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Sally Murphy, Australian author

It’s All About the Books

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August is always always always my busiest month of the year – and it’s the same for  all of my Aussie author and illustrator friends, as Bookweek stretches out to become Bookmonth. I’m spending this month visiting schools and libraries in Bunbury, Perth, Brisbane and Townsville, talking about books and reading and writing. Exhausting, doing so many visits back to back, but at the same time exhilarating, because I am sharing my great love with enthusiastic kids (and adults too).  Every school, every library, every session, is different and that’s because every audience is different, and has different interests and experiences and questions. How lucky am I to spend my days doing what I do?

Here’s a song by some clever young choir-mobbers that thrills me. I just had to share.

 

 

Have a great Bookmonth. I am already, and know it’s going to keep being wonderful.

Sage’s (and Sally’s) Bookweek Adventures

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Wherever I went over the past month, Sage came too. She loves getting out and about. Today, we went through our photos and made a little slide show of our adventures. Enjoy.

It’s only 11 months till next Bookweek. Can’t wait 🙂

I’m Baaack!

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My apologies for the lack of regular posts this past month. Bookweek hit me! And, in author-land, Bookweek is rarely just one week – and, in fact, for me it’s been four weeks, visiting schools and libraries in regional Western Australia, metro Perth, as well as Townsville. I also presented at the ALEA/ACMI State Conference in Melbourne.

I’m back at my desk now, working hard on caching up, and there will lots of new posts in the next few weeks. It’s great to be back.

Reading fro Sage Cookson's Sweet Escape at Adam Road Primary in Bunbury.

Reading fro Sage Cookson’s Sweet Escape at Adam Road Primary in Bunbury.

Bookweek Comes Early

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Last week I was lucky enough to be the author in residence at Mandurah Catholic College, which was celebrating its annual Bookweek. The staff and students made this a really happy visit – from the library display of my books, to the wonderful efforts at portraiture, and, of course, to the engaged, enthusiastic students from kindergarten through to year 9.  Here’s a little video featuring the displays and some of the wonderful author portraits. Enjoy!

 

Thanks for having me, MCC.

More Things I Learnt During Bookweek

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I get invited to speak about my books, and about writing and reading, in the hope that I might inspire or teach my audiences. But every single time that I speak, I get inspired in return, and I am constantly learning things about myself and my books from my audiences. Further to my post a couple of days ago about the links I have started to see between my books, here are a few more things I learnt in Bookweek.

  1. There are a lot of FIFO families in WA. Actually I already knew that (one article I read suggestedBookweek2015b there are 60 thousand FIFO workers in WA), but it was only when I started going into schools to talk about Fly-In Fly-Out Dad that I realised what this translates to. In every classroom there are children with a dad or mum who goes away to work. And in some classrooms, the majority of children are in this situation, or have another close family member (granddad, aunty etc) who does FIFO work.
  1. Not every FIFO child, even of primary school age, really understands where it is that their absent parent goes, or what they do there. Even eight and nine year olds who knew that their parent was FIFO, didn’t know where it was that Mum or Dad worked.
  1. Kids love poetry, even though they don’t always realise that what they are reading IS poetry. Lots of kids tell me how much they love my verse novels, but when I tell them that these are poems, they are surprised, especially when the books have been read aloud to them. It doesn’t worry me whether my readers know that they are reading poetry, or whether they know what a verse novel is. What concerns me is whether they are enjoying the stories. The form aids that enjoyment, and the connection with it, but if the reader doesn’t recognise the form, that’s fine. I call his poetry by stealth.RAB_INT_pp34-35
  1. Using a footy analogy to get my point across never gets old. I have been using the fact that I am a Fremantle Dockers supporter to illustrate why I write books with big highs and low lows for several years. It never fails to get a reaction from the audience, especially in WA where footy rivalry Is strong. One of my proudest Bookweek moments came a couple of years ago when a boy in a Eagles guernsey approached me after my session to tell me he was going to switch to supporting the Dockers.Manning 2015
  1. Nothing energises me more than a fresh audience. I drove 200 plus kilometres to and from every day of Bookweek this year, and in between sessions and at the end of every day I was exhausted. But when each new audience arrived, I got a lovely whoosh of adrenalin and felt on top of the world. I danced, talked, sang (sorry about that), jumped, paced, talked some more, and loved every moment of it.

Of course, I was pretty weary by the time Bookweek was over, but that’s what weekends are for, right?

Not as Different as You’d Think: Things I Learned in Bookweek

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As I talked about books and writing during my Bookweek visits, I used my three latest books – Fly-In Fly-out Dad, 1915, and Roses are Blue – to demonstrate where ideas come from, and how an idea can be moulded into a story. In most sessions I referred to all three books because I felt that using such diverse books would mix things up a bit. But, after a week of discussing three very different books, I started to realise that while they are very different, these three books had quite a lot of similarities.

  1. Fly-In Fly-Out DadAll are about absence, and missing loved ones. In Fly-in Fly-Out Dad Tiger misses his Dad, and Dad misses his son. Even when they are together they realise that soon they will be apart again. In 1915 Stanley, fighting at Gallipoli, misses his family desperately, and probably his twin sister Elizabeth most of all. And Elizabeth, at home in Australia, misses Stanley, and worries about him every day. In Roses are Blue, Amber misses her mum, even though Mum is still with her. She misses the way Mum was before her terrible accident, and the things they could do together which they now can’t.
  1. 1915All three feature strong child characters.Tiger is only little, and struggles to understand where Dad goes, and even why they can’t always be together, but he tries to be brave about this. It’s important though, that he is able to recognise that being ‘brave’ doesn’t mean he isn’t allowed to miss his dad or to feel sad about Dad’s absences. In 1915, Stanley and Elizabeth are not children – though as young teachers they really aren’t much past their teenage years. And they are both strong individuals. But to me, the child characters who strike me as strong here are Miles’ sons, Bobby and Harry , who Elizabeth teaches. They represent the many many children who, in World War 1 (as in other armed conflicts) watched their fathers go off to war, not knowing if they’d come back. And (spoiler alert) when their father does die, they do their best to carry on their lives. In Roses are Blue, Amber too has the strength to carry on, trying hard to be happy, to support her family – especially her baby brother, Jack – and to make the most of what she’s got.
  1. Roses are BlueAll three make people cry. I spent a lot of time during Bookweek (as with all my appearances, really) discussing why I choose to write books which rouse emotion. Though I don’t set out to make people cry, I’m kind of glad that I am able to connect with people in this way. And my aim is, that even when someone cries reading one of my books, they should feel happier afterwards.

There are probably other links between the three, and between these and my other books. Perhaps the biggest link is that, because they were written by me, inside each and every one of my books is a piece of me. Intentionally or otherwise, I put myself on every page. It’s one of the fun parts of being an author.