Well, tomorrow is the big kick-off for this year's festival and all the final preparations are well and truly under way. There has been a last minute rush on registrations and the workshops are filling up fast, especially Creating Memorable Characters workshop.
We have only one Publishing Consultation left with Ali Lavau so the first person to contact me this morning will snaffle it. If you haven't registered and would still like to come you will be able to pay at the door but If you are able to email your registration please do. That way I can put you into your workshop. See you tomorrow! We regretfully announce that due to personal reasons Ursula Dubosarsky will be unable to appear at our Adult Festival on Sunday 13th November.
The wonderful Melina Marchetta has generously agreed to step into Ursula's shoes. Melina is the highly acclaimed author of the YA novels Looking For Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son. Her latest book, Froi of the Exiles is the sequel to her first fantasy novel, Finnikin of the Rock. We will be having a book stall at the Gymea Village Fair, this Sunday 29th October where we will be selling the books of all the presenters from this year's festivals.
We will also be holding a raffle with some wonderful prizes including a camcorder, a pack of Glee CD's and many books by our fantastic Aussie authors, some of which have been signed. We will also be selling tickets to the festival so come down and see us and grab your ticket while you're there. I regret to announce that Dianne Bates will no longer be appearing at either our Adult or Children's Festivals this year. However, her sessions will go on as planned with some very exciting additions to our list of presenters.
To take Di's storytelling session at our Children's Festival we welcome the wonderful oral storyteller, Lillian Rodrigues Pang. I have been lucky enough to have been in the audience for one of Lillian's sessions and she is a vibrant, entertaining storyteller who is sure to have the children enthralled. Our newest addition to the Pitch Your Manuscript panel is Judith Ridge. Judith has extensive knowledge of the Australian literary scene, having been an editor, journalist, bookseller and reviewer. She also teaches a popular writing course at the Sydney Writer's Centre and has presented at many writers' festivals including the Sydney Writer's Festival. Though very sorry that Di can no longer make it, we are delighted to have both Lillian and Judith appearing our Festival. This Saturday, 22nd October, we will be having a stall at the Grays Point P.S Octoberfest. There will be an obstacle course and toffee eating competitions for the kids with some great book prizes and we will be selling raffle tickets with a Camcorder and some autographed books as prizes for the adults. Hope to see you there!
We are holding a Fundraising BBQ this Sat 8th Oct from 10am - 2pm outside the Sutherland Superbarn (on the corner of President Ave, across from the train station). We'll also be selling festival tickets and raffle tickets with some great signed books and a camcorder as prizes.If you're in the area, drop by and say hi.
What a wonderful response we have had to our Children's Festival this year. I am delighted to announce that we are now BOOKED OUT.
To those schools who missed out, I wish we could have accepted you all and am hoping that we'll get to see you at our Children's Festival in 2013. A big thanks to the Principal, Mr Rouland and Teacher-Librarian, Mrs Pandelakis at Grays Point P.S for all their hard work in helping to organise this year's festival and for getting A big welcome to award-winning author/illustrator Emma Quay who will be launching her new picture book Nudie Rudie at our Adult Festival this year.
To hear one writer's experiences with pitching her manuscript to an editor at the recent CYA Festival in Qld follow this link to the writing blog of Charmaine Clancy.
There will be two opportunities to get your manuscript in front of an editor at our festival this year. For some one on one time, book into a Publishing Consultation. We have 1 left with Sue Whiting and 5 with Ali Lavau/Frances Watts. Or if you'd like to get feedback from a group of experts as well as see the reaction from our audience of emerging writers, put your name down for our Pitch Your Manuscript competition. |
AuthorJodie Wells-Slowgrove is the founder and of the Sutherland Shire Writers' Festival. She is also a writer, manuscript assessor and teacher-librarian. Jodie's latest publication is a children's fantasy series for Penguin Books 2014, 2015. Archives
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