MEET THE AUTHOR – A General Event for all ages

Sessions can be be adapted for schools, libraries or literary festivals. A behind-the-scenes informative, fun exposure of how a tiny seed of inspiration becomes a published story, whether a short chapter book, or a full length novel. Includes Q&A on the fascination of writing historical adventures like SWEET ADVERSITY.

STORIES ARE FUN! – Early Childhood’s 4 to 8 year olds

An interactive session for Preps to Year 3, using puppets, songs and big books to help activate and enthuse young children in the magic of storytelling. E.g…

1. DOUBLE-TROUBLE: How to create a story from 2 words + the all-important question, What if?
2. SCAREDY CROW: Using narrative to explore drama, language, friendship, and bravery. Young Scaredy Crow is afraid of everything, but with the help of three tiny mice, he learns to be brave – with surprising results.

WRITING WORKSHOPS – Middle Primary to Early High School

Interactive sessions for Years 4 to 8 examples.

1. There’s a bear in there and a story as well. How to find story ideas that work, and where to take them.
2. No more cardboard-cutouts! How to create a real-life protagonist your reader will love.
3. Dinosaur bones and other bits and pieces. How to plan and develop a story around prehistory.
4. Making history come alive. The Great Depression in Australia. Tips on writing stories from the past and bring them to life. Narrative text: SWEET ADVERSITY. This workshop is designed to help students to ‘step into the shoes’ of children from the past; to engage students in an interesting and real-life way with the Australian Curriculum Learning Areas of English, and Humanities and Social Sciences, and History. (Check out ABC’s My Place learning videos) Great connection to my historical adventure, Sweet Adversity.
5. Thrills and Skills – Writing Flash Fiction. The ability to write a short story might be part of the Australian Curriculum, but it doesn’t need to end up being a chore. Writing short stories is easy to learn and great fun. I know this for a fact after creating the Facebook ’52-week Flash Fiction Challenge’ and writing a short, short story every week for a year. Crazy, but a fab way to develop a multitude of writing skills.