Literary Festival Draws Acclaimed Writers

On Friday, January 10, 2014, St. Mark’s held its seventh annual Literary Festival and welcomed visiting writers from a diverse range of backgrounds. Upper School students had the opportunity to hear from young adult novelist and poet Ron Koertge, acclaimed singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, mathematician and nonfiction contributor to The New Yorker Jim Holt, New York Times bestselling novelist and TIME Magazine writer Lev Grossman, and blockbuster Hollywood screenwriter and alumnus Evan Daugherty ’00.

 

As a special treat, Jill Sobule arrived a day early and serenaded Upper School assembly on Thursday, January 9, with song and stories from her musical career. On Friday, the five writers spoke at a special assembly and shared their own experiences and advice with the students. Each writer then spent the day visiting classrooms, talking with students in a more intimate atmosphere, and answering specific questions.

 

At the end of the day, the writers gathered with students and teachers for a special reception in the Green Library and to announce the winners of the annual writing contest. Numerous student entries in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry were judged by a panel of Upper School teachers and the five visiting writers.

 

The winners were:

 

1^st: Cole Gerthoffer ’14

2^nd: Jonathan Ng ’14

3^rd: Vishal Gokani ’14

 

1^st: Michael Perkins ’14

2^nd: Kobi Naseck ’14

3^rd: Vishal Gokani ’14

 

1^st: Gopal Raman ’17

2^nd: Jonathan Ng ’14

3^rd: Brent Weisberg ’16

 

The Literary Festival is run by student chair William Sydney ’15, vice-chair Will Garden ’16, and faculty sponsor David Brown.