To everyone at the Rosalie Writers Festival:

I don’t know about you, but I had a load of fun dredging up some of the things I got up to when I was your age. From killer paper planes to all the different ways to fall off a bike, it was a real trip down memory lane.

It wasn’t all spectacular crashes, though. I managed to work in a quick talk on ‘how to put together a short story’, which might have given some of you a few useful tips & ideas.

So, thanks for having me at the school, and I hope to meet up with you all again!

Go here to see a special link on Simon’s site just for Rosalie kids.

Did you know …

… that during the festival, Mark Greenwood was very busy because Frane (Lessac) was in Darwin? So after slaving away each day at the festival, he had to go home and be cook, househusband, cleaner, animal carer and human taxi service. And no one heard him whinge once!

And here’s a message Mark sent this week and asked me to pass on to you:

To the Rosalie students…

I was honored to be invited to the 2008 Rosalie Writer’s Festival.

You - the students - were so enthusiastic and well mannered.

The Rosalie staff made all the authors and illustrators feel very welcome.

I like festivals because it is also a chance for writers to meet and talk. We’re all very close friends. It was a rewarding experience for all of us to share our books and encourage your interest in reading.

Most of the students who came along to my sessions know I’m a bit of a storyteller.

Writing is really just telling a story on paper. But good writing can stimulate the imagination, contain sparkling dialogue, evoke deep emotion, tickle the funny bone or tingle the spine.

My message to all the Rosalie kids is:

Get hooked on reading. Find yourself a good book … one that takes you to places never imagined or shows you things that dazzle your mind.

Find a book that challenges you to think about the world and your place in it. Read a rollicking yarn that tweaks your sense of adventure. Find a book that inspires you to discover more.

A vast treasure of thoughts, deeds and dreams lies waiting to be discovered in books … and reading is the source of knowledge about writing.

Keep reading. Keep writing … and one day it will be one of you – our authors of the future – who will be telling kids how YOU wrote your book!

I’m off to the Crocodile Islands now!! Hmmm I can feel a story brewing!

Best wishes
Mark Greenwood

PS: The Crocodile Islands are off the coast of the Northern Territory in Arnhem land. Frané & I are making books with the Indigenous kids on one of the little islands called Millingimbi which is located 440 km east of Darwin and 206 km west of Nhulunbuy.

People of Rosalie Primary School, and I mean people, not the large, awkward, flat foots, the ones that stand tall, park anywhere and drink smelly stuff in big cups, not them, but you lot, the smaller, tastier folk who can read and write and laugh loud without embarrassment, yes, you lot, I love youse all.

Seriously, I go to lots of primary schools and your mob is about the best ever.

Some of you I can name out loud and say I think you are excellent and that when I’m done with this house I live in you can have it.

But even more seriously, thanks a lot.

Every time I visit Rosalie Primary I have the best fun and it makes me want to live a lot longer.

Yours on planet earth (almost)

Jon Doust

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Rosalie.

Did I mention that on the Tuesday, prior to the festival, I was interviewed on 92.1 RTR-FM about my new book, and that I was attending the Rosalie Writer’s Festival. Rosalie was mentioned 2 or 3 times at least.

The children were so well behaved at the festival.

From the moment I arrived, with shouts of, ‘There he is! Mr Caddy! Mr Caddy! We are your helpers…’, I felt at home, and welcomed.

I must say it is a bit strange that my main character in Whammy! is Dave Thompson, the same name as the year 6 Teacher at Rosalie. Dave Thompson is brave, tough, fantastic, a real hero - the same as your one!

In case you didn’t make it to the evening event - Words and Wine - on Wednesday 21st May, Kate McCaffrey was our speaker. She sent this message today for Rosalie families:

Thanks for having me at Rosalie this year. It was a great night, even though I’d just arrived from Sydney that morning at 2.45am on a delayed flight - thanks Qantas - but I should probably whinge about that on my own blog.

I loved the festival atmosphere - it was indeed a Words and Wine night - though the words were largely my own and as for the wine - if I’d known about the raffle prizes well, then I’d have bought a bundle.

One of the best things about nights like these is catching up with other authors and feeling that the ‘Literary World’ is alive and thriving over here in WA (which I’m sure is almost a country of its own now!).

The other great part is speaking to readers - whether they be teenagers or their parents - and I was lucky enough to have both.

Thank you to the organisers and attendees who permitted me to talk at length about my favourite subject (the right response here is, of course, Australian literature - but for those who attended, you know I largely spoke about myself!!).

