A very special tradition at AISL is that of the poet laureate, who is chosen annually based on the top poem submitted as part of the annual secondary writing contest. Award categories include short stories and poetry, with separate award categories for middle school and high school. A panel of judges comprised of a parent, a student, and three faculty members (from various departments) read submissions without knowing who has submitted them. The committee then recognizes the top submissions for each category. 

This tradition receives tremendous support from the AISL PTA, which provided 3500 kwacha in prize money and beautiful trophies for this year's contest. We recognized this year's top submissions during a secondary assembly, at which students read excerpts from their pieces. Thank you to Head of English, Mr. Michael Ryan, for continuing this tradition at AISL. Please congratulate our students:

Great news! We still have room for a few more parent volunteers who'd be willing to share any aspect of their culture with our secondary students for this year's Worldfest. If you've been thinking about it but haven't signed up yet, it's not too late to do so! We're hoping that five more people will volunteer so we can have appropriately-sized groups attending the sessions. You are welcome to work with a partner(s).

The cultural activities part of the day will run from 10:00-12:30 on Thursday 18 April.

Parents offering sessions will organize a 25-minute activity with enough supplies to do the same activity five times (students will rotate through in groups of approximately 12 at a time).

These activities should be interactive & fun, and could take any form, such as:
- Craft activity
- Art activity
- Games
- Trivia contests
- Songs
- Dance
- Interactive presentation

We promise that teens & tweens are AWESOME age groups to work with and that our AISL students are affable, polite, and willing to try new experiences. 

We will happily reimburse you for any expenses incurred and can help organize sports equipment or other necessary items.

​Please sign up here to add your details to our planning spreadsheet. If you have any questions, please stop by to see or email Secondary Librarian Terry Maguire or Secondary Teacher Tom Potter.

In 2015 we were honored to host Caine Prize-winning author Namwali Serpell at AISL. The Caine Prize is awarded annually to the best short story published by a writer from the African continent. The writer then customarily travels to his or her country of origin to receive the prize. This was the first time that a Zambian author had won the prize. 

It is no surprise that Ms. Serpell's first novel, The Old Drift, published this March, has been met with immediate glowing critical acclaim. Opening in Livingstone and following four generations and Zambia's history, the novel explores complex issues of race, development, the role of women, and post-colonial themes. Her writing is richly detailed, powerful, and lush. The New York Times has published two rave reviews of the novel this past week alone- one by Dwight Garner & one by world-renowned author Salman Rushdie.

We are thrilled and honored that Ms. Serpell is willing to spend her very limited time back in Zambia this June with a visit to AISL (she is a professor at University of California at Berkeley). She will actually be coming directly from the airport to AISL for a 17:00 pm book launch in our Palm Pavilion on Wednesday 12 June! On Friday 14 June she will offer a large-scale launch in town at the National Gallery. 

The AISL Library is happy to help you purchase your copy of the book in advance through Penguin Randomhouse Publishers of Zambia. The cost per copy is 150 kwacha (please help us by bringing exact change if you can). Orders will close on Monday 15 April. That gives us time to get the copies here for you & for you to read in advance (566 pages). A limited number of copies will be for sale at the event.

​If you have any questions, please see or write secondary librarian Terry Maguire or a member of our library staff. We hope you can make it! We know the timing is tricky as it's the end of the year, but it was too fabulous an opportunity to pass up!

With crafts, food, external vendors, music performances, face painting and of course the highlight, Santa's visit, the very first AISL PTA Holiday Fair was a resounding success - the only trouble is we have to wait an entire year for the next one...!

Photo Credit: Robert Johnson ​

Please consider donating for the Bauleni Special Needs Project. Check out the poster below for more details:

The PTA Liaison Officers will be in the Library Lounge at 07:30 on Thursday, 29 November. Please see poster below for more information!