14 June 2018

Write like an author: launches school holiday camp in Canberra

| Sophia Brady
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Local author Jack Heath. Image supplied

Local author Jack Heath. Photo: Supplied.

An internationally acclaimed writing course for middle-grade students that shows them how to write stories the way authors do is coming to Canberra this July school holidays.

Over four days, the school holiday writing camp, which will be held at Canberra Grammar School from the 9 – 12 of July, and taught by professional published local author Jack Heath, will take participants on a journey of fun and discovery, as they learn how to create, develop and write awesome stories.

The course has been developed by international award-winning author and writing coach Brian Falkner and proven for over nine years in classrooms in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Award-winning author and writing coach Brian Falkner. Image supplied.

Award-winning author and writing coach Brian Falkner. Photo: Supplied.

Enthusiastic participants. Image supplied.

Enthusiastic participants. Photo: Supplied.

With eighteen Junior, Middle Grade and YA fiction books published, starting in 2003 with The Flea Thing (Penguin), Brian has also published a guide to creative writing for young people. He said, “I spend a lot of time each year travelling around schools running writing workshops. Usually, I get an hour with the students, sometimes, if I am lucky, a whole day. This simply isn’t enough time to pass on all the knowledge about writing and being an author, that I have accumulated throughout my career. So I developed the Write Like an Author holiday writing camp.”

“It consists of four days in the school holidays when keen young writers can spend focused writing time, learning and writing in a supportive environment with other keen young writers, taught by a professional author. The camps were immediately successful, and all my school holidays quickly booked up. So I asked a few writer friends if they would like to help run the camps, and we now have seven authors running camps in three countries.”

“The target age range for the course is from 9 to 14. We have had older students, up to 17-year-olds, however, they must be aware that the style and content of the course are aimed a little younger than them. Likewise, we have had younger participants, as long as they are confident writers.”

Write Like An Author Workbook. Image supplied.

Write Like An Author Workbook.

Brian shared that “it is our first Canberra camp. I have known Jack for many years and know that he is an exciting, vibrant presenter and writing teacher. I was keen to get him involved with Write Like an Author, and as he lives in Canberra it was the obvious choice for his first camp.”

Jack has written more than twenty action-adventure books for kids and one crime novel for adults. He wrote his first novel, The Lab while studying at Lyneham High School and Narrabundah College. His best-selling book 300 Minutes of Danger published in 2015 has recently been adapted into a Virtual Reality film funded by Screen Australia and is currently in post-production.

With this wealth of experience and having himself started his career as a teenager, Jack said: “For years I’ve admired Brian and his books, so it’s a thrill to be part of this program.”

“It always amazes me that you can give the same writing prompt to a group of kids and get a completely different story from each of them. The Write Like An Author program is chock-full of activities to get kids thinking creatively, so I’m excited about reading dozens, if not hundreds, of wildly original pieces.”

Jack Heath with his novels - ready to go. Image supplied.

Jack Heath with his novels – ready to go. Photo: Supplied.

The Future Author Boot Camp will be held at Canberra Grammar School from Monday, July 9, 2018, to Thursday, July 12, 2018. For bookings and further information, visit the website.

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