Whoever developed the left-brain, right-brain theory clearly hasn’t met 15-year-old Sydney Brandolino. The Year 11 student has plans to study neuroscience, but it’s the creative side of her brain that has won her accolades in recent times.
Sydney has had her original story It’s Only Natural – about gene-edited children – included in the Young NZ Writers 2021 Anthology, following her success in the Write Off Line competition. Her work was one of a handful of original stories selected from more than 700 entries across 100 New Zealand schools.
“I’ve done a few other small competitions, but this was my first big win, so it’s definitely a bit of an encouragement,” she says. “My mum told me about the competition and I thought it would be fun to give it a try.”
Sydney already had a story idea brewing, which luckily fitted the prompt. “I often write pieces for certain competitions, but it’s a bonus if I already have an idea in mind,” she says. It was while riding the bus that It’s Only Natural started to form. “The story itself takes place in a world where almost every child is gene edited, and the ones who aren’t often work as labourers. The richer you are, the better gene editing you can afford, and the smarter and prettier your kids will be. The protagonist, Cris (a reference to the CRISPR gene editing technology), is a (somehow) swiched-on gene-edited kid, and the first gene-edited student at her prep school. The story follows her running away from the school with her (fellow-revolutionary) best friend, Alma, after they’re falsly accused of murder.”
Writing since she was 8 (a haiku poem), Sydney says her love of creative writing grew out of a school project when she was 10. “I started taking some writing courses at Intermediate and wrote a lot more of my own stories – which were by no means good, but awkward first stories are bound to happen!
Sydney is Deputy Editor-In-Chief of Westlake’s Parallax literary and arts journal, after joining the creative team as a foundation member in 2019. “I thoroughly enjoy getting to work with such amazing people,” she says. “I contribute work to both the journal (end of year release) and the magazine – which will be out in a few weeks. I highly recommend people check it out.”
While Sydney is planning on a career in neurochemistry or neuroscience, she wants to continue writing as a hobby.
The Young NZ Writers 2021 Anthology will be available after 18 June at www.youngnzwriters.weebly.com