YAY! It’s my favourite time of year: Children’s Book Week!

That means stacks of exciting stuff is happening at your local library. Pop in and ask about storytelling sessions, meeting your favourite authors, literacy workshops, and more.

Children’s Book Week..Am I heading your way?

For me that means August is chocka-block with school and library visits. I get to scare heaps of kids, and make them laugh, and inspire them to get writing and drawing (and if you like to draw, like the kids at Melville’s Civic Square Library, check out our MONSTER drawing and art competition for young writers and artists).

I’ll be at libraries across Melville, Kwinana, Girrawheen, Osborne Park, Scarborough, Bentley, South Perth and Bayswater. I hope to see you there!

State Library of Queensland and the Brisbane Writers Festival: Online Literature Festival

If you live in Queensland, you’re in luck!

Schools across Queensland can do workshops with children’s writers and illustrators as part of the Online Literature Festival for FREE!

Heaps of awesome writers and illustrators will be there, and you get to ask them questions and hear them talk, all from the comfort of your classroom. Easy!

Check out the timetable to book: Jackie French and Andy Griffiths are booked out, but you can see heaps of other great talent (including me :-)).

Teacher’s PD workshops: Science and literacy

Since I’m a bizarre hybrid of science-writer and demon-writer, I’m also keen to share ideas on using science, history and culture to inspire fictional writing. This means I talk a lot about using non-fiction to inspire fiction, and what better way to do it than with a hands-on teacher’s workshop.

I’m offering this workshop (free!) as part of the Online Literature Festival: the focus is on concrete ways to combine science and literacy in the classroom:

Cristy Burne will talk about ways to combine science and literacy in the classroom. With degrees in science and science communication and experience in science writing and fiction writing, Cristy has a wealth of ideas to share with teachers. Cristy will demonstrate a few cheap and easy classroom experiments then talk about ways to involve literacy skills in the activity.

Words Go Round 2013: Singapore Writers Festival

And I am thrilled to announce that I’ll also be part of the incredible Words Go Round festival as part of the Singapore Writers Festival in 2013.

The festival features international and Singaporean writers, writing in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, and it’s all organised for young writers and readers.

I can’t wait!!

Happy Children’s Book Week everyone!

xx