A fun virtual visit to Sunnybank State School in Brisbane!
September 3, 2021 at 6:37 pm | Posted in Brisbane schools, Virtual visits | Leave a commentTags: Chinese history for kids, Great children's books about Chinese culture, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, Sunnybank State School, The Chinese Calendar Tales, Virtual author visits
Say hello to the fabulous school captains of Sunnybank State School in Brisbane, Queensland! I had the great pleasure of visiting the Grade 6s virtually last Friday for a fun author session, where we talked all about the Chinese Calendar Tales. We had some great Q&A about why I wrote them, how I got my inspiration for each story, and how I plan my stories generally, with a little bit of fascinating Chinese history thrown in! Huge thanks to Principal John Greenup for hosting my visit. I hope you all enjoy reading my books and that they inspire you to write your own stories! And make sure you enter my next Clever Competition, coming soon!
Two wonderful days at St Margaret’s Anglican School in Brisbane!
March 6, 2019 at 11:52 am | Posted in Brisbane schools, St Margaret's Anglican School Brisbane, Story Readings, Writing competitions for kids, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: St Margaret's Anglican Girls' School, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig
What a lovely two days I’ve just had with the gorgeous girls (and some boys) and teachers of St Margaret’s Primary and Pre-Prep this week! I met everyone from the cute little Pre-Preps to the savvy Grade 6s, and we had everything from story-readings of my Chinese Calendar Tales (The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda and The Tale of Ping Pong Pig) with all their juicy Chinese history and folklore thrown in, to workshops and talks about How to Write a Riveting Story, How to Become a Great Writer in the Digital Age, Books are a Brain’s Best Friend, and History is Geography! I even spoke at a big assembly of the Grade 4s to 6s about How I Became an Author and Publisher – including all the life-skills I learned along the way! Then at school pickup time I met some lovely parents when they purchased my books!
Thank you, everybody, for making me feel so welcome and for engaging so intently in all the sessions! It was a treat to work with you all! And do make sure that you click on my Clever Competitions link here for details of my latest writing competition for primary school kids – I hope to see lots of fabulous entries from the St Margaret’s girls!
Finally, warmest thanks to some very special staff members who looked after me so kindly throughout: Primary Principal Angela Drysdale (above and below centre), Head of Planning and Organisation – Primary Ms Mary Surtees (above and below left); librarian Mrs Donna Jackson (to my second left above) and Administration Assistant Miss Elizabeth Hook (to my far left above). I had so much fun spending time with you all!
More photos to come! In the meantime, meet the dragon mascot of St Margaret’s – in tile above and in textile below!
Hellooo again Brisbane!
March 3, 2019 at 6:54 pm | Posted in Australian schools, Brisbane schools, Hobart, School visits, St Margaret's Anglican School Brisbane, The Hutchins School | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Ping Pong Pig and I have just arrived in Brisbane and it’s HOT!! And a nice change from the cold weather of Hong Kong it is, I must say! My jolly little pig and I are really excited to be visiting the fabulous St Margaret’s Anglican School for the next two days! Then on Thursday we fly down to Tasmania for another fun visit to my friends at The Hutchins School and a (slightly belated) Chinese New Year celebration at Fullers Bookshop on Saturday! Keep visiting my blog for all the photos and fun!
Hello Brisbane!!
October 24, 2018 at 6:27 pm | Posted in Australian schools, Awards, Brisbane schools, Poetry Workshops for kids | Leave a commentTags: Churchie, Introduction to Poetry Workshop, Novella Distribution, Queensland Literary Awards 2018, St Margaret's Anglican Girls' School, Storm Whale, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Chester Choi
Photo credit https://blog.queensland.com/2017/10/26/jacarandas-south-east-queensland/
I’ve been in Brisbane this week for a wonderful 5 days to attend the awards ceremony for the Queensland Literary Awards, to visit some of my favourite Brisbane schools, and to visit my family! It’s jacaranda time in Brisbane, when the beautiful blue blooms on the jacaranda trees mean that students should be studying hard for their end-of-year exams!
On Tuesday morning, I visited my old friends at Churchie (Anglican Church Grammar School) in East Brisbane, where the fabulous Grade 3 boys identified haikus, unscrambled limericks and did some rapid rhyming exercises in my Introduction to Poetry Workshop! Many thanks to lovely primary teacher librarian Alison Findlay for expertly hosting me! We had a lot of fun!
On Tuesday evening, my lovely daughter Bea, my brother and sister-in-law accompanied me to the Awards Ceremony for the Queensland Literary Awards 2018! You’ll remember that Storm Whale, my beautiful book with artist Jane Tanner and published last year by Allen & Unwin, was one of the 5 children’s books short-listed for the Griffith University Children’s Book Award. Here it is, displayed at left on the screen above! The Elephant by Peter Carnavas won the award in our section. It was such an exciting event, and I got to meet some of my amazing fellow authors and judges afterwards! Below you’ll see Storm Whale sitting very happily on the sales table with other fabulous short-listed titles!
Today I dropped into two great Brisbane schools to say hello and to introduce them to my Chinese Calendar Tales. Below you’ll see me with some cuties at St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School, sitting astride their famous dragon mascot with a copy of The Tale of Chester Choi! See you all next year girls! Many thanks to their lovely primary principal Angela Drysdale and librarian Donna Jackson for the warm welcome!
Finally, I met the fab team at my new Australian distributors, Novella Distribution in Capalaba! Below, the lovely Rochelle Manners is standing with their wombat mascot, and a very special small wombat which appears to have learned how to climb trees! Thanks girls for a great meeting, and for my new baby wombat, which I’ve christened The Barefoot ‘Bat!
Helloooo Brisbane…and my last school visit of the tour- with the boys of Churchie!
June 5, 2017 at 3:44 pm | Posted in Australian schools, Brisbane schools, Clever Competitions, Poetry Workshops for kids | Leave a commentTags: Churchie, Introduction to Poetry Workshop
Thank you Churchie (Anglican Church Grammar School) in Brisbane for a fabulous day today! I met all the Fantastic Grade Fours in four fun sessions of my Introduction to Poetry Workshop and we had a good old mental workout unscrambling limericks, identifying haikus, writing acrostics about some long-suffering teachers (who were very good sports!) and rhyming words! AND talking about the vital importance of reading books to the development of a great vocabulary, an even greater imagination, not to mention a great life! I hope to see loads of Churchie entries in my next Clever Competition! And last but not least, my warmest thanks to my lovely host for the day, librarian Rose Hoger (see above)!
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