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The School Librarian has described as “incredible” the parental response to efforts to boost The Queen’s Library’s fiction collection – and has been impressed by the voracious literary appetites of QE’s youngest boys.

“We took stock of our collection and wanted to add some new books, especially for our newest School members,” said Ciara Murray. “We asked parents to contribute by purchasing a book from our Amazon wishlist, and the response has been incredible! Our warmest thanks to all who have kindly donated so far.”

Ms Murray announced the Autumn Term’s top Year 7 borrowers: Dhaivat Gohel with 53 books, Arnav Nigam with 38 and Utkarsh Jana with 37.

“I am always pleased to see that at QE the boys start school with a huge appetite for reading; this will serve them well in all aspects of their education,” said Ms Murray. “Reading a book is a wonderful mode of discovery and escapism. Developing a passion for reading – whatever the material may be – at this early stage will lead to a lifelong enjoyment of learning, and that is what we seek to inculcate in all our boys.”

Throughout the term, all the Year 7 pupils received their inductions, during which they learned to use the catalogue and had a chance to explore the library. Many make use of their daily three-book borrowing allowance and can often be seen reading in the library at lunchtime.

With the aid of her junior librarians, she spent the latter portion of the Autumn Term unpacking the new additions and making them available to borrow before the holidays started.

In the new term, a number of activities and clubs will restart, including: the Excelsior Club for Comics and Graphic Novels; the Kids’ Lit Quiz for Year 7s; Board Gaming, and a new Year 9 book club, Nine for 9, where the boys are challenged to read and discuss nine recent bestselling books for teenagers.

There will also be workshops for Year 9 and 10 boys from bestselling author Caroline Green and from award-winning poet and Old Elizabethan, Anthony Anaxagorou (1994-1999).

• Here is the current fiction wishlist for The Queen’s Library.

QE pupil Aadi Goel’s first book is now available to buy – even though he is still only 12.

The Year 8 boy’s collection of short stories and poems is called My First Solo Journey – a title drawn from the first story which recounts the real-life trip he took on his own in the summer of 2017 to visit relatives in India (and perhaps also, metaphorically, from the fact that this is his first foray into writing a book).

Self-published on Amazon, the book comprises ten poems and ten short stories. Aadi, who wrote it in his spare time, joined the QE poetry club last year and is looking forward eagerly to getting involved with the over-subscribed creative writing club this year.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations go to Aadi on his achievement in putting the book together: it is always good to see boys pursuing interests outside of the classroom. Creative writing is, in fact, a flourishing facet of School life at the moment, with boys benefiting from the support and advice of both our poet-in-residence, Anthony Anaxagorou (OE 1994-1999), and writer-in-residence, Caroline Green. Their frequent visits to the School to run clubs and workshops are helping to inspire more boys to try their hand at writing and develop their skills further.”

The writing in Aadi’s book is varied in both style and content, although adventure is a theme of several of the pieces.

Aadi began writing after being encouraged by his teachers at St Peter’s C of E Junior School in Farnborough, Hampshire. He enjoyed the process of writing the book, adding: “This has inspired me to write even more.”

Two Year 8 boys won awards for book reviews written in advance of a special Barnet event to promote reading.

Thirteen boys from Years 7 & 8 made the trip to Wren Academy for the 2018 Read4Barnet – a festival of reading that grew out of a collaboration partly spearheaded by QE librarian Ciara Murray.

Read4Barnet delegates from the eight schools taking part were either nominated by their English teachers or were part of their school’s team of librarians. In the build-up, they had firstly to read one book from a list of seven titles that have recently been published and nominated for children’s writing awards, and then to write a 500-word review of their chosen book.

QE’s Dylan Domb and Ardavan Hamisi won awards for the high quality of their reviews, earning themselves a £10 book voucher each. The book Dylan reviewed – a short novel called Rook about growing up and family – was written by Anthony McGowan, who was one of the four authors taking part in the day.

Head of English Robert Hyland, who accompanied the QE boys, said: “Our students attended the talks by Anthony McGowan and Ruth Eastham, where the writers talked through their creative processes and how they found inspiration; Ruth Eastham said hers came primarily from historical events, whereas Anthony McGowan took inspiration from classic literature and his own teenage years. Both encouraged the boys to keep on reading and writing, with Ruth Eastham advising them to: ‘Read like a butterfly, write like a bee.’”