It was a pleasure and an honour! I hope others got as much from the evening as I did.

Cheers
Kate McCaffrey

I’d love to hear what you thought of the festival. Hallam came home on Tuesday and announced: Mum I want to be an author. How great is that?

Here are a couple of comments I got today from Rosalie:

Peter Humbert: Just want to say congratulations on such a successful and well run Writer’s Festival. I am hearing fantastic feedback from the students and teachers alike.

Judith Robinson: Well done to all the organisers and helpers. We were discussing some of the activities in the staffroom at lunchtime today - lots of positive feedback from children/staff absolutely loving some of the sessions and really being inspired. In fact a Year 1 student has just been in with a super book that he went home and wrote on Tuesday after one of the sessions.

I received a message from Mrs Krynen today: “Just to let you know that the ticket sales and orders for the Festival events went really well this morning! I was amazed for the first day of selling. They will also be selling after school.”

So be quick and make sure you get your mum and dad to buy their tickets to the Parents’ Night. And don’t forget to put in your orders for the launch breakfast and the pizza lunch at the same time.

Mrs Krynen also told me the Year 4s had a great time working with George White yesterday. They are writing and rehearsing a performance for the Festival Launch.

By the way, we now know who will be officially launching the Festival with a speech on Tuesday morning - Channel Ten’s sports director, Tim Gossage!

Other news from Mrs K - Mr Humbert is now back from the Solomon Islands, and has been told all the Festival news. We were hoping he’d do another audio-visual presentation for the Closing Celebration next Thursday afternoon, and he’s agreed. Teachers will be snapping away to record the Festival on film, so be ready with your best grins to make sure Mr H chooses your pics for the presentation!

Finally, the timetable will be up on the website as soon as I can get all the columns straight!

Keep an eye on the blog for news as it comes in …

I’m delighted to announce a late addition to our line-up of presenters.

Jamie Edis will be showing the Pre-Primary classes how he created his book, Have You Ever Heard a Giraffe Laugh?

When we first invited him to present at the Festival, he was flat out organising his book launch. Now that’s over, Jamie has time to breathe and has made a last-minute decision to join us, which is fantastic news.

He has drawn on his background in visual media - most recently as animator, illustrator, computer game designer, sound effects creator and character voice actor of ezone.com - to produce a visually enhanced multi-media presentation.

Jamie will be incorporating games and a puppet show into the session too - something for the PPs to look forward to.

Creating stories with animals as your characters is great fun. By using imaginative words, you can paint a picture of each animal in your reader’s mind, and all without a paint brush.

Let’s see how you can do this. Meet Ziggy, a Pekinese. (That’s a dog, for those of you who don’t know!)

Ziggy was no bigger than a guinea pig and had a face like a squashed monkey’s. No-one actually could be sure that he was a dog. When he breathed, he made snorting noises like a piglet.

Now you’ve started building a picture of Ziggy. But what else can you do? How do we get a feel for his personality?

‘Back off,’ Ziggy snapped, his tiny razor-sharp teeth showing between black lips. He eyed the huge bone in front of him. It was nearly twice his size. But Ziggy showed no speck of fear. He stood his ground, not a quiver in his body, as Bob the basset looked on.

Okay, now we get an idea of who Ziggy is and how he appears to others. But what about how Ziggy feels inside?

Ziggy’s heart thundered in his chest. That basset was way bigger than him. He’d gobble him up in one quick bite. Please, he thought to himself, please let me look scary.

Now you’re getting an idea of how dialogue and action around dialogue can paint a picture of your character.

In my workshop, ‘Doggy Dialogue’, you’ll get the chance to bring to life the doggy characters in my book ‘Seeing Dogs’. And of course, Lucy, my guide dog, will be there to lend a paw.

See you there!
Janet

Hi! My name’s Lucy and I’m a guide dog.

My Mum must be a bit forgetful, cos she calls me other names. Sometimes I’m Loopy, or Fruit Loop, or even Goosey.

But I reckon everyone should just call me Top Dog. Why, you ask? Because I can do things other dogs can’t.

Think I’m joking? Okay, tell me when you’ve ever seen a dog admiring itself in a mirror at a clothes shop. And how many pooches hang out at the movies? (It’s the popcorn I go for, not the film.)

I’ll be dropping in on you during the Writers Festival, so start making some lip-smacking Top Dog biscuits.