Students connected with Illawarra authors such as Sue Whiting at the Children’s Literary Lunch. Photos: Keeli Royle.
Children’s authors from the Illawarra and beyond have met with the region’s most avid young readers to inspire the next generation to continue their love for literature and encourage them to pick up a pen themselves.
More than 100 students from across the Illawarra attended the annual Children’s Book Council of Australia’s (CBCA) Illawarra and South Coast Children’s Literary Lunch and celebrated their love for reading while learning from local experts.
CBCA Illawarra and South Coast President Louise Saint-John said the unique opportunity helped students further develop their enthusiasm for literature.
“It’s about connecting students with authors, promoting literacy and literature so that the students actually see who are the people behind the stories,” Louise said.
“They like to meet their heroes and it’s about developing their literature knowledge.”
The event has been running for more than a decade, with many students like Harlie Mooney and Anna Pearson returning year after year to engage with different authors.
“It’s just really nice meeting all the authors and getting to know them and how their stories got to be told and published,” Harlie said.
“It’s really cool because you get to see inside their head and what they would do in the process,” Anna said.
The insight was vital for aspiring writers like Keira High’s Raha Pakizehjane to help them turn their dreams into a reality.
“I love writing and I want to write my own book one day and just want to get inspired by how they did it,” Raha said.
“I can feel like one day I will be that person right there.”
Specialising in a range of genres and target age ranges, the 10 authors each brought something new to the learning experience.
Among them was Illawarra’s Sue Whiting, who has written more than 75 books, from educational to fictional, despite not realising her talent until well into adulthood.
“I wasn’t really interested in writing through school; I thought I was a terrible writer and had no confidence, but I was always a reader,” Sue said.
“And when I was a primary school teacher I fell in love with kids books and my passion for children’s literature out of that grew this desire to write, so I really didn’t start writing until I was 39.”
It was important to her to foster the creativity and imagination of the next generation.
“These events are so important for the kids,” she said.” It puts books and reading and the joy of writing and making stories in the spotlight and gives them the chance to celebrate that in a way is so different to how they do at school.
“They get plenty of opportunities to go and do things with drama and go and do things with music and things with sport and this is sort of the equivalent – celebrating books and reading and writing in a similar kind of way.”
Keeping young readers engaged in the activity as they get older continues to be a struggle, with recent research by Deakin University revealing that almost 30 per cent of high school aged students did not read for pleasure at all, with another 17 per cent reading less than once a week.
“There’s a lot of distractions now and I think it is more difficult than ever,” Sue said.
“In that older teenage year there’s so much going on plus they have to read for school and study and I think it’s natural that they might not read as much so I think it’s a matter of getting that passion ingrained in them from a young age so once they get older they’ll come back to it because it’s such a big part of their life.”
Year Seven students Charlize Latham and Holly Smith made sure they kept up the skill by putting it in their everyday routine.
“I read every night before I go to bed and it’s just great,” Holly said.
“I prioritise reading because it helps with spelling and work at school. I just find time before I go to bed and when I’m not doing anything and pick up a book instead of going online,” Charlize said.
For these girls, as with many other young people, their love for reading was forged by the passions of those around them.
“I’ve always loved reading and my parents would read to me when I was really little so that kind of sparked it,” Charlize said.
“My family and that encouraged me to read and I’ve just loved it so much,” Holly said.
But an early start isn’t the only way, with fellow Year Seven student Emily Slawski proving that relationships formed later in childhood can still influence interest in the activity.
“Honestly I have never been the biggest reader; I’ve never thought it was fun, but my friends have been helping me read more and I became a library monitor too which helps to see what other people like,” Emily said.
“A lot of my friends like different stuff to me but I’m open to trying new things so that really helps.”
And Louise Saint-John hoped the literary lunch could be a springboard to starting conversations between peers and spread the passion.
“They can go back to their schools after this and write lots of stories and say what fun they had,” Louise said.
“It gives them that positive connection with books.”
FAVOURITE FINDS FROM FIVE PASSIONATE YOUNG READERS
Photo: Dymocks.
Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
“I love how he’s so brave and it’s all about Greek mythology and I love all the gods and all their personas.” – Quinn
Photo: Dymocks.
Sweet Valley Twins by Francine Pascal
“I love the illustrations and the drama. I have all three books. It’s so good.” – Bonnie
Photo: Dymocks.
Weirdo by Anh Do
“I like how it’s embracing that it’s OK to be weird and it’s just really funny and makes me laugh a lot. It’s just such a classic.” – Finn
Photo: Dymocks.
Wings of Fire: The Dangerous Gift by Tui T. Sutherland
“I can’t stop reading it; I read it every time I go to my grandparents’ house. I like the plot.” – Lachlan
Photo: Dymocks.
Wings of Fire: Winter Turning by Tui T. Sutherland
“I just like the adventure. It’s just interesting and fun to read.” – Brendan
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