Arts Week

This week, Channing has been hooked on the murder mystery genre. Lit Soc and Y8 Literary Officers launched the week with a whole-school assembly in which they debated who is the Queen of Crime – the legendary crime writer Agatha Christie or the rising star of young-adult fiction, Holly Jackson.

Team Agatha Christie argued that Christie pioneered the success of the genre, developed interesting female characters, and used her knowledge of poisons from her time as a nurse to bring authenticity to her fiction. Team Holly Jackson emphasised the greater connection that modern readers might feel with teenager Pip, who solves crimes whilst doing her A-Levels and uses everything from podcasts to Fitbits in her detective work.

Who was crowned the Queen of Crime? That was left to the audience to decide.

In form time on Monday, all pupils read an extract from Agatha Christie and an extract from Holly Jackson and then voted on their favourite. The winner was… Agatha Christie!

8AK commented that “Jackson is more modern and relatable” and that Christie would benefit from “a romance subplot to engage the reader.” Meanwhile, 12/13RD preferred Christie’s “interwar-period style of writing” and “the lack of modern technology in [her] books, as the solving of the mystery truly relies on the detective’s skills and wit.”

And in the library on Thursday, the plot thickened as pupils took on the role of a detective to solve a murder mystery. They had to use clues left at the crime scene to solve the murder of a fictional library assistant, choosing between three suspects and explaining who, why, and how the murder was committed.

A huge thank you to Molly S, Yasmin O, Eve C, and Opal H from Y12 Lit Soc and Rafaella C and Hettie F from the Y8 Literacy Officers for developing and delivering such an engaging assembly for World Book Day.

History of Art News

On Tuesday 4 March, History of Art and English A Level students were invited to hear Lucy Steeds, a Channing alumna, talk about her new book The Artist. The book is a historical fiction novel set in the 1920s in the South of France.

We were told about how much research and preparation went into the writing of this novel; from reading Art History books to immersing herself in French culture. Lucy shared that she would go to galleries and look at certain paintings for an hour, letting herself write freely while observing a single work. This allowed her to produce more interesting insights into the artwork than simply trying to describe its appearance.

She also spoke about the process of publishing after writing, explaining how she sent her manuscript to agents and collaborated with them to edit and refine her work. It was fascinating to hear about the process behind novel-writing and her journey to becoming an author, starting right here at Channing School.

Lana, Year 13