Many Fremd students read books throughout the years, growing attached to fictional characters and gaining great respect for authors. Fremd Writers Week is an annual event where students can meet these authors and hear written works from their classmates as well. Writers Week XXVIII will take place from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4. 

Last school year, Writers Week was hosted virtually due to the pandemic. However, with Fremd students back in person this school year, Writers Week XXVIII will return back into the Kolze Auditorium. A variety of changes have been made to re-adapt to an in person Writers Week.

Writers Week organizer and English teacher Russell Anderson explains how the Writers Week format has changed for this school year.

“It will feel very similar to previous [in-person] Writers Weeks, but we are a bit limited in the amount of students that are allowed in the auditorium at any given time,” Anderson said. “We’re going to have a YouTube channel that’s going to archive all of [the video recordings] so teachers and students who are not in the auditorium can see the performances that way.”

In addition to adapting to COVID protocols, the YouTube channel is also useful by giving non-Fremd students access to Writers Week. While watching a video rather than seeing favorite authors in person can be a vastly different experience, utilizing the YouTube video option will create a much safer environment for both presenter and audience members.

In regard to speakers themselves, guests from all over the nation have been invited to visit Fremd and talk about what being an author is like, and the importance of the written word. Some Fremd students and staff will also be presenting during Writers Week, sharing their personal stories and explaining their significance. Some of the guests include Mark Oshiro, Kwama Mbalia, Joshua Nguyen, Sam Weller, and Hot Alice. 

Finally, a teacher band called FANBOYS plays during Writers Week, illuminating the week with Fremd’s own musical twist. The band, consisting of Mr. Anderson, Mr. O’Donnell, Mr. Hayes, Mrs. Gerber, Mrs. Braverman, Mr. Hammond, and Mr. Dawson, puts a “Fremd spin” on popular song lyrics according to Anderson, which will round out the week. 

FANBOYS has been a highlight at Fremd since Writers Week XIII, 15 years ago. It’s brought a lot of humor and fun to Writers Week as a whole and presents a concert that many students look forward to, seeing their teachers on stage and performing. FANBOYS contributes to the festive and relaxing Writers Week mood, even after winter break is over and classes are back in session.

The in-person return of Writers Week has been long awaited for by many teachers and students enthusiastic to welcome the event back to Fremd’s Kolze auditorium. 

Anderson shares his thoughts on the return of Writers Week to an in-person setting.

“I am extremely excited for an in person Writers Week,” Anderson said. “We’re proud of what we were able to put together last year for the students, but there’s an energy in the auditorium that is hard to replicate anywhere else. I am really looking forward to that feeling again this year.”

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