Writing for children...

[Stephen Whiteside]

If there are any budding children's writers out there, here is a bunch of websites that might be of assistance…

https://australianchildrenspoetry.com.au

http://australiaeastnz.scbwi.org

http://theschoolmagazine.com.au

https://jackiehoskingblog.wordpress.com

http://janeenbrian.com

https://jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com

http://www.enterprisingwords.com.au

http://www.markcarthew.com.au

http://www.tripledbooks.com.au

[keats]

Thanks Stephen, but I think this website has pretty much died. Might be better to post on the Facebook page for what it's worth.

Cheers

Neil

ps Send me some stuff about the C J Dennis Festival for the Magazine.

[Wendy Seddon]

Thank Stephen,

I dabble with kidstuff. I'll check them out.
I love this website by the way.

My daughter has illustrated a very successful children's book you can view here:

http://www.aretheseyourglasses.com/

[David Campbell]

Thanks Stephen, that's very useful.

The website has "died", Neil? This is still the official ABPA site. And this month alone the poems posted in the "ABPA Members' Poetry" section have racked up about 850 views in total. Seems that reports of its death are greatly exaggerated.

And congratulations on your daughter's book, Wendy. Artistic ability is a wonderful skill to have.

David

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, David.

Your daughter's book looks very interesting, Wendy. The website is amazing! It looks as though Gavin has published it himself. Do you know why he chose to do this?

[Wendy Seddon]

Hi Stephen,
Gav and Jen's book is published by Pademelon press.
It is in a lot of book shops and schools around the country and the world.

Their second book should be available at Christmas called Where is my Memory.
It is about Elephants!

I am very proud of them both.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, Wendy. I must check out Pademelon Press. I don't know much about them. (I always have my ears open for new publishers!)

[Shelley Hansen]

Oh wow, Wendy - how good is that book! Congratulations are definitely in order - I can imagine how proud you are. It is so important that children's books carry positive self-affirming messages, especially these days with so much negativity about.

Thank you too Stephen, for the links - which I know you sent me several months ago, but which I have yet to fully explore.

Yes, David - I've also noticed the large number of views that the posts on this forum are bringing in - which indicates people must be interested in reading poetry and related threads (otherwise why would they bother logging in?) Like Wendy, I find our mutual encouragement, writing workshop and shared poetry to be uplifting and creatively stimulating.

Cheers
Shelley

[David Campbell]

Stephen has titled this thread “Writing for children” so it’s worth expanding the topic a little to look at what sort of poetry appeals to children, particularly as the Toolangi competition has, as it did last year, thrown up some intriguing results.

At Toolangi we have a section called “Adults Writing for Children” and it is, as far as I know, unique in that there are two independent awards…one judged by an adult and the other judged by a class of primary students. Last year Stephen won the latter with a never-to-be-forgotten ode called The Sticky Fart. (You can find it here if you look back twelve months.) But the adult judge only gave it Highly Commended. This year the kids gave the thumbs-up to my Toolangi Pie, which (following Stephen’s example) is a long way from sugar and spice and all things nice. But the adult judge? Yep, Highly Commended.

Two examples don’t prove anything much, but it’s interesting that there’s such a discrepancy between the judge’s view and what the children thought. From memory, no poem has ever won both awards. One thing seems pretty clear, though, and it’s that primary kids are rather partial to gross-out subject-matter!

I’ll post Toolangi Pie in the poetry section. Bon appétit!

Cheers
David

[Brenda Joy]

Thank you so much Stephen. Writing for Children is one of those things on my agenda for when...
Your contacts are greatly appreciated and might give me the incentive to find a bit of time in my schedule.

As for the Forum -- I think it is a great communicative network and there must be a lot of people, like me, who don't always take the time to make comments but who nevertheless enjoy the interchanges and offerings.

Thank you all.
Brenda