Ruth Eastham’s reviewed book was The Warrior in the Mist. The other authors involved, with their books selected for review, were Non Pratt (Unboxed) and Nat Luurtsema (Lou out of Luck). All the writers attended an author panel where they answered questions from pupils. They also made themselves available for book signings at lunch. Nat Luurtsema won the popular vote to win the Read4Barnet best author award.

• Dylan’s review began: “Seeking a novel overflowing with an abundance of emotions, from exasperation to love, or hopelessness to hopefulness? The book you must be looking for is Rook.” Ardavan’s 500 words were on Will Hill’s book, After the Fire, which was inspired by the Waco siege in Texas 1993 when 82 members of the Branch Davidian sect and four US government agents died after a long siege. Ardavan particularly appreciated the way in which Hill gave “the perspective of an individual, where, at almost all points, the reader is smarter and is aware of more than Moonbeam [the main character] is”.

Having completed his English degree at Oxford, Surya Bowyer has spent the last year taking a Master’s at University College London and has now been nominated by UCL for a post at the Sorbonne.

Surya (OE 2007–2014) is in close contact with fellow QE alumni – “There’s a group of eight OEs that I have very regular contact with, and we have a tradition of going away together each summer,” – and he retains very fond memories of his School days. “I think one of the most important things QE taught me was to treat people with respect and never forget my manners. It’s a very useful life skill.”

In addition to the OEs he holidays with, Surya meets up with others from his year group “both by chance at university, and on purpose for intermittent catch-ups at the pub. As a year, we have a pretty large group of people who seem to be fond of each other, which I’m thankful for. Even when at a new university or stage of life, when you find yourself having to make new friends, it’s always nice to be able to also catch up with well-known faces every once in a while.”

After completing his BA at Keble College, Oxford, Surya wanted to branch out beyond English into more interdisciplinary work, so he chose UCL’s European Culture and Thought MA. “UCL has been great. There was a shift in teaching style and the shape of the workload, in that Oxford had us writing one of two shorter essays a week, whereas at UCL I had to complete two 6,000-word pieces of coursework each term. I found myself particularly enjoying the freedom to pursue more of my own interests in the MA,” Surya adds, though acknowledging that the critical reading skills he had developed at Oxford also proved indispensable.

He will work at the Sorbonne as a lecteur: UCL sends one person to Paris each year for this role which involves teaching undergraduate English majors at the Faculté des Lettres (also known as UFR). “I’m told they usually send doctoral research students, but somehow I got the nod,” says Surya.

He hopes to take advantage of the opportunity both to improve his French and to gain experience of lecturing at a university. “I’m seriously contemplating applying to do a PhD and trying to go into academia, and I think having the experience of teaching for a year will help me determine whether this is the career path I indeed want to pursue.”

Surya returned to QE last year to talk to Year 11 about the virtues of studying English at university and to conduct mock university interviews. Looking back to his own School days, he recalls with affection certain characteristic sights and sounds: “The noise of the atrium at lunchtime, with people constantly banging on lockers as they play cards or scramble to finish off some work, sticks in my mind.

“I particularly enjoyed my time in the Sixth Form, with the added responsibility and depth of work. The inter-house rugby and tug of war competitions also have a warm place in my memory, probably because Pearce often won.”

In his spare time today, Surya enjoys visiting museums and galleries, as well as going to the cinema and watching football.

“I think that if I do end up going into academia, it would be important to me that the work I do extends a little beyond the walls of the university. So, over the last few years I’ve also been attempting to improve my ability to write critically in a less academic context and tone.” Surya’s own website holds a collection of his published reviews and non-academic essays.

QE boys took the honours at a literature quiz, comfortably beating all the other schools in the competition.

QE entered two teams in the North London heat of the Kids’ Lit Quiz and, by half-way through the contest, they were competing closely for the lead, while standing some eight points ahead of the third-placed team.

English teacher Alex Ulyet said: “They held on to this right until the end and the only question was whether the Year 7 or Year 8 team would clinch the top spot, but Year 8 nudged in front by about two points.

“On the day both teams were fantastic. We were a little worried at first as it seemed every other table was celebrating every question they got right, whilst the two QE teams stayed relatively silent. This was, however, clearly just their calm, composed natures!”

The quiz heat at Queenswood School in Hatfield was part of the nationally run Kids’ Lit Quiz, which aims to test young people’s knowledge of literature. The two groups of four boys had prepared for the event in Monday lunchtime practice sessions overseen by Mr Ulyet and QE Librarian Ciara Murray. They were given questions based on known categories in the Kids’ Lit Quiz. These included, for example, sci-fi, mythology and fish.

