WS Library's Book Feast excursion.
What is it?
A fantastic opportunity for school students to meet many Australian authors and illustrators, have lunch and discuss creative writing or illustrating skills.
Why we will always remember the day we attended Book Feast 2009
as it was the day that the red dust storm blanketed Sydney Harbour.
On Wednesday 23rd September Sydneysiders awoke to an eerie red morning sky and dust laden air. Three Year Seven students had been selected to attend the annual Library Book Feast excursion at the William Wilkins Gallery in Bridge St in Sydney. Students were excited able to capture unique photos like these ones.
On arrival at Circular Quay station we were glad we were not on a ferry on the harbour. The poor visibility experienced by ferry masters on the day was the result of the huge amount of red dust that arrived in Sydney from areas of the outback such as Broken Hill. In the days that followed the dust was obvious in other cities and regional areas. There were even reports of it in as far away as New Zealand.
The students were clicking their cameras as we walked up to the beautiful old sandstone Department of Education and Training Building and it was obvious the students were impressed its by the age and architectural features of some of the city's unique buildings.
The students were clicking their cameras as we walked up to the beautiful old sandstone Department of Education and Training Building and it was obvious the students were impressed its by the age and architectural features of some of the city's unique buildings.
Lunch with an author
Having lunch with author Patricia Bernard was absolutely amazing. She came equipped with some fabulous photos of her holidays. She had recently travelled to Mongolia and taught us all about the unique lifestyle of the people in this country. She had lived amongst the nomadic people of this remote country and had lots of stories to tell the students at our table about their tents, their animals and their culture.
She told us about where she gets material for her writing, the types of characters she writes about and why she loves traveling. She has led an extremely interesting life, has visited an unbelievable list of countries and held a large variety of jobs. Everyone had a fantastic day thanks to her dynamic personality and the way she interacted with the students from Westfields Sports.
Other authors who spoke at Book Feast included the hilarious Duncan Ball, writer of the Selby series and other books. Have any of you read his poems such as Quentin's Lunch? It was especially written for narration at Book Feast several years ago and is quite entertaining as a descriptive, narrative poem about a very spoiled boy who keeps his lunch in his bag for months. I am sure you can imagine some of the consequences of storing food unrefrigerated for some time.
She told us about where she gets material for her writing, the types of characters she writes about and why she loves traveling. She has led an extremely interesting life, has visited an unbelievable list of countries and held a large variety of jobs. Everyone had a fantastic day thanks to her dynamic personality and the way she interacted with the students from Westfields Sports.
Other authors who spoke at Book Feast included the hilarious Duncan Ball, writer of the Selby series and other books. Have any of you read his poems such as Quentin's Lunch? It was especially written for narration at Book Feast several years ago and is quite entertaining as a descriptive, narrative poem about a very spoiled boy who keeps his lunch in his bag for months. I am sure you can imagine some of the consequences of storing food unrefrigerated for some time.
