Clifton LitFest Young Writers’ Event

We were thrilled to be invited to Clifton LitFest’s inaugural Young Adult event at Clifton High School on 14th November. Eight Clifton College students from Years 9 to 11 took part in this engaging day, which was designed to connect aspiring writers from schools across Bristol. A series of talks and workshops spanned fiction, non-fiction, and storytelling in gaming. 

The morning began with a fascinating talk from the journalist Howard Amos, who spoke about his book Russia Starts Here (2025) and his time as a journalist based in Moscow and later in the Pskov region of Russia. The students were split into two groups for workshops; the non-fiction group was expertly guided by the journalist Peter Leonard, and the fiction group worked with the brilliant YA author Rachel Delahaye. The aspiring journalists were given a series of facts and quotations and were tasked with writing a news story with a tight deadline. The fiction group had fun creating their own chain reactions that would lead to devastating dystopias! The final talk of the day came from Emma Marshman, Head of Design and Games at the University of South Wales. Emma spoke passionately about narratives in gaming and shared examples of animation from her students.

We would like to thank Phil Leonard and Clifton LitFest for putting together such an interesting and varied programme, and we’re looking forward to LitFest 2026 already!