St. Charles North received 20 awards at the literary convention, LitFest. LitFest is a convention where writing students can submit work in order to compete as well as get feedback. In January many St Charles North students submitted work. Then on April 17 attendees enjoyed the event together. North students submitted a total of 53 writing pieces, and 18 students attended. Twenty students received accolades at the convention.
The event this year started with a keynote speaker, Mary Kubica, who presented about a topic not often covered: failure. The award-winning author shared how, for her first book, she sent out 100 different requests for publication, and received 100 rejections. Her speech showcased the importance of resilience in the writing field.
“She gave some advice to writers- when you’re writing your first try is not always going to work, but you have to push past,” said Kessler.
After the keynotes speaker, there were six different workshops offered, one for every section of competition (Descriptive Sketch, Dramatic Scene, Poetry, Spoken Word Poetry, Short Fiction and Personal Essay).
“[The spoken word poetry workshop leader] had examples from Lucille Clifton, an acclaimed canonical poet and then Nate Marshall. He even compared those poets with Chance the Rapper,” said Battaglia. “After that, he gave application time, and share time.”
Application time allowed the students to view the examples given and write their own poems. After they wrote, share time allowed them to perform in front of the other attendees. The various workshops allow students to get feedback on their writing.
“Both the keynotes speaker and the breakout session I attended emphasized the importance of receiving feedback and sharing your work with others,” said Battaglia.
“It was a very nice and accepting environment for people’s work, everyone was extremely open to talking to people,” said Kessler, who took home second in short fiction.
He also encouraged more writers to attend next year.
“It’s not a judgmental environment at all. If you win an award, great, if you don’t, you don’t. No one cares,” said Kessler. “I would do it because they give feedback to everyone. It’s great to hear that feedback, it really helps you develop your writing.”
The event itself is an opportunity for writers of any level to share their work and allow them to receive guidance. Both Battaglia and Kessler emphasized how important it is for future writers to receive feedback, as it allows them space to work on their personal style while also growing. Battaglia shared how LitFest is an event that caters to the needs of young writers. The structure of the event is great at giving the attendees a rich experience.
“They always have engaging, professional authors,” said Battaglia.
At the event, North senior Sloane Klein won third place in short fiction. Sophomore Aiden Kessler won second place in short fiction. Junior Isabella Adriatico earned first and third place in poetry, as well as two critic’s choice awards. These awards are not placed, but are picked by each judge as their favorite work of LitFest. Other students also received 14 honorable mentions.
To read any of the content submitted by these authors, keep an eye out for the literary magazine coming out in the beginning of May. Creative Writing Club encourages anyone looking to find their place in the writing world to attend their final open mic night of the year, Tuesday, April 30 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
