Jenny is a member of the Queensland Writers Centre, SCBWI, Book Links Qld Inc., and Write Links: Queensland’s Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group. When she’s not writing, Jenny loves reading, researching family history, and going down the rabbit-hole of historical research.
We extend our warmest congratulations to Kat Apel (QLD), Glenda Millard (VIC), Andrea Rowe (VIC), and Claire Saxby (VIC). We look forward to sharing with you more exciting updates around their Fellowship experiences.
Would you like to join us for a High Tea By The Sea?
Join us at this years seaside High Tea at the Stamford Grand in Glenelg Friday 20 October 2023 from 12.00pm - 3.00pm. Tickets are $60 each and include a glass of sparkling wine.
Sandra is an award winning artist and author based in the Northern Territory. She has created eight picture books for children, drawing inspiration from the local environment. Sandra exhibits her artwork regularly in Darwin.
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A little help from my friends. Join Author and illustrator Matt Shanks for a reading of Herman Crab, followed by a drawing workshop. For children ages 4 -10.
]]>Join Author and illustrator Matt Shanks for a reading of Herman Crab, followed by a drawing workshop where children use drawing to articulate their personal strengths and the complementary strengths of their friends. By the end of the session, children walk away with an understanding of how each of our different strengths play a part in making us a stronger whole.
Matt Shanks is an internationally-published and critically-acclaimed author/illustrator of over twenty picture books including Eric the Postie, Queen Celine (both awarded Notables by the CBCA for Picture Book of The Year), Rosie the Rhinoceros, written by Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes, and Herman Crab, written by one of Australia’s favourite comedians, Peter Helliar.
Matt is a two-time Fellow of the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust, an Australian Literary and Numeracy Foundation ambassador, co-editor of Words Like This, and works primarily in watercolour.
Matt Shanks is in Adelaide on a May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust Fellowship.
We extend our warmest congratulations to Lorena Carrington (VIC), Sandra Kendell (NT), Heidi McKinnon (VIC), Sally Murphy (WA), Coral Vass (VIC) and Judy Watson (VIC). We look forward to sharing with you more exciting updates around their Fellowship experiences.
Lorena Carrington
Sandra Kendell
Heidi McKinnon
Sally Murphy
Coral Vass
Judy Watson
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The Creative Time Residential Fellowship was a wonderful gift. I found myself reflecting deeply about my writing process, my work and my future creative projects.
During my Fellowship, I had a number of worthwhile networking opportunities where I found time to connect with many South Australian authors and illustrators. I attended a great book-lovers event in the beautiful grounds of Carrick Hill, where I met several Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) contacts and Facebook friends. The unveiling of a new sculpture at 'Storybook Walk' at Thalassa Park, where there are many sculptures based on children's books, was another wonderful outing. I was also excited to meet for the first time, the illustrator of my next picture book, Pip Kruger, and chat about our forthcoming book.
All of these opportunities were enjoyable and inspiring. I find that sharing ideas with other creative people, particularly those who write for children, helps me reflect on and further develop my own creative practice.
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"The benefits of the May Gibbs Creative Time Residential Fellowship have been immeasurable! I was able to bring several projects to a stage they would not have reached for years, had I not been given the uninterrupted time to write.During my stay in Adelaide, I am very grateful to have spent time with so many generous, inspiring and invigorating people….. and with no one at all. I loved every second of my time spent in the Burrow.
Thank you!"
]]>A number of stories grew after I reminded myself of this, and I let them.
I spent half of my stay working on the text for the anthropomorphic picture book that had accompanied my Fellowship application. After I put aside the second draft of this story, I was able to complete two early childhood picture book texts, both of which had been in development for many years. My Fellowship allowed me the time and mind space to devote to these texts at last.
After a morning spent in the Adelaide Hills collecting leaves, I developed animal characters for a new book, and autumn settings for them to live in.
There was also much time available to explore colour palettes and experiment with novel ways of applying media to paper. I now have piles of work to scan onto my computer and manipulate in Photoshop.
I am certain that some of this 'play' will inform my next few illustrative projects.
