What a wonderfully busy month it has been, celebrating the release of Queen Narelle.  Thank you so much to all who have taken the time to tell me – in person or via messages – that they have read and loved my little book.

It feels a little like I have been on a royal tour, with events for Narelle, and other bookish and speaking wonders, keeping me on the go. And, while I have been sharing these  via my Instagram and Facebook posts, I thought I might pause for a moment and share here what I have been up to.

Firstly, on the day  of its release, I was down in Albany, where I presented two masterclasses as part of The Literature Centre‘s Talented Young Writer’s Program.  It was cold and wet outside – but inside it was  warm and cosy – and my heart was filled with delight at the willingness of these teens to write poetry with me.

In the evening I teamed up with the amazing Dianne Wolfer, friend and author extraordinaire, for a double book launch. What were the chances that we would be in the same town on the same day that we  BOTH had a new book released? And that one book (mine, of course) was about cats, and the other ( Scout and the Rescue Dogs)  about dogs? So we had to have a party  in the form of a launch. There was plenty of fun, book signings and, of course, cake.

The next week I was lucky enough to be invited to visit Fairview Primary School in my childhood home town of Collie. It is always lovely to visit Collie, but I had no idea how delightful my visit would be, with all the staff and students really welcoming and the year five/sixes, having read Worse Things, filled with awesome questions and even breaking into song when I mentioned Jolene, one of the characters (I bet you can guess what the song was!).  That’s never happened before and was a highlight. And I can’t wait to go back next term and do some writing with those classes.

Then off to Fremantle to the Literature Centre for a Behind the Walls event. This was really special – because I got to share the stage with one of my literary heroes, Steven Herrick. We chatted all things verse novel, under the expert mc-ing of Anna Hardy, who managed to wrangle us well.  Steven is one of the stars of the verse novel form, and his work certainly inspired me to get started as a verse novelist, so this was a real bucket list experience for me.

Lastly, but no means least, last weekend I was part of an incredibly inspiring day at my old school, Iona Presentation College.  I was a keynote for the Empower Me, Inspire Her symposium and was really humbled to be sharing the stage with amazing speakers including Paralympian Priya Cooper OAM and Catherine  Kolomyjec, founder of The Kindness Challenge and someone who I felt an instant bond with., which you can almost feel in this photo. 

My own speech at  this event was really well received which was lovely – because the focus was all about what I have learnt about myself  in the past year and how, while the stories we read can be super empowering, often the stories we tell ourselves ( in our heads) can be less helpful.  The feedback I’ve had is that I touched a chords with a lot of the audience – which is wonderful – because my goal in sharing was exactly that.

That’s it for June events – but tomorrow is July and, I am pleased to say, I have TWO school holiday events/book launches coming up.

If you are in or near Bunbury, you can come along to the Bunbury library  on June 6th for a launch  with story time and craft. You might even spot me dressed in my royal gown and tiara 🙂  This is a free event, and you can register here

And, if you are in  Perth, you can come along to the Dianella library on  July 12 for another free event, where the book will be launched by Jan Nicholls and again there will be craft and story fun. Registrations are at this link 

I look forward to seeing you there , but, if  you are further afield,  I’ll share some of the fun here and on Instagram.