Writer's Festival

On the 8th of September, 7L had an excursion to the Melbourne Writers Festival with Ms Mullen-Walsh and Mr Toussaint. We took a train up to Melbourne, and had to leave at 8:10am. 

The Melbourne Writers Festival was held in the impressive Capitol Theatre, in which four YA authors were interviewed. These authors were Rhiannon Wilde, Vanessa Len, Tobias Madden and C.S. Pacat. The authors were asked various questions about what it was like to write a book, before the interviewer threw it to the audience of students and teachers to continue the questionnaire. 

Here are Jordan Nash and Lyra Malone's favourite things about the trip:

Lyra: One of my favourite things about the trip was actually taking the train from the Geelong train station to Southern Cross Station in Melbourne. On the way we played games, read books and just talked to each other. Another of my favourite things about the trip was when we had our lunch time interval, in which we got to go to Starbucks! 

Something I also enjoyed was walking to Saint Paul's Cathedral, which was just down the road. We walked around and looked at the beautiful stained-glass windows. I even got to light a candle for Ukraine!

Jordan:An exciting part of my trip was when I got to ask Vanessa Len a question. My question was 'How do you actually start a story?', and the answer was to write heaps down, and overload the first draft, and then you can take out the excess later. One of the other great questions asked was: ‘How do you deal with writers block?’, to which the authors replied 'Write down 20 things stopping you from writing, and then find a solution to every one of those things.' 

It was great to hear from professional writers and get some inspiration for our own creative writing projects! The trip was really fun and I think all of 7L would say we'd love to go again next year. MWF Schools gathers some of Australia’s most essential voices in children’s and young adult literature to delight and inspire students. Speaking to a broad range of topics, including First Nations storytelling and cultures, friendship, identity, mathematics, family, and creativity, our featured authors combine thoughtful consideration of complex ideas with an excitement for the life-changing power of books and stories.

Vic Curriculum Capabilities Addressed: Critical and Creative Thinking & Intercultural Understanding.

Novels from each of the amazing writers involved are available at the MFG school library. 

Annie Mullen

English Teacher