Students attend writers' festival

Year 6 students from Ettalong Public School attended the Sydney Writers' Festival on Friday, May 20.

Daniel Evans and Charlotte Gallagher from year six give their account of the day.

We had to get to Woy Woy train station at 7:30 and catch a commuter train to attend this event.

We arrived at the Town Hall early, so we had something to eat on the Town Hall steps and because we were the first to arrive we had the best seats in the house.

First we listened to Morris Gleitzman who told us that it only takes him 19 seconds to get to work and that to be a writer you need to practice every day.

Next we listened to Deborah Abela who told us about an incident when she was a kid when she jumped off her garage roof to try and get into the pool, but didn't make it.

She hit her chin on the edge and all her teeth went through her top lip. She went to hospital in an ambulance.

This experience led her to create her character Max, the super spy.

She also told us about her new book Grimsdon and gave each of us a signed bookmark.

After we listened to Deborah we went and had lunch in St Andrew's Square.

After lunch we went back and listened to Sean Williams and Garth Nix.

They told us about how they have written books together.

Their latest book is called Trouble Twisters and we chose to buy this book for the school library.

The authors signed it for us.

Finally we heard from Richard Newsome.

It took Richard 10 years to write his book and it was rejected many times before he finally had it published.

The book won a competition for unpublished writers.

All of the children were well behaved and enjoyed their excursion to Sydney.

Newsletter, 31 May 2011 Colin Wallis, Ettalong Public School