Authorfest

On Tuesday April 12th, WHS held our annual Authorfest in the new auditorium with two great authors, teen fiction writer Kim Savage and non-fiction historian,Stephen Puleo. Winchester’s own author Kim Savage spoke about her debut novel, After the Woods, and gave insight into what it takes to be an author of teen fiction. Kim explained that she had an “ulterior motive”- to encourage students to write their stories and even offered to have students send her their ideas so she could provide feedback. Kim introduced the process of writing a book, from finding a literary agent, to the many rounds of editing, to how to crowd source using social media platforms like Wattpad, an online community for readers and writers. Stephen Puleo spoke about his novel, The Caning, the often overlooked story of the 1856 assault of Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the US senate by South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks. Stephen has a background as an award-winning newspaper reporter, has taught history at Suffolk University in Boston and holds a master’s degree in history from UMass-Boston. The Caning, highlights how politically divided we were as a nation back in the 1850’s and carries many parallels to today’s political climate. Stephen spoke about his immense research and about finding compelling narratives and personal stories to inspire a love for history.  It was a great day and students asked so many great questions.