Welcome and thanks for visiting. I hope you have a ball on my site, and maybe even an adventure holiday, or at the very least a hearty three course meal.
But I need to start with a confession. It's been fifteen months since I've posted anything here. Which I know is a ridiculously long time on what should be a living, evolving, ever-changing entity. I've met lumps of granite that post more frequently than I do. Geological eras who blog every second day.
I'm ashamed and very sorry. The least I can do, in an attempt to claw back some credibility, at least among igneous outcrops, is introduce you to a new book. Which I've been writing for the last - strange coincidence - fifteen months.
It's called Tweet, and it grew out of a question I've been thinking about for a few years. Are there problems in life, I've been wondering, that are just so big, stories can't help, not even a tiny bit?
I've always hoped the answer is no. Particularly because I write for young people, who have less money and mobility and negotiating experience and loud car horns than older people, and so they often have to try and solve their problems in their imaginations. And I've always believed that stories can help with this.
So I decided to put it to the test, this big question. Conveniently, we all share a particular problem these days that is, most will agree, big. So big, we're sharing it with a whole planet. Young people are sharing it too, and its starting to make them feel stressed and a bit scared. I think it's probably making the planet feel that too.
So, story, anything you can do to help? You're always good at possibilities. Bad possibilities sometimes, but often good ones too. Anything you can throw into the mix here?
I had to wait quite a while for a response. And then one day in my imagination I saw a group of birds, thousands of them, standing quietly and calmly on a busy highway, blocking traffic. Hundreds of groups actually, millions of birds, on busy highways all over the planet.
Soon afterwards, also in my imagination, I met a boy and a budgie who discover why the birds are doing this. And have to decide what to do with this information. And, at the same time, if they can, stay alive.
And fifteen months later, voila, my excuse. Sorry, I mean my new book.
If the wonderful cover, just over there, fires you up to find out more about Tweet, you can do that on the Tweet book page. And while you're there, you can read the first two chapters, and/or listen to me read them.
And then if you feel like a bit more of an adventure holiday, or at least dessert, pop back here and keep scrolling.
My books are all down there somewhere, neatly arranged and keen to be explored. You can read the first chapters, (including of Tweet), and listen to them on audio, and also check out how and why I wrote each story. If you’re here for a peek at my life and creative habits, there’s plenty of that too. Ideas, anecdotes, insights, confessions, aspirations and regrets, all artistically displayed with sensible lighting.
In fact, now I’m spruiking, there’s a fair bit of other stuff on the way down. You’ll find details about booking a school or festival visit, a link to my biography, a signpost to learning resources, and a few other things every author website should have, including a bit of boasting.
Please enjoy.
School Visits
I speak at as many schools, festivals and conferences as I can each year. Bookings are organised by the following very capable and nice-to-chat-with agency. Get in touch with them, even if your school or other literary venue is outside Australia, and we’ll see what’s possible.
Booked Out Agency
for school visits etc in Australia and the rest of the world.
Phone: +613 9824 0177
Fax: +613 9824 0677
Mail: PO Box 580, South Yarra, VIC 3141
Email: bookings@bookedout.com.au
Biographies
Please feel free to use these for all legal and nice purposes. There’s a full-length one and a short one for schools with small notice boards.
Laureate Thoughts
I did a lot of travelling in 2018 and 2019 in my ermine-trimmed robes and official Australian Childrens’ Laureate socks, and a lot of thinking too. Perhaps you’d like to share some of those thoughts. (Sorry, the socks wore out.) Don’t worry, it’s not just abstract thinky stuff (or as we readers like to say, ideas). There are lots of reading and writing activities too.
Morris Spills The Beans
Authors are asked a lot of questions (if they’re lucky), but not everyone can be there to hear the answers. Just in case you and I never get to have a cup of tea together, here are some of the questions I thought you might have asked.
Letters to Governments
Sometimes we have questions we want to ask the Federal government, but they won’t have a cup of tea with us so we have to write them a letter.
Ideas and Activities
These expertly-prepared learning resources are a boon for busy hard-working teachers. They’re pretty useful for lazy ones too. And please, individual readers and parents with enquiring minds (is there any other kind?), feel free to make use of them as well. Absolutely no formal educational qualifications or a mug with your name on it required.
Literary Patchwork
And here we are, at the literary patchwork of my book covers. A click or tap on any one will take you to a page attractively decked out with my thoughts about that book – why I wrote it, how I wrote it, what it may or may not really be about, etc.
From each book page, another click or tap will allow you to read the first chapter of the book, and, if you like, hear me read it. (That last bit can be switched off if you prefer the sound of your own voice.)
Happy travels.
