Dim's Write Stuff

For the last few SCBWI Australia East & New Zealand Conferences, I've been involved as a Roving Reporter and for the last two, including the most recent 2019 Conference in Sydney in February, I had the absolute good fortune of assuming the mantel of Head Blogger, aka Media Coordinator, aka Head Gardener, aka Rocking Rover. Not bad for one of the world's biggest Luddites. Fortunately, coordinating social media feeds, compiling a comprehensive blog log of every detail of the conference and directing a merry band of roving reporters is not just a matter of operating a smart phone - thank goodness! We'd be reading conference reports on slabs of slate if it were. Why I did it One of the most satisfying aspects of this role is the opportunity to nurture a fertile group of talented women (and man!) and witness the creative fruits of their labour flourish into useful, usable resource. (Yes, I adopted a slight flora turn of phrase for the blogging event this year.) Ea...

The words on the banner above state that I possess a desire to make reading and writing more inspired for children. They are not spoken lightly. As part of the Coomera Rivers SS Book Week in May festivities, I have the privileged honour of being their guest author. Throughout the week I've been presenting writing workshops and reading sessions to over 500 primary aged kids and their teachers. Nothing gives me more of a buzz than a room full of enthusiastic faces and arms thrust so far into the air (to proffer answers and anecdotes) I'd swear their fingers were full of helium. Together we explored the purpose, importance and structure of story telling. They discussed what makes a good read. They shared their reading secrets and writing aspirations with me. They set free their creative selves with exuberant abandon. And they committed to every writerly task asked of them. They enthused over the marvellous Book Fair displays in their i Centre with...

Coomera Rivers State School  launched itself into National Book Week today with all engines blazing. Enthusiastic teachers and volunteer parents transformed the recently opened school's i Centre (library) into a vibrant journey of countries around the globe in keeping with the One World, Many Stories theme. A tour of the World Each class put together fantastic displays depicting all corners of the world including the Arctic, Africa, Asia and Australia.    To promote a love of all things literary, a Galaxy Book Fair is also running all week courtesy of Scholastic Books . Kids can browse through the hundreds of titles on display and purchase their favourites as well as participate in some fantastic competitions.   Angela shows grade 4s how easy it is   Last but by no means least, to celebrate the art of story telling and the magic of reading, local, well known and talented children's author and illustrator, Angela Sunde  w...