Stairway to success 

Rhyme as you climb

Aidan Coelho (9La) has become an overnight literary success with a guaranteed readership of hundreds of people a day. 

His words adorn the stairs of The Arthur Holt Library at Summer Hill – his prize for winning a competition to mark World Poetry Day. 

All 24 lines of his winning entry were affixed to the stair risers so that visitors to the library could read it in ascending order as they make their way up, from the first line – “A wondrous bolt of excitement and fun” – to the last, “Just pick up a book, it all starts with reading.”

In between lies Aidan’s poetic encouragement to appreciate everything under the sun through the magic of books. 

“The idea came to me pretty quickly. I had it written in a day or two,” said Aidan. 

“I’ve always liked poetry and writing. Usually, I might write about social issues, or just fantasy stories.” 

Librarian Vicki Courtenay said the theme of the competition for Middle School students was ‘It all starts with reading’. 

“Aidan’s poem will stay up for the rest of the year, replacing Edgar A Guest’s poem, ‘Don’t Quit’, on the library stairs. 

“The poetry submissions needed to be 12 or 24 lines long, because of the number of stairs, and the entries we received were truly special.” 

Second place went to Charlie Anderson (9Hi), and third to August Li (7He). Highly commended efforts came from George Housseas (7We) and Eason Peng (7La).