Hearts, Minds, Stories

At the beginning of July, I attended the AATE/ALEA Conference in Darwin. It was fabulous to bask in Darwin’s warmth and to catch up with many writers and educators that I admire.

I loved the theme of the conference and the opportunity to develop a workshop that focussed on the importance of ‘place’ in creative writing. As a teacher of creative writing, I find it disheartening that Australian children often set their stories in places they have never seen except through the medium of film and television.

Four in 10 Australians change address every five years and nearly 15% move house every year. This makes Australians one of the most mobile populations in the world. It also disrupts our connection to landscape and has ramifications for how we write about place. When young people’s sense of place is regularly disrupted, they lose confidence in their ability to talk about their homes.

In all my writing workshops, I try to help young writers enliven their capacity to tell stories by connecting them to authentic settings that they have personally experienced. Using creative visualisation techniques, exploring sensory stimuli, and sparking the connection between memory and language empowers young writers to be both confident and authentic in their writing.