y7 girls on the same day that her latest book Aftershocks launched. The author also left several ‘book titles’ and asked girls from all year groups to base a short story on them in a competition that launched on World Book Day; she also agreed to help judge the entries.
In order to inspire pupils, several staff also devised titles or the opening lines of a story and read their entries in a World Book Day assembly. The titles were Along the Seashore, An Unexpected Break and Teffalong and an opening line was: 'The word spread. Marnie’s in so much trouble now!'
The competition was open to all age groups from Y7-Y13 and a shortlist of entries was sent to Anne in order for her to decide upon the overall winners. The author said she loved the entries whilst offering her observations about the writing.
The shortlisted writers from Middle School were: Meera Salvi, Evie Done-Jackson, Rebecca Zavaglia, Marryum Gul, and Arianna McKie. From Upper School, the girls selected were: Verity Cooke-Scott, Lily Porter, Charlotte Lowe, Ella Davey and Georgina Cooke.
Two winners were announced from Middle School: Meera Salvi and Rebecca Zavaglia with Anne commenting: 'They had the edge because they hadn’t bitten off more than they could chew and they stayed completely in control of what they were doing.'
The Upper School winners were Verity Cooke-Scott and Lily Porter. Anne described Verity’s entry as 'the steady unfolding of a psychologically interesting story' and she found Lily’s to be 'very well written'.
The winners all received signed copies of Anne’s books Aftershocks and Shades of Scarlet in a celebration assembly.
