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Top authors attend Voices on the Coast at USC
Top international and Australian authors, illustrators and poets visited the University of the Sunshine Coast this week for the annual youth literature festival, Voices on the Coast.
The impressive line-up of literary talent for the festival, co-presented by Immanuel Lutheran College and USC, included Irish novelist John Boyne, who wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Obernewtyn Chronicles author Isobelle Carmody and Dragonkeeper series writer Carole Wilkinson.
Festival coordinator Kelly Dunham said 24 presenters inspired and entertained about 4000 Year 5-12 school students from across the region at the University campus on Monday 28 May and Tuesday 29 May.
Festival coordinator Kelly Dunham said the two days of student sessions at USC aimed to encourage the love of reading and writing among young people.
“This year the festival has a distinctly ‘Beyond the Book’ theme with a range of presenters from the less traditional literature fields of computer games writing, graphic novel writing and illustrating, clowning workshops, scriptwriting and playwriting,” she said.
Mrs Dunham said the week-long Voices on the Coast festival also featured numerous sessions for adults, called Voices Plus events, at various venues across the Sunshine Coast.
“Isobelle Carmody, John Boyne and JC Burke launched the festival on Monday evening, followed by Carole Wilkinson, who spoke on Tuesday evening about her experiences writing historical fiction.
“Australia’s first lady of fiction, Di Morrissey, will close the week-long festival with a literary breakfast at the Maroochy Surf Club on Saturday 2 June. Di is well known for her novels The Valley, The Bay and Tears of the Moon.”