sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Bootcamp- and PD By Stealth

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Yesterday, I ran my first two writing workshops for 2018, presenting poetry writing boot camps as part of the City of Bunbury libraries school holidays program.

Characters come alive on the streets of Bunbury

I had a lot of fun using photos of some of Bunbury’s amazing street art as picture prompts to create poems.

Apart from the wonderful chance to meet and share with enthusiastic young writers, another thing that delighted me was that two teachers – one at each session –  told me that they would be trying similar activities with their own classes when school goes back.

Hooray! Teacher PD by stealth! And on their holidays.

Which of course made me think of how much I love visiting schools (which I posted about last week), and how, having an author visit your classroom might not just motivate students to read and write, but can also act as a form of professional development for the teacher, demonstrating new ways of teaching writing, which is an area lots of teachers say they find challenging – something, as a teacher myself, I completely understand.

So, if you are wanting and extra reason to justify having an author visit your school or classroom, think of it as meeting PD requirements. And, if you’d like, you can add an after-school PD session to the program!

If you’d like me to visit in 2018, you can contact me here.

Back Home: The Importance of the Home Front

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While the majority of the action in Australia’s Great War: 1915 takes place at Gallipoli, a really important part of the book is the communication between Stanley and his twin sister, Elizabeth, who is back at home in Bunbury. Stanley writes to Elizabeth and shares his experiences and, importantly, his feelings about them. Elizabeth, in turn, tells Stanley about the things that are happening – big and small – at home, as well as her concerns about Stanley’s wellbeing.

About 420 000 Australian men and women served in World War I. Almost every one of those people had loved ones at home – wives, parents, children, siblings. They came from communities in which they each played their own roles before the war – in employment, in sporting teams, in social life, as volunteers.

So, while the war was raging overseas, in Australia life was different too. Parents worried. Wives fretted. Siblings tried to filled gaps. Employers tried to carry on their business without their workers, and had to train new staff. Communities changed. Perhaps most significantly, children grew up without their fathers. And all of these people, of course, mourned when lives were lost.

When I hit upon the idea of making Stanley, my main character, a young teacher, I knew this could give me an opportunity to show what life was like on the home front, through his classroom. Because of course while Stan was away at the war, his pupils would still be at school. Wondering who his replacement teacher might be, I hit upon the idea of a twin sister, also a teacher, taking over his class.

Then as I started to write I realised that it wouldn’t just be Stanley who Elizabeth and their students would be linked to, because it would be likely that the students themselves would also have family members, friends or neighbours off at the war. So I created the characters of Miles Parker – who fights alongside Stan – and his sons, back home in Elizabeth’s classroom. This was to provide some of the most emotionally difficult material for me to write as I considered the impact of the war on two young boys.

Of course lots of the details about the home front that are part of the book are seemingly small things – dances, engagements, changing seasons – because life at home did go on, but also because when you are far away from home you like to know what’s happening there. Elizabeth keeps Stanley informed about these things as much, or more, than she does about major happenings. But Elizabeth’s role is not incidental or trivial: it is a key part of the story. Without a home to miss, a country to be fighting for, the war would be meaningless to those who were there.

 

Happy Happy Day!

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Welcome to my website! You’ve arrived here just in time for  a party.

First things first, I always like to welcome my guests with a refreshment. Here’s a nice cold glass of virtual bubbles (alcohol-free of course, if you’re under 18) for you:

Keep an eye out for the wandering waiters who have a wonderful array of virtual nibbles, too. The best thing about virtual food is that it’s calorie free, so you can eat as many as you like and still have room for dinner.

Right, now that we’ve got that sorted, on to the formalities: the launch of my new book, 1915. Let me just mount the stage so you can see me a little better.

PWF12 gesticulating

(Excuse the happy dance, I find it hard to stand still when I’m excited).

Now, can everyone hear? Good! Let me get started then (clears throat nervously).

Thank you all so much for coming. 1915 isn’t just my newest book – it’s the product of two years of research, writing, crying, rewriting, crying some more, rewriting some more, worrying that I wouldn’t be able to do justice to Stanley’s story, lengthy phone calls with my editor, Claire, writing some more, and finally looking proudly at my author copies and wondering what all the stressing was about.

When I was asked to write this book, I said yes, even though I also knew it would be a big challenge. The story of Gallipoli has been told many times, by writers far more talented than I. How was I going to find a way to tell it that was fresh, that would appeal to young readers, but that also told a story which needs to keep being retold because it is an important part of our history?  I had never written a historical novel. I wasn’t even sure why Scholastic had asked me. Amidst all that doubt though, I was determined to have a red hot go. When the character of Stanley came to me as a teacher from Bunbury, where I currently live, he came as a very real young man. I found myself looking at the events of Gallipoli and asking myself, over and over, what would Stanley think? When I realised he had a twin sister, Elizabeth, back in Australia, worrying about her brother even as she carries on teaching his class, I asked the same questions from her perspective. Many times I had to remind msyelf that these two weren’t real – that I’d made them up. And many more times I reminded myself that even though that was the case, people like Stanley and Elizabeth were very very real, and I owed it to them to get the story right.

So, here it is: 1915, a book I’m proud of, and which I hope will play its own small part in sharing the story of Gallipoli.

1915

I’d like to thank Claire Hallifax and Scholastic for believing that I could write this book, and helping to take it from a very raw story to a finished novel. I’d also like to thank Tara, my agent, and my family, who have to put up with a lot of angst when I’m writing any book. I’ve talked a lot about this story with lots of friends and family – so thank you for listening, and for being interested. Thanks to you, too, attendees of this launch, for taking the time out of your busy day to attend my virtual celebration.  But mostly, thanks to Stanley and Elizabeth Moore, for letting me tell their story.

Thank you.

Phew. Well, that’s the speech out of the way. Now there’s just the celebrating to do. While you’re munching on those virtual sausage rolls the waiter is passing round, I’d love if you’d leave a comment to let me know you were here.  To celebrate the release of 1915, I’m going to give one  away a signed copy of the book to one lucky commenter who leaves a comment by  the end of Sunday. The winner will be chosen at random from all who leave a comment about the launch or the book.

1915 is available now from all good bookstores in Australia (if they haven’t got it, ask them!), or online here.

Want to know more about the book? I’m answering ten questions over at the Aussiereviews blog today and will be posting more on this blog, and on Twitter and my facebook page in the coming weeks.

Again, thank you for coming to my launch!