Library's Literature
Melbourne Writers Festival Excursion
On Tuesday 7 May, 18 intrepid readers and writers ventured to State Library Victoria to participate in the Melbourne Writers Festival Secondary School’s program. We saw four Young Adult authors, all with different stories to tell.
Biffy James entertained us with her tales of writing in lockdown and her eccentric writing style.
Mike Lucas, author of both picture books and Young Adult thrillers, talked about “getting the fright right” – how to write scary stories.
Steve Mushin, engineer and futurist, presented his amazing book, Ultrawild, full of ideas on how we can work better with our planet’s resources and welcome nature back to our cities.
Lastly, we heard from Astrid Scholte about her long and winding writing and publishing journey from aspiring novelist to author of four internationally best-selling books for Young Adults. All in all the day was a fabulous success and enjoyed by all.
The speaker I liked the most was Steve Mushin because his intentions were similar to mine; conserving nature and leaving it untouched. What he talked about was very interesting, and I was curious to how he would "rewild" the world.
— Nishith Rajanbabu (8 Lombard)
I liked Biffy James the most. She spoke in a way that did not sound scripted but was still somewhat on-topic while also being funny at the same time.
— Methul Atapattu Arachchi (9 Coghlan)
I learnt from Astrid Scholte that you cannot become an author in a day. You need to put in the effort, overcome writer's block, and to be prepared to deal with rejection from publishers.
— Vincent Nigro (8 James)
The speakers were amazing, some educational, and some quite interesting. It was great overall, thank you to the teachers who accompanied us in the city!
— Lucas Velasqez (8 Coghlan)
Joel McKerrow Visit
On Monday 6 May, 2024, Year 8 students were treated to a visit by performance poet, Joel McKerrow as part of their Poetry unit. Joel is the author of several books of poetry for young people, as well as the new graphic novel, Urban Hunters. He talked about how poetry is an essential tool for self expression. He performed several of his poems to great acclaim. Students were surprised to realise that the music they listen to is also poetry. Going through his creative process, Joel led students through writing their own poems, with astounding results. He taught them not to be afraid of making mistakes – “every first draft is terrible!” – and to not be afraid to say what they need to say in their poems. “What you have to say is more important than the fear that stops you saying it.”
I learnt that you don’t have to make a good poem at the start of your thinking or brainstorming, but just keep writing as the words will flow and you can start to tie what you are saying with some sort of issue or anything in particular that may have an influence on you or just something in general.
— Brendan Roberts (8 Mannix)
I liked the part where we could create our own poems. It was fun because it gave me time to just write everything that came up first.
— Devassy Pynadath (8 James)
I learned that a lot of different things such as music are just different forms of poetry.
— Xavier Kostic (8 Coghlan)
I enjoyed his slam poetry when he was presenting because he showed so much emotion in some lines.
— Calvin Quach (8 Gavin)
The fun continued with a poetry workshop where Joel went into the creative process in more depth, going from the inspiration to write through to construction and re-drafting. He encouraged students to “think on the page” – that is, to write as their ideas come.
I learnt to not procrastinate by a stream of consciousness, bad work can be edited into good pieces, and poetry lets you express the portion of you that is hidden.
— Thai Nguyen (8 James)
I found the poetry workshop to be incredibly valuable and inspiring. Joel McKerrow did a fantastic job of encouraging creativity and providing helpful feedback on our work. The exercises and prompts given were thought-provoking and really helped to spark my imagination. Overall, I feel that this workshop has not only improved my poetry writing skills but also reignited my passion for the art form.
— Aiden Nguyen (8 Simonds)
