Creative Conversations at Petoskey High School

This morning, I visited an English class at Petoskey High School. We talked about how Tolkien pursued his private hobby of invented languages, and how he expressed his creative world in poetry and myth. We looked at his friendship with C. S. Lewis and considered the implications of Tolkien’s claim that Lewis is the one who helped him to realize that his creative vision had great value and should be shared with others.

The students confessed that they found The Hobbit a bit too detailed and slow for their taste. So we talked a little bit about subcreation and fantasy, and different approaches to writing a story.

It was a great experience, and I think it was a great addition to the month-long C. S. Lewis Literary Festival here in Michigan. For Festival information, check out their website: http://www.cslewisfestival.org/