For the past decade, Trinity’s annual Author Fest has been one of the many highlights of the school year. It gives students the opportunity to interact with authors from across Florida and learn about the creative process that these authors go through. However, this year, Author Fest will be going through some major changes as it celebrate its 10th anniversary.
“For the first time, the authors are going to work with 13 middle school and upper school English classes and one musical theatre class during the school day,” Director of Library and Information Services Lee De Groft said. “They’re going to be doing workshops with these students.”
These workshops, termed Author Invasion, will have authors show students how to construct narratives and bring their ideas to life through writing, storytelling and even acting in musical theater. Each workshop will be tailored to the focus of the class and the expertise of the author.
“It is going to vary,” De Groft said. “The author who’s working with Intro to Musical Theatre is going to be doing drama games and [showing] how dialogue from books can translate to the stage. [Author] Amar Shah is going to be working with channeling your passion for sports into writing. [These authors] all have their specialties.”
The hope with the new workshop design is to allow for a more immersive experience.
“I am most excited to see the authors actually go into the classrooms [and] talk about their stories,” freshman Akkaash Naidu said. “I really think that’s going to be really helpful towards students who want to maybe become writers in their future.”
For students with a strong interest in fiction writing, Author Invasion will allow for the deepening of that pursuit through the advice of experienced authors.
“Students who are very passionate about English will gain insightful help with whatever they need,” Naidu said. “Maybe they don’t have the help they need right now, and I think this is just what these students need.”
In addition to these workshops, Trinity will offer events that appeal to students with interests not just based on literature. For example, one of these events will be based around sports and utilizing them for the many different aspects of life.
“I’m giving a keynote speech to student athletes on the ideas within the book,” said Ciaran McCardle, author of “The Soccer of Success: How the Beautiful Game Can Help You Achieve Goals in Business and Life.” “It will relate to the ideas around sports and will be fun because they live and breathe sports.”
McCardle is the founder and CEO of XL Sports World company and will be making his debut as an author with the publication of his book on Jan. 28. He will also be one of the first authors to be a parent of a Trinity student. The message of his book is how sports teach people to become better versions of themselves and gain valuable life lessons.
“It’s how the game teaches us how to be successful,” McCardle said. “So how we better manage our time, how we become better leaders, how we become better doers, better brothers and sisters, better spouses, better parents, better everything.”
In previous years, students with after-school commitments were not able to experience Author Fest. This year, however, Trinity has ensured that all students on campus will be able to participate.
“Because we are having presentations during middle block, every student on campus will get to hear and experience a very well-known published author,” De Groft said. “And then some students will be able to really work one-on-one with them in classes, and then of course afterschool. There will be really something for everybody.”
This year, with many more opportunities for authors to interact with students, authors will have a chance to showcase their creative processes while engaging directly with their audience.
“It will be really nice for the authors to connect with people who’ve read their work,” De Groft said. “They can talk to [students] who are interested in the arts, whether that’s being on the stage or in the movies or writing books and know that it is possible.”
Through Author Fest, students will discover the possibilities that are available to them in the future. Authors will also be able to communicate this with them on a much more personal level than ever before.
“These authors were your age at one point and didn’t know what they were going to do or maybe thought becoming a writer was never going to be a possibility,” De Groft said. “And now they’ve made that happen.”