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My month spent in The Burrow was absolutely ‘Creative Time’. It was time for thinking deeply, time for the absolutely necessary boredom that sparks the most unexpected ideas, and it was time for reading! For inhaling books in a way that I hadn’t for a long time – middle grade, YA “grown up” fiction and non-fiction…
I had grand plans for hours of dedicated, focused writing with large word counts and entire first drafts. But I had to quickly abandon that, and was very grateful to family and friends at the end of the phone line, or the other end of a tweet or Instagram story, who listened and reassured and reminded me that the writing doesn’t always look like words on a page or screen. In the end I abandoned form and plot and structure for the automatic writing suggested by the Surrealists and gave myself permission to create nonsense, explore what’s important to me, and to get things wrong.
This is the third year I was meant to complete the fellowship and after one year postponed due to a surprise cancer diagnosis (all solved now!) and a second year scuppered thanks to COVID – and while I don’t believe in fate, I do believe this was the best time I could have come (even if one week here was spent in lockdown, I hardly noticed it!). The thinking time, the conversations with the MGCLT committee and board members I met during my fellowship, the SA kids’ lit community and especially Allayne Webster and Vikki Wakefield, have been invaluable in bringing me back a bit closer to myself and my goals.
Since leaving the bookselling and publishing world, and taking up a role in the public service, I’ve felt an identity shift, a vagueness and distance from all I’ve been working towards over the past 15 years of my professional life. This month, this fellowship maybe not have yielded more than around 3000 words, but full ideas have formed, connections made, Norwood footpaths walked. I’m not the same writer who would have come here in 2019. I wonder what she would have written? I look forward to finding out what this 2021 me comes up with from here.
Kate O'Donnell is a writer, editor and bookseller specialising in children’s and young adult literature. Her first novel Untidy Towns was published in 2017, and her second novel This One is Ours was published in October 2020.
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My journey with the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust Creative Time Residency began back in 2019, when I learned I’d been successful in my application for a four-week Canberra residency in March 2020. I had a week of absolute joy in Canberra, writing 8000 words—without question more than I’d written in a week anywhere, ever—visiting galleries, walking the city, visiting the Arboretum and the National War Memorial—and then COVID 19 struck. |
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The May Gibbs Board and Libby were wonderful and said, Don't worry, Deb, you can finish off the residency once this has all died down. Come to Adelaide next time. Another adventure, I thought! Brilliant. I put the manuscript aside, got on with life and counted down till Adelaide 2021. May. It was all arranged. Flights booked, suitcase dusted off, meals cooked and frozen for the family. And then Perth had a sudden lockdown due to a case of COVID, not three days before my departure. South Australia closed its border. |
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Again, Libby and the Board to the rescue. Don't worry, Deb, how about you finish off the residency in WA’s south-west? How does Margaret River sound? |
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Well, it sounds like this: 5000 words of new work (one week in); a bush walk every day, reconnecting with a landscape whose beauty I’d somehow forgotten; and all the time in the world to think about what my characters might do in the next day’s writing. In summary? Momentum and joy. |
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Thank you so much, May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust. I will be nearly halfway into my new book when I leave here, and it’s all thanks to the time you have given me, and your dedication in making sure I got it. |
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Deb Fitzpatrick
You can follow Deb and her work on Instagram here.
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Congratulations to these talented children’s authors and illustrators, who make a wonderful addition to our pool of 2021 and 2022 Creative Time Residential Fellowships. We look forward to seeing more of their inspiring work.
Emma Quay is an illustrator and writer of award-winning picture books. Her memorable characters for My Sunbeam Baby, Rudie Nudie, Shrieking Violet, Bear and Chook, Daddy’s Cheeky Monkey, and others are favourites on children's bookshelves all over Australia. Her brand-new title for young children, Rudie Nudie Christmas, was recently released. Emma, who grew up in the English countryside, works from a studio in her home and wanted to illustrate children's books for as long as she can remember. Her artwork is held in collections around the world, including the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Lorraine Marwood is an award Winning Australian poet and writer from regional Central Victoria with a background as a teacher and dairy farmer. She loves poetry and in particular the verse novel genre. She writes about the goldfields, country life, families, animals, mystery, fantasy, a tiny moment in time, a longing for something… In her previous May Gibbs residencies, Lorraine worked on two projects that went on to win awards: Star Jumps (Walker Books) won the Inaugural Children’s Fiction Section in the Prime Minister’s Award 2010, while the verse novel Leave Taking (UQP) was joint winner of the Patricia Wrightson Award (NSW) and shortlisted for CBCA and Queensland literary awards in 2019.
