Carey experienced a rich and wonderful celebration of literature across the whole school with big school events such as the much-loved Leigh Hobbs at the afternoon event at Junior School Kew, and Ben Wood, the illustrator of the best-selling crime-fighting Real Pigeons series at Donvale. Award-winning young adult writer Will Kostakis had the complete attention of the Middle School students at the Literature Assembly and Kgshak Akec, inspired the Senior School at their assembly.
Junior School Kew had a lovely group of writers and illustrators including Adrian Beck, Chris Kennett, Zeno Sworder, Karen Comer, Sophie Laguna and Valanga Khoza. All these writers shared their stories and illustrations with passion and creativity.
Junior School Donvale welcomed writer Jess McGeachin, writer and illustrator Lucinda Gifford and Jules and Pierre-Jacques Ober who are a French/Australian creative duo who tell stories with photos of miniature figurines.
The Middle School welcomed Victorian and interstate writers. The lineup included Bradley Christmas, Melanie Saward, Amy Doak, Emily Brewin, Karen Comer, Michael Earp and Will Kostakis. These writers led Middle School students in writing workshops over two days. On Friday 17 May the Middle School students had the opportunity to create story in a variety of workshops including Film & Story, Art & Story, Theatre & Story, Music & Story, Zines & Story, Journalism and Podcasts & Story. See the library Instagram for photos taken of the program, writers and presenters. Damian Callinan, Jacinta Dietrich, Ren Alessandra, Brendan Barnett, Bernard Caleo, Mandy Ord, Brenna Dixon, Caroline Dehn, Felix Donahoo, Helen Graham, John Thorn and Andrea Hamblin led these engaging workshops that inspired great work by the students.
Kgshak Akec (pictured above) was born in South Sudan before her family moved to Cario and then Sydney before finally settling in Geelong. Her book Hopeless Kingdom was short listed for the Miles Franklin Award and won the Dorothy Hewett Award in 2021. The book is inspired by her own life experience and the stories of a mother and daughter making a life in Australia. Kgshak spoke to a fascinated Senior School audience about the challenges and rewards of writing about trauma. She shared heart felt insights and invited everyone to take up writing in their own lives.
Will Kostakis challenged Middle School students from the outset, asking who really cares about reading, writing and literature and with the use of humour quickly had all the students enthralled in his story of becoming a writer from humble beginnings at school where he learnt how effective drafting and redrafting can be.
It is a wonderful privilege to have all these wonderfully creative people visit our school, share their stories and inspire us all to value our stories and share them in whatever way suits us and the story we have to tell. All the libraries promote the work of these writers in the lead up to the Carey Celebrates Literature Festival and their books continue to be available for borrowing.
Marg Moran
Head of Carey Libraries
