Prose Festival
GHS Prose Festival 2025: A Celebration of Storytelling
The biennial Prose Festival once again showcased the incredible creativity of our students, bringing together young writers from the GHS Lower School for an evening of imaginative storytelling. Tasked with crafting flash fiction inspired by coastal landscapes, the finalists took the stage to share their evocative and powerful pieces in front of an engaged audience. With the esteemed author Cliff McNish as Head Judge, the evening promised – and delivered – a celebration of literary talent.
Here, Year 9 student Alexis reflects on the night:
Where else in GHS can you find the darkest docklands, sun-dappled cliffs and mysterious marshes? The 2025 Prose Festival, of course! On the evening of the 25th of February, a handful of finalists from Years 7, 8 and 9 came together to perform their 200-250 word pieces of ‘flash fiction’ about different coastal edges. And what a selection we heard!
Whilst we watched the tables fill up and waved eagerly to our parents, many of us noticed author Cliff McNish arrive, who was to be our Head Judge for the evening. He has written several inspiring works, including ‘Angel’, ‘The Hunting Ground’ and ‘Savannah Grey’. Finally, as the clock struck 7pm, the festival began.
The evening kicked off with Year 7 performing their entries to us, with the theme of ‘Cliffs’. There was a spectrum of pieces, from the liberation of being by the waters to the sensitive and moving topic of grief. It was clear that the upmost thought had been put into all these entries.
After a well-deserved round of applause, we moved onto the Year 8 category of ‘Marshlands’. As you can imagine, this theme did inspire some of the darker works of the evening. We had a mixture of mythological creatures, lifeless beings and horror. None of they all displayed incredible writing skills and inspiring creativity.
The interval quickly passed, and it was swiftly onto Year 9 who closed the night. We had the theme of docklands: think fishmongers in turmoil to futuristic sea monsters. The Year 9s did not disappoint, with everyone truly engaging the audience with the stories they told.
As the end of the night approached, fantastic awards were handed out and the audience of parents, teachers and siblings celebrated our very worthy winners. What an amazing evening it was – a huge thanks to the English Department for organising the event!
By Alexis W-W, Year 9