Sara Acton is an award-winning author and illustrator, who grew up in the Cotswolds in England and always loved drawing, especially people and other strange creatures. She studied BA Hons Fine Art and trained as an Art Teacher in London. After teaching and practicing art in England and New Zealand, Sara moved with her family to Australia.
She now lives in a small seaside village on the Central Coast of NSW, where she enjoys writing and illustrating for children in her studio, whilst drinking tea and eating far too many biscuits. When not in her studio she can be found out and about sketching and visiting schools, libraries and bookshops to deliver presentations and workshops.
Her first picture book Ben and Duck won the 2012 Children's Book Council of Australia Crichton Award for new illustrators. Sara is represented by Margaret Connolly & Associates.
Matt Shanks is a critically-acclaimed author/illustrator of more than ten picture books. Eric the Postie (2018) and Queen Celine (2019) were both awarded Notables by the CBCA for Picture Book of The Year. Round and Round the Garden, the latest addition to his beautiful Australian Nursery Rhyme series, was published in 2021. Matt is a previous fellow of the May Gibbs’ Children’s Literature Trust, co-editor of Words Like This. He lives in Melbourne, Victoria, with his partner and cat, and his illustrations are done primarily in watercolour.
Matt acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which he does his work and pays his respects to elders past and present. He acknowledges the sorrow of the stolen generations and the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and recognises the resilience, strength and pride of those communities. Through his work, Matt aims to help as much as possible to empower and help them thrive.
Caz Goodwin is a Melbourne-based award-winning author of picture books, short stories, poetry and junior fiction. Her work has been published internationally and illustrated by Gus Gordon and Kerry Millard (Australia), Ashley King (UK), and Low Joo Hong (Singapore), among others. She heads the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) in Victoria and is on the Young Australian Best Book Awards (YABBA) council.
Keep up to date with the latest news from our fellowship recipients and find out more by subscribing to our blog and following us on Instagram and Facebook.
Libby Tozer
Fellowships Coordinator, May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust
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In a nod to the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Foundation, illustrator Mike Spoor has produced a beautiful piece of art in celebration of Mark's Fellowship.
Mark, the author of many children's books including his The Thing That Goes Ping! and The Dingle Dangle Jungle, is well-known for his entertaining celebration of language, humour and wordplay. During his two-week stay, Mark was the guest speaker at a Devonshire tea at the Burnside Library, organised by our wonderful Support Group, addressed a dinner at The British Hotel for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators SA, and presented workshops for P-4 students at Scotch College. Mark said ‘Scotch College was a wonderful way to finish my time in Adelaide and we had a terrific, high octane couple of days together. Scotch got me with bells on.’
Libby Tozer
Fellowships Coordinator, May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust
]]>My time in Canberra was absolutely perfect. Before I arrived, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel on my own all day every day, but in truth I lapped it up. In the mornings I wrote in the studio (which was perfect), and if I couldn’t write I went down to the local café with paper a pen and wrote there with a coffee to help kick-start things. At the beginning of my residency I had a loose idea of my novel's key characters and story. In the precious seven days of my corona-interrupted residency, I was able to flesh out those characters’ voices, as well as those of more peripheral characters; firm up a working structure for the novel; and write about 5000 words. I’m absolutely delighted with that progress and look forward to resuming my residency as soon as the world gets back to normal!
When I wasn’t writing, I did a heap of reading, focusing mainly on Australian fiction. I also took long walks around Mt Ainslie and Lake Burley Griffin, and visited the National Gallery of Australia and the Australian War Memorial. I was also looked after incredibly well by Virginia, who took me to the Arboretum, which I loved, and on drives around the city showing me all sorts of points of interest, such as the National Library of Australia, the embassy district, and the many beautiful artworks located around the city. She was exceptionally kind and thoughtful and I’m really grateful to her for looking after me.
While my residency was cut short, not a moment was wasted nor taken for granted. I can’t wait to pick it up again once things have settled down and life can resume some sort of normality.
Deb Fitzpatrick
]]>The time provided by the Fellowship allowed me to organise my work and establish an illustrative process which I was then able to progress throughout my time in Adelaide. The draft text was story-boarded into page spreads, each of which represented a specific age/era in the history of the mountain. I was then able to tackle each spread individually, undertaking research to identify (fossil) lifeforms appropriate to each. Research involved accessing primary scientific sources (books, journal papers as well as museum and field specimens both on and offline). In addition, the Fellowship allowed me to access palaeontological expertise from several South Australian institutions.
