CKT's Blog

Kate Simpson is a children's author and podcast host. Her first picture book, Finding Granny , was shortlisted for the 2019 Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards. When she's not writing, Kate is one third of children's book podcast One More Page, which is a fortnightly foray into all things kids' books. One More Page features guest interviews, b...

Valerie Khoo is CEO of the Australian Writers' Centre, the country's leading centre for writing courses. With campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Online, the centre has enrolled more than 50,000 students across Australia and internationally.  A former journalist, Valerie is also co-author of the book So You Want To Be A Writer: ...

What constitutes good or bad writing is subjective because, from a reader's viewpoint, what we like and dislike varies greatly. Despite this, there are ways of writing that will usually be considered poor. To demonstrate this, I'm delighted to share the words of my grandson, aged five, when forced to endure 'take home readers'. Though not particula...

Tim Harris is the bestselling author of several laugh-out-loud series for kids, including Toffle Towers , Mr Bambuckle's Remarkables and Exploding Endings .  His first ever book, Exploding Endings: Painted Dogs & Doom Cakes , was awarded Honour Book at the 2017 KOALAs. Tim's second series, M r Bambuckle's Remarkables , con tains his tradem...

What is The Boy in the Big Blue Glasses about? A boy. A super hero. A brave pirate leads his crew of girls and boys. Until the day Sammy feels different. He gets glasses. His parents, teacher, family are happy for Sammy, because life is no longer blurry. So, the great miscommunication begins. The super hero is still heroic, funny, determined as he ...

When presenting manuscripts to publishers, editors, competition judges or critique partners, the manner in which we format them speaks volumes. If your work's formatting indicates you don't care to follow publishing industry expectations, ask yourself why you should expect your work to be read. If you care to know what the general expectations are,...

The Boy in the Big Blue Glasses by Susanne Gervay and Marjorie Crosby-Fairall. I was fortunate to see this story at various stages of the publication process, so, you can imagine my excitement when I received the printed copy on my doorstep. Susanne has created an emotionally charged story that will resonate with many children and adults. For those...

George by Pat Simmons and Katrin Dreiling 'We've made an appointment. We've not told him yet. We can't put it off. George must visit the vet.' George's fate is sealed, he's off to the vet, and he doesn't want a bar of it. He'll do whatever he can to avoid it. He hides under the table then escapes out the door. The barbeques the best spot but he's n...

It's no secret that writing In the Shadow of an Elephant was an emotionally charged experience for me. Allowing raw emotion to flow onto the page is as cathartic as it is confronting. Not only was I working through the grief of losing my mother, but I also wanted to offer a legacy to the girl who had endured her own tragic loss and had been triumph...

Perseverance, patience and partnerships: Three critical components to developing a successful writing career. Building your career as a writer is 'a marathon not a sprint,' said International Children's author Jacqueline Harvey at the CKT Festival. False starts and rejections did not stop Jacqueline Harvey from 'getting back on the horse'. Without ...

Giving Voice, Then Keeping Quiet : the art of making children's picture books.. and letting them go - Emma Quay. On Saturday the 6th of April 2019 I had the pleasure of attending the Creative Kids Tales Writers' Festival. The festival organiser and creator of Creative Kids Tales, Georgie Donaghey, had put together an amazing program of speakers. So...

'Hard, painful, brilliant and intoxicating: why, how, and what you need to invest in to be a successful writer.' This was the second time I heard Deborah Abela speak, and she was just as energetic, humble, and generous with her tips on all things writing. Deborah Abela has written 26 books, including the Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee, 'Tere...

'On Friday fifth of April, our merry band did go. To wine and dine and pass the time at Gymea bowlo…'  Ok, enough of that, but wine and dine we did, and a lovely evening was had by all. The pre-festival dinner was a fun addition to last year's festivities. As we happily introduced ourselves, the anticipation for the main event of the weekend w...

When I embarked on a career in the writing industry, I knew it meant stacks of ongoing learning. In the same way being able to cook didn't meant I could open a restaurant, being able to put together sentences didn't mean I could just launch in and become an author and editor. After researching my options, I undertook four certificate courses: Creat...

One thing I look forward to each year is the announcement of writers' festivals around the country. I'm like a big kid in a candy store working out which ones I want to sample next. The seduction of speakers I've not yet encountered tempting my creative taste buds. Which festival offers speakers more suited to where I am on my creative journey? Whi...

We are always looking for ways to further support the writing community, and for the past few years, we have been the major sponsor of the KOALA Awards.  KOALA is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers (teacher/librarians, public librarians, teachers, publishers and other supporters of children's literature). Every year, young readers fro...

A homonym is words that sound and are spelt alike , yet have different meanings. Example – fair (pale), fair (market) and fair (unbiased). The fair maiden considered the price was fair when she attended the market fair . A homograph is words that are spelt the same , yet sound different and have different meanings. Example – bow (bend at waist) and...

I think one of the biggest problems facing new writers is finding time to write and to revise our work. Very few have the luxury of being able to afford to be full-time writers, and everyone still has to juggle family and friendships as well as work commitments, so time is always a precious commodity, let alone finding time to write. Writing can al...

You're a children's author!!!! Awesome, well done! Seriously, this is the best job in the entire world, so welcome to the club. So does becoming a better writer simply mean writing more, or reading books about writing for children, or going to writing workshops? Yes, it means all those things, but don't lock yourself in. My writing actually improve...

Another Word or two from Eileen Magee— still practising to be a Famous Author (!) Queen , the band from the 70's has a song titled " Fat Bottomed Girls." A line in the lyrics goes… " Fat bottomed girls you make the rocking world go round." I always think this can be easily translated to " Fat bottomed girls (and boys), you make the writing world go...