Students put skills to practice at Literature Festival

• Thursday, May 18, 2017

For the second year running, students from the University of Roehampton used their skills to support the Barnes Children's Literature Festival, for whom the University is the official Creative Partner.

Roehampton students took advantage of the unique opportunities offered to them by the Barnes Children's Literature Festival over the weekend of 13 and 14 May, putting skills learned through their degree into practice to benefit the community.

Journalism students from the Department of Media, Culture and Language ran a successful press team, covering talks and interviewing guest speakers such as historian Lucy Worsley and, author and illustrator of The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Judith Kerr.

Alison McClintock, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, said ‘Our BA Journalism students value the opportunity to put their learning into practice and cover real life events as you would in a modern newsroom- the students get actual cuttings that they can add to their portfolio’.

In an adapted burger van beside the pond, students created bespoke poetry for festival goers. Following a workshop at the University, two students were invited to write and perform with The Poetry Takeaway, creating made to order poetry for children and adults alike in just fifteen minutes from the van.

The festival, which is the largest dedicated festival for children's literature, featured acts that included Michael Rosen, Nick Sharratt and Clare Balding.