Besides their performance in the main competition, the QE boys did extremely well in the bonus questions between rounds, several of them winning book tokens.

“Both teams seemed to really enjoy just being able to revel in their knowledge of children’s and young adult fiction. There was a sense that it left them with an even greater desire to go out and read some of the books which they heard questions about but had not yet read, which is of course the most important thing,” Mr Ulyet added.

The winning Year 8 team comprised: Yashaswar Kotakadi; Leo Dane-Liebesny; Ishaan Mehta and Conall Walker.

The Year 7 runners-up were: Parth Kapadia; Arjun Patel; Ewan Penhale and Siddharth Sridhar.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn paused during election day to publish a new poem by award-winning poet and Old Elizabethan, Anthony Anaxagorou.

Mr Corbyn tweeted a video of Anthony reading aloud the polemical piece, which was commissioned by Labour (see below to read it). The party last night confou nded initial expectations by depriving the Conservatives of their overall majority. He praised the 186-word poem and urged voters to get out to the polling stations: “Powerful words from the poet @Anthony1983 [Anthony Anaxagorou]. Vote before 10pm.”

It is another QE connection for the Labour leader, whose own son, Benjamin, attended the School from 1998 to 2000, albeit against Mr Corbyn’s wishes.

Anthony (OE 1994-1999), whose tweets urged people to vote Labour, was filmed delivering the poem against a red background including the Labour slogan, For the Many, Not the Few.

A rising star of the literary world, Anthony is a poet, publisher and educator, who won the 2015 Groucho Maverick Award, which is given to those who have broken the mould and made a significant contribution to culture and the arts. He recently led a six-week workshop for QE’s Year 9 and 10 pupils as the School’s poet-in-residence.

Last month, in an interview in the Independent, journalist Mattha Busby wrote: “You may not have heard of Anthony Anaxagorou yet, but the wordsmith taking on the establishment is one you’ll want to know.”

Busby highlighted Out-Spoken Press, the poetry press founded by Anthony. “Anaxagorou, like many BAME [Black and Minority Ethnic] poets, didn’t feel like the traditional publishing houses represented the people who looked like him and the kind of poetry he was writing,&rdqu o; Busby wrote.

He interviewed the poet just after Anthony had emerged victorious in a debate at the Oxford Union, where he was speaking against the motion that Kanye West is more relevant than Shakespeare.

The interview recounted how Anthony first wrote a book when he became unemployed. Entitled Difficult Place to be Human, its sales far exceeded expectations, selling 8,000 copies – an impressive figure for a largely unknown poet.

The article recounts his successes as a live performer and his work to establish Out-Spoken Live, as a platform for emerging poets.
Anthony also explained why he had taken a decade-long break from writing soon after winning the inaugural Mayor’s Young Poet award in 2003 – a sensitive teenager, he had been upset when the host of a poetry night in Hampstead made a disparaging remark to him.

Today, Anthony not only manages Out-Spoken and runs school workshops, he is also the father of a two-year-old boy, speaks at universities as a guest lecturer and appears on panels discussing issues such as the under-representation of BAME writers in traditional publishing.

 

Anthony’s poem for Labour:

Food bank queues bloated with ghostly nurses,

Brilliant scholars of tomorrow

Who can’t afford the charge of learning,

Bleak conditions where broken workers

Clutch misery in their hands

Contracted to remain inside a repeating zero.

They waged war on wheelchairs and the weak,

Harming those already harmed,

Cutting those already bleeding,

Secondary school children with bellies empty

As a brownfield site,

Corporate greed wishes to privatise

The last section of sky,

A minimum wage set by a group of suits

Who’ve always had enough,

Now we have had enough,

Awake and electric, we will vote with our lives,

With the plight of others in mind,

As sure as the echo that follows sound,

There will be no more forgetting,

No more ignoring the hand we hold out

Where a vote is not just an x in a box,

It’s a scream, a fist, a march, a cry,

Mark it with life and progress,

Mark it red,

As the blood that drums against our veins

Mark it red,

As vacant phone boxes and city bricks,

Mark it red,

As the colours of a sunrise,

We’ll never forget.

---

 

• • To see Anthony reading it, scroll through Jeremy Corbyn’s twitter feed for 8th June 2017 – https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn