Angela Oliver's Blog - Posts Tagged "book"
Storylines Family Free Day
As a local writer, and admin of the Christchurch Writers' Guild, it is both my duty (and my pleasure) to attend as many local writing festivals and what-not as possible. And it is awesome to see so many are put on locally, many of which are free to attend.
Today was the third Storylines Family Free day I have attended, and it felt somewhat lowkey compared to previous years. I made my way through the doors at the stroke of 10am, dutifully paid my gold coin donation, collected my program and made my way through the crowds of small children. Now, technically this is an event for children to attend - with face painting, story telling and I believe some other fun activites, but I shirked all of those in favour of the section aimed more at the adults - the discussion panels.
The first panel was the "evolution of the YA novel". At 10:30 on a sunday morning, it was perhaps not as well attended as it should have been.
I arrived too early, as is my wont, and fell into discussion with the lovely Heather McQuillan, whose book "Nest of Lies" I have previously purchased and enjoyed.
Then it was time for the speakers to arrive: David Hill whose books are well renowed (I've read one, "See Ya Simon") and set in our world, both past and present; Rachael Stedman who wrote a fantasy novel and won two awards: the Tessa Duder Storylines award and Best New Author in the NZ Post Children's Book Awards, and Anna Mackenzie who has written dystopia, fantasy and others beside. Due to the smaller audience, it was more a candid discussion than a straight-forward presentation, with plenty of audience questions scattered throughout.
After that discussion, we got to meet a couple of illustrators, the quirky Fifi Colston and local author/illustrator, Gavin Bishop, both of which are extremely talented as well as being both entertaining and offering insight into the world of illustration (along with some amusing anecdotes).
Alas, it is always the author that seems to get credit when picture books are added to sites such as these, but it is the synergy of author + illustrator that makes story book magic.
Finally, a couple of picture book authors stepped in to discuss their craft and the nature of picture books, the writing and who they are really written for - since it is the adults that must buy them, and read them again, and again, and again. These authors were the Melinda Szymanik and Mark Sommerset who were both absolutely charming.
After that there were two more discussions, which I declined to attend (my belly was rumbling and BurgerFuel was calling).
Overall, I love the small, almost informal nature of these events and the candid nature of the authors and illustrators, who are more than willing to share their ideas and just discuss their craft with an amateur like myself.
Next week is the WORD Christchurch Writers' Festival, during which I get to meet my favourite author and idol, Laini Taylor, so expect another blog then!
Today was the third Storylines Family Free day I have attended, and it felt somewhat lowkey compared to previous years. I made my way through the doors at the stroke of 10am, dutifully paid my gold coin donation, collected my program and made my way through the crowds of small children. Now, technically this is an event for children to attend - with face painting, story telling and I believe some other fun activites, but I shirked all of those in favour of the section aimed more at the adults - the discussion panels.
The first panel was the "evolution of the YA novel". At 10:30 on a sunday morning, it was perhaps not as well attended as it should have been.
I arrived too early, as is my wont, and fell into discussion with the lovely Heather McQuillan, whose book "Nest of Lies" I have previously purchased and enjoyed.
Then it was time for the speakers to arrive: David Hill whose books are well renowed (I've read one, "See Ya Simon") and set in our world, both past and present; Rachael Stedman who wrote a fantasy novel and won two awards: the Tessa Duder Storylines award and Best New Author in the NZ Post Children's Book Awards, and Anna Mackenzie who has written dystopia, fantasy and others beside. Due to the smaller audience, it was more a candid discussion than a straight-forward presentation, with plenty of audience questions scattered throughout.
After that discussion, we got to meet a couple of illustrators, the quirky Fifi Colston and local author/illustrator, Gavin Bishop, both of which are extremely talented as well as being both entertaining and offering insight into the world of illustration (along with some amusing anecdotes).Alas, it is always the author that seems to get credit when picture books are added to sites such as these, but it is the synergy of author + illustrator that makes story book magic.
Finally, a couple of picture book authors stepped in to discuss their craft and the nature of picture books, the writing and who they are really written for - since it is the adults that must buy them, and read them again, and again, and again. These authors were the Melinda Szymanik and Mark Sommerset who were both absolutely charming.After that there were two more discussions, which I declined to attend (my belly was rumbling and BurgerFuel was calling).
Overall, I love the small, almost informal nature of these events and the candid nature of the authors and illustrators, who are more than willing to share their ideas and just discuss their craft with an amateur like myself.
Next week is the WORD Christchurch Writers' Festival, during which I get to meet my favourite author and idol, Laini Taylor, so expect another blog then!
