Trip to Hastings Literary Festival 2019
On Saturday morning the English Department took a train journey along the coast to take part in the annual Hastings Literary Festival. Fifteen A-level pupils joined a panel discussion on dystopian literature chaired by a professor from Sussex University.
Speakers included Richard Blair, George Orwell’s son, and Kevin Brooks, YA author. Pupils asked complex questions of the panel and enjoyed seeing one of their course components being scrutinised and explored outside the confines of the classroom. Encompassing topics such as totalitarian governments and anarchism, dystopian fiction has become a staple of the young adult genre of literature, perhaps indicative of the questions, doubts and concerns that are now a very present part of 21st century living.
