Author
Louise Park is an award-winning author known for her bestselling series fiction that includes Zac Power Test Drives, Zac Power Spy Recruit, Boy vs Beast, Harriet Clare, D-Bot Squad, Star Girl, and the Grace mysteries—Grace’s Secrets and Grace’s Escape. She is the author of the adult title 7 Steps to Get Your Child Reading, and her latest book, Last Man Out: A Personal Account of the Gallipoli Evacuation, is an award-winning title based on her grandfather’s letters, notes and journals of his experiences as the last man out of Anzac Cove at Gallipoli during WW1. Louise Has been involved in education and publishing for over 30 years and holds a Masters with honours in Children’s Literacy and Literature. With sales in the millions worldwide, she writes under her name and the hugely successful pseudonyms H. I. Larry and Mac Park.
Student Sessions (These will be adjusted according to the students in the sessions)
For P-2 and P-3: Spies, Beasts and Baddies
Meet the characters that bring Louise’s stories to life. Find out where Louise gets her ideas from and how her characters were created so that you can create your own memorable characters. This highly interactive session includes a Kahoot-style quiz game called, Series Fiction Showdown. Are you ready to battle? (Session focuses on the following series fiction: Zac Power Super Spy Set, Boy vs Beast and D-Bot Squad.) I’ll bring the dino suit!
For 3-4, 4-6 and 5- : History, Mystery and Magic
Time travelling, mysterious and magical objects, portals and hidden worlds. This session focusses on how imagination, the real world and a touch of history lets us create these invaluable story elements. Be prepared to have your minds stretched as you create your own mysterious and magical object that you can use in a scene of your own making! You’ll leave armed and ready to write! (Largely focusses on the Grace mysteries-Grace’s Secrets and Grace’s Escape and touches on my other titles)
For 3-4, 5-6 and 4-6: Heroes and Villains!
Find out how to create great heroes and villains and why we need them? Test your knowledge in an interactive Villain Trivia Quiz and leave with loads of writing tips up your sleeve! This session examines some of the greatest villains in children’s literature and how we can mine them for our own inspiration. (Focusses on some very famous characters from children’s literature and my books: Last Man Out, Grace’s Secrets and Grace’s Escape)
For 4-6 and 5-6: Creative Nonfiction: Where Storytelling and Facts Collide
Hear first-hand from the granddaughter of the last man to leave the hills of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli in WW1.The evacuation from Gallipoli of Australian and New Zealand troops was a logistically incredible undertaking. The exhausted young men were to slip away by ship in the dead of night. But…Someone needed to remain behind to cover for their fellow soldiers. This was a mission that almost certainly meant death. Would it be you? Would you volunteer to be the last man out? This session includes a slide show of daily life and conditions and what those last few weeks were like during the evacuation, tips and techniques for writing engaging creative nonfiction or narrative nonfiction, the role of heroes, a reading and question time. (session focuses on Last Man Out: A Portrayal of the Gallipoli Evacuation)