Celebrating 100 Years of Roald Dahl Magic!
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The hundred year anniversary of Roald Dahl, one of the greatest children’s authors of Britain, falls on September 13, 2016. The British Council organized many events during the month of August/September to commemorate this milestone.
Three creative writing programmes were conducted by one of the leading English authors in Sri Lanka,
Prashani Rambukwella. The workshops were aimed at introducing children to concepts of creative writing, whilst making sure they had a lot of fun and got a chance to display their talents.
At the workshops, the children were divided into six oddly named groups. They were magical words from
Roald Dahl books. He was famous for creating new words, especially in ‘The BFG’. The children had a great time trying to guess their meanings, until Rambukwella revealed at the end that all six words meant ‘caught’! Each group wrote their own story, learning along the way how to create characters, build worlds and plan the plot of a story.
At the end, it was time to read out the stories they had written, and then there was a vote for the best story. The group that earned the most points during the competitions and games was declared the winner. But as Rambukwella stressed, as everybody took part, had fun and learnt to write a story, they all were winners! Later that evening there was a movie screening of ‘The BFG’ held at the library…. followed by a series of film adaptations of Roald Dahl’s beloved classics.
Captivating as Roald Dahl’s stories are, Quentin Blake’s lively illustrations will always be etched in our minds. Giving a chance for children to develop their artistic talents, a cartoon workshop was conducted on August 29 by the renowned Sri Lankan cartoonist Nirosh Perera. Valuable lessons were learned, such as how to bring out expressions and using props.
The workshop was based on ‘The BFG’ and the children drew its scenes and characters. Each child was to submit a drawing of a scene from a Roald Dahl book. Presently an exhibition of the art work created by the children based on Roald Dahl stories are on display at the Library and as the days pass, more and more pictures will be flowing in.
As the world readies itself to celebrate this anniversary, British Council, Colombo is sure to leave its mark.