Sydney Writers Festival

On Friday 23 May, 19 Year 9 students attended the Sydney’s Writers Festival to gain some insights into writing and a more professional standpoint from conceptualisation to publication. Although the journey to get there was rough, the efforts were definitely worth it as we learnt lots of valuable insights. This event had something for everyone. A great memory to hold and an amazing and vivid experience.

The day kicked off with Mike Lucas who brought humour and wisdom to the stage. He gave golden advice to the people who want to start writing or dream of writing a novel one day. His motto “Don’t get it right, get it written” was refreshing to hear as perfection comes later but getting words on the page and the motivation to keep on, is more important. It is the first step and one of the key steps.

Next came Hayley Lawrence; she gave us some motivational and inspirational words. She explored how her life experiences linked with the novels she made and published. Hayley told us about her novels “Into the Wild”, “Into the Tiger” and “The Other Side of Tomorrow” which were about her personal experiences. Her knowledge and wisdom of words were truly inspirational. Her talk was different from the others and really stood out amongst the other guests.

Following Hayley Lawrence, Demet Divaroren showed us her book “Blood Moon Bride”. Showing us the power of resilience and identity. It links together with our Year 9 value UNITY and it was a wonderful experience. To help inspire us more she played an upbeat song to help link it to the idea of trying your best and just to get writing.

To close the day Neal Shusterman delivered an amazing session of storytelling. He is best known for his series “Scythe” and he talked to us about subverting expectations in a genre. His dystopian literature often clashes against the traditional ideas of the genre.

Overall it was an amazing day and highly engaging, the event was well worth it and all girls who attended were inspired at the end. As a collective we truly learnt the value of putting pen to paper. To anyone out there who is interested in writing, we recommend going to the Sydney Writers Festival and get writing yourself!