Earlier this week Rob Forbes, an English teacher at Kyneton Secondary College, wrote a thought provoking opinion piece in The Age. Titled‘Corporate-speak sucks the life out of our education system’ the piece discussed the power of language in shaping thought and identity and the way this power is increasingly misused across different parts of contemporary society including politics, the education sector and the corporate world. The danger of this corporate speak, Forbes wrote, is that it can ‘deaden’ minds and ‘contract our horizons’; a scary proposition when considering the role of education.

Reading the piece brought to mind three events from over the past week. The first was a type of booking enquiry we regularly receive from a secondary school teacher asking for guidance in selecting an author capable of engaging a less academically inclined English class. The others were at various events – standing in a crowd of spell-bound folk listening to Cate Kennedy read a poem at the launch of her latest collection on Friday and sitting at the launch of The Emerging Writers Festival and hearing Meg Mundell sweep the audience into another realm with the artistry of her words. For Rob’s piece closes with the question ‘who do we want to help create the minds of future generations – rigid-thinking bureaucrats, or vibrant real people who speak and write language young people understand?’ Over the last week, as per any week of the year, various ‘Booked Outers’ have been visiting schools, libraries and festivals doing just that – using their skills as wordsmiths to engage, excite and open up new worlds.

• Tanya Massy, Booked Out.