We were on our way to see the Government House Western Australia today (29 October 2023, Sunday). While taking a shortcut near the City of Perth Library, we chanced on the Scribblers Festival 2023 at the Cathedral Square.
Scribblers Festival is a writing and literature event for young people. There are many interactive sessions and workshops by authors, illustrators and storytellers from Australia are held as part of this event.
I attended two talks by the author Kylie Howarth and storyteller Stig Wemyss.
‘Where do Ideas Come From’
The talk ‘Where do ideas come from’ was by children books’ illustrator and author Kylie Howarth. She talked about how to create a character and develop a personality for it. She also showcased the characters she created for her storybooks: ‘Chip’ and ‘Fish Kid’.
The character ‘Chip’ was inspired by the seagulls Kylie saw in the beach one day. After researching seagulls she thought of drawing a seagull with her left hand to make it look interesting. This was how the cartoony looking seagull, Chip was made. Chip is the main character of the storybooks series ‘Chip’ and ‘Chip The Lifeguard.’
The next character Kylie introduced to us was Fish Kid. He appears in a trilogy book series. This character was inspired by kylie’s love for scuba diving. The book series also includes other marine characters like a marine iguana (Lizard Ninja) in the book ‘Fish Kid and the Lizard Ninja.’
Kylie also showed us some of her fun lunch box mini books that she had created filled with small, rhyming short stories and sketches.
She also read to us her new book ‘Crocs Stole My Socks’ which tells the story of Lex who does not like wearing his socks, until he lands in some trouble.
At the end of the session, she taught us how to draw a crocodile, just like the one she drew for her own book!
‘Stig Wemyss Live’
The next talk I attended at the Scribbler’s Festival was by Stig Wemyss, a children’s audio book narrator.
He is the narrator of the Treehouse Tales written by Andy Griffiths. It was a fun session as he talked about how he uses different voices with variations in pitch and style for the characters in the books. He also challenged some children from the audience to do the narration and he gave them a few interview scenarios for the job. He also read us a chapter from one of the Treehouse Tales book.
Fun Activities
My sister and I also got to do some fun stuff like making our own cloth flags by pressing flowers to get the imprint. We also met the character Dorothy from the novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.’ She read us the book ‘The Wizard of Oz.’
The festival was really fun and we left for the Open Day of the Government House, WA with a happy heart.