James Holland, a school friend of Mr Petrie, visited the Department on Friday 20th November to give a talk to the Year 12 Language/Literature students. James is now a very highly regarded historian, writing the definitive studies of World War II in Africa and Italy, as well as a series of novels about the fictional "Sergeant Jack Tanner". James spoke to the students about the art of constructing effective dialogue in fiction, as well the author's need to "show not tell" in descriptive passages. The students were then set the task of producing their own passages of writing, putting James' advice into practice, which they succeeded in doing most impressively.