wordspace: short story writing
Friday 31 July
1.00pm – 2.00pm
Join leading short story writers Owen Marshall and Sue Orr, to learn more about the art of writing short stories. WordSpace is a series of videoconference discussions between secondary school students and leading New Zealand writers, brought to you by the New Zealand Book Council and Creative New Zealand. To participate, your school will need to be a member of the Book Council.
This session will consider the writers’ backgrounds, and answer questions like how to structure short stories, how to put together a collection of short stories, what makes a good short story, and how they became short story specialists.
Owen Marshall is a renowned short story writer and novelist, who worked for over 25 years as a teacher before retiring to work full time as a writer. Critics rank Marshall among the finest of New Zealand’s short story writers. His novel Harlequin Rex (1999) won the 2000 Deutz Medal for Fiction at the Montana Book Awards. His writing has been extensively anthologised, and he has received numerous honours, awards and fellowships. In 2000 he became an Officer of the New Zealand order of Merit (ONZM) for services to literature. He is well-known for editing books of poetry and short stories.
Sue Orr is a fiction writer. She has a background in journalism and speechwriting and her first collection of stories, Etiquette for a Dinner Party, was published in 2008. Nicky Pellegrino wrote in the Herald on Sunday, ‘If you only have time for one new local writer in your life then make sure it is Sue Orr. Her debut collection of short stories, Etiquette for a Dinner Party, deserves to be a best-seller.’ Orr’s writing has appeared in anthologies, literary journals, and magazines.
Please see below for more information on what is required from your school to take part in a WordSpace session.
WordSpace: individual approaches to writing
Friday 7 August
1.00pm – 2.00pm
Join top writers Brian Falkner, Jennifer Beck, and Fleur Beale, in a discussion of individual approaches to writing. WordSpace is a series of videoconference discussions between secondary school students and leading New Zealand writers, brought to you by the New Zealand Book Council and Creative New Zealand. To participate, your school will need to be a member of the Book Council.
This session will consider the writers’ backgrounds, and students will then have a chance to ask each writer about their inspirations, how they plan their books, and how you can follow your individual interests through writing.
If your school would like to take part in this session, please contact Education Manager Sarah Hughes, Ph: (04) 499 1569, email: education@bookcouncil.org.nz.
Please see below for more information on what is required from your school to take part in a WordSpace session.
A former teacher and psychologist, Jennifer Beck is the author of more than 45 children’s books, many of which are still in print. She is the recipient of numerous prizes. Her picture book The Bantam and the Soldier won the Picture Book Category and the Book of the Year Award in the 1997 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards, and in 2006 she won the Children's Choice Award, voted for by more than 30,000 children throughout New Zealand.
Born and raised in Auckland, Brian Falkner writes children’s books. His first action-packed book was well received by critics and his subsequent books have been equally admired. Falkner’s Super Freak was nominated in the Junior Fiction category of the 2006 New Zealand Post Book Awards. The Tomorrow Code was published in 2008 in Australia, the USA and Canada. It was nominated in the Young Adult Fiction category of the 2009 New Zealand Post Book Awards, and the 2009 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards. His latest book, Brainjack, will be released by Walker Books in September.
Residing in Wellington, Fleur Beale has written over twenty novels for teenagers. In 1999, Beale was Writer in Residence at the Dunedin College of Education. She has been shortlisted several times in the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and won the 2007 and 2009 Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for, respectively, Slide the Corner and I am not Esther. Juno of Taris was nominated in the Young Adult Fiction category of the 2009 New Zealand Post Book Awards, and the 2009 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards.
Want to take part in this Wordspace session?
To participate in WordSpace, your school will need access to videoconferencing equipment with a polycom unit. The link to the session is done using a bridge number, supplied by AsNet.
WordSpace is open to all secondary schools that are members of the New Zealand Book Council. Once a member, secondary schools have the opportunity to register for any planned session. To become a member, please join online here.
If your school takes part in a session, please be aware that we will need signed permission forms from all participating students. There will be a recording made of the session, which may appear online with the New Zealand Book Council.
For further information or to register your interest in being a part of Wordspace, please contact:
Sarah Hughes, Education Manager
Ph: (04) 499 1569
Email: education@bookcouncil.org.nz
