
Meet the Writers Festival
Each year, the South Australian English Teachers’ Association hosts a ‘Meet the Writers Festival’ for students at the Adelaide Convention Centre. This year, 20 Endeavour Middle School students won the opportunity to whet their ‘literary appetites’ at this prestigious event. A number of esteemed authors hosted the event and provided workshops where the students could hear first-hand from the authors about the art of writing with literary merit.
Here are some of the comments from our students:
I found the Meet the Writers excursion an incredible experience as we heard from inspiring authors, including Jackie French and John Marsden. We were able to hear from two writers of our choice to learn about their inspiration for their books and some tips for writing. Jackie French asked us if we would like to take a ‘pill’ to improve our intelligence and it was no surprise to learn that pill is reading books! Jemma
My experience at the Meet the Writers event was not only educational, it was inspirational. Each writer was able to fill my head with new literary techniques and stories of what caused them to start a profession as a writer. Jackie French’s story, in particular, was most inspiring. She was kicked out of her home when she was young and her only possessions were books. These books gave her hope and inspired her to start writing. This story certainly warmed many peoples’ hearts, including mine. I am very lucky to be able to attend this event and am hoping that I will be able to attend the next. Saxon
Meet the Writers is an annual event held by the South Australian English Teachers Association. It is an incredible opportunity to see over 10 different authors talk about their passion and love of books. This year 20 students from Endeavour College journeyed to the Adelaide Convention Centre to hear a range of Australian authors speak including keynote speeches by literary legends, Jackie French and John Marsden. When we arrived, we headed into the main room for the first keynote where we listened to Jackie French speak about the power of books. After a brief lesson in the language of wombats, she described books as being like magic pills that give you empathy and social skills. She taught us that books have the power to change the world for the better. Portia
Kristen Weidenbach spoke to us about the effort needed to create a successful non-fiction book. Several interviews need to be made to ensure that all information is correct and long hours of research are required. She showed us all of her notes from previous books and talked about how she has to write down particular notes continuously to remember key points. I found Kristen’s speech intriguing and informative. You could tell by her notes and speech that she is a very successful and experienced author. Emmaline
Allayne Webster spoke to us about the meanings behind her books. It gave us a great insight into how significant books are and their importance in today’s society. Secondly, she explained the process required to become a writer. This was extremely interesting as we learnt how difficult it can be to get a book published and just how hard being a writer can be. A fascinating fact we learnt was that only 10% of writers earn enough money from writing to live and so most rely on a secondary income. Ashleigh
Cat Davies and Ryan Martin
English Teachers