Research for each geological era was consolidated into a virtual catalogue of known landform, climate, plant and animal lifeforms. Where possible, lifeforms were captured as sketches including original fossil/skeletal material and reconstructed forms. This information was then synthesised to construct initial (half-scale) spread designs. Five geological eras were catalogued and designed across the fellowship period - the Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Oligocene and Pleistocene. A sixth era – the Cretaceous – was commenced but not completed. In total, six spread designs were completed along with over 40 pages of sketches representing well over half of the research required for the book.
Whilst in Adelaide I was able to take advantage of contacts made through the May Gibbs Children's Literacy Trust to meet palaeontologists and science writers who are expert in their fields. I was able to visit the South Australian Museum several times to access its collections and expertise. On my first visit I met with Dr Jim Gehling to discuss science writing for children; later I met with Reg Nelon and Neville Alley, authors of geological guide books.
I was very fortunate to make contact with several experts from Flinders University. I met with Dr Rob Wells to discuss megafauna, Dr Danielle Clode to talk about science writing and publishing and was able to establish email contact with Dr Jim Long to ask (and receive) advice regarding Permian marine life. I was able to take advantage of the proximity of the University of Adelaide to access papers and books in its collection that were not obtainable online and to use the plant collection in the Adelaide Botanical Gardens to inform sketches of ancient plant forms.
The Adelaide Writers Festival enabled me to attend several events in the first week of my fellowship featuring authors and scientists Tim Flannery, Ross Garnaut, Heather Critchlow, Nicola Redhouse and Vicki Laveau-Harvie. Unfortunately, planned meetings with Comics with Friends, designer Greg Horsfeld and dinner with the Echidna’s Writers Group were cancelled during my final week due to the encroaching social restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
If we’re looking at numbers on pages then the benefits of this Fellowship to the progress of this book are tangible – over half of the research for this highly complex illustration project was able to be completed in the time allowed. Contacts were established (and are being maintained) with people who are expert in the field of palaeontology. The book moved from a text with an idea for how it might look to text with some serious science backing up how it will look. Personally, the true benefits of this fellowship were less tangible. From working on my own, on a project of my own, I arrived into a world of people who not only understood but actually valued what I was doing. In this world, spending time researching a book for the benefit of children was a worthy goal. Validation seems simple but it is such a huge boost to any creator. Strangers read my text, liked it and encouraged me to keep going. The illustration of this book is a marathon and there is still a long way to go. Having completed this Fellowship - and having been met with such fellowship – I feel encouraged to continue. It has given me confidence that I am doing something worth doing, lighting my forward path with hope and fresh motivation.
Even in these dark times.
Thank you so much.
Fiona Levings pic from DropBox
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To find more information, see the ‘creative time fellowships’ section of the website. For application details, contact Libby Tozer, Fellowships Coordinator.
Completed applications must be received by 11.59pm on Sunday, May 31st 2020.
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We are thrilled to announce that the winner of the Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship for 2020 is Fiona Levings, an illustrator and geologist from southern Tasmania. She will join us in Adelaide in March.
Fiona's project, a picture book that traces the 270 million-year history of Hobart's Kunanyi/Mount Wellington, is a perfect fit for this fellowship, which aims to foster the creation of high-quality children's literature that reflects Australian voices and themes.
Fiona will also benefit from a co-constructed professional development program, which is part of the Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship.
You will see more about Fiona and her project when our full 2020 Program is announced soon. In the meantime, please visit her website to learn more: fionalevings.blogspot.com.au
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We have received very exciting news from Amelia Mellor, our second Ian Wilson Memorial Fellow, that her project, 'The Grandest Bookshop in the World' has been contracted for publication and will be on the shelves in 2021.
Amelia Mellor had her residency in Adelaide in 2018 to work on this middle-grade historical fantasy novel. She undertook a range of professional development experiences, immersed herself in practical research for the novel - and of course did a whole lot of writing.
The Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship was established in 2017 to support writers and illustrators on their journey from 'emerging' to 'published', a journey that Amelia is now travelling so successfully.
Find out more from Amelia about this novel and its publication here.
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