Students during a private meet and greet with author Lauren Groff. Photo Courtesy LAPS

Los Alamos High School AP English Literature students at the Santa Fe International Literary Festival. Photo Courtesy LAPS

Author Judy Blume, right, waves at the Los Alamos students in the audience, with NPR’s Scott Simon to her left. Photo Courtesy LAPS

LAPS NEWS RELEASE

Students in Los Alamos High School’s AP Literature and Composition class were generously invited by the Santa Fe International Literary Festival (SFILF) to attend talks by celebrated authors Lauren Groff and Judy Blume.

Prior to the festival, interested students voted to study Groff’s recent work Brawlers as an optional additional read for class. They developed and submitted a body of questions to SFILF, which earned them the opportunity for a private meet and greet discussion with
the author. During both of the author talks, the students learned about the writers’ processes, life experiences and contemporary concerns.

LAHS senior Gyasi Atta-Fynn appreciated that the experience was so “interactive and eye-opening.” He particularly loved that Groff “encouraged the audience to go out and question everything you see and hear and to actively engage with the world.”

Graduating senior Madalyn Baily and LAHS alumna Maya Price had the opportunity to volunteer throughout the entirety of the three-day festival and attended talks by Isabel Wilkerson, Allison Bechdel and Ocean Vuong.