Archive for the 'Young Readers' Category

One of the most influential and respected authors in Australia is Ivan Southall. He was a prolific writer whose main works, mostly for children and teenagers, were published in the 1960s and 70s. He had a profound influence upon me as a teacher and writer. I think I’ve read most of his books; it’s about [...]

Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege of attending a book launch. Rosanne Hawke, one of my lecturers in my Master of Arts Creative Writing Course, is a writer of children’s books. This new book is her 15th book to be published, and her third picture book.
The Wish Giver
Written by Rosanne Hawke and her daughter Lenore [...]

One of the units I am studying at present is called Writing for children. Our lecturer is award winning author Rosanne Hawke. In our early lectures and workshops we looked closely at how to write picture book texts. Writing this kind of book is a passion for me; I love reading them and sharing them [...]

Last week in my writing for children course the lecturer handed out a card to each student in the workshop. We were not to show anyone the word on the card. She then asked us to write for about five minutes illustrating the word in some way.
Here is a list of some of the words:
fear, [...]

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Writing that is easy to read is certainly hard to write.
Many misinformed people think they will start their writing career by writing picture book texts for children “because they are so simple they must be easy.” This assumption is totally wrong.
Have you ever tried to write a very [...]