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Wellington attracts top children’s author for national writing competition Wellington Shire Council has joined forces with the organisers of the NESTLÉ Write Around Australia competition to offer local kids a rare opportunity to participate in creative writing workshops with one of the nation’s top children’s authors. By Wellington Shire Council - 22nd July 2003 - Back to News On Friday 1 August author Krista Bell will be holding a special workshop with Gippsland’s 20 finalists in this year’s competition – the nation’s largest creative writing contest for year 5 and 6 students, which has been coordinated for Gippsland by Wellington Shire. The session is being held at Stratford Library and will include students from Sale, Longford and Maffra schools. They will receive expert guidance to help them polish and re-submit their 500-word stories for the final round of judging, from which the zone, state and national winners will be selected later in September.
In addition, between Monday 28 July to 1 August Krista will be running workshops at various libraries around the Shire with primary schools, in a drive to encourage more young children to learn about the art of creative writing, which will hopefully fuel a lifelong love of writing and reading. She will be at Yarram (28 July), Stratford (29), Sale (30) and Maffra (31).
Krista will also be holding a book signing session on 30 July at Collins Bookshop, Spotlight Arcade, Sale, at 4pm, where she will be happy to answer any questions about her work. Then at 7pm she will be hosting a meal at the Gippsland Palace Asian restaurant in Macarthur Street, Sale – providing a great opportunity for guests to learn more about her work. Anyone is welcome to attend, but bookings are essential. For more information contact the Council’s Heather Richards on 5142 3368.
Said Wellington’s Mayor John Jago: "This year’s writing competition, greatly aided by all the hard work put in by our library staff, really seems to have stirred the imagination of budding young writers across the region with more than 800 entries received. Congratulations to the 20 finalists. It’s clear we have some very talented young writers.
"We’re also thrilled to have Krista Bell in Wellington and we hope budding young writers out there will take this opportunity to pick up some invaluable advice and skills from the expert which will fuel a very rewarding lifelong love of writing and reading."
This is the ninth year of the NESTLÉ Write Around Australia competition, which has grown to become the nation’s largest creative writing competition for primary school children. This year has been the most successful yet with over 36,600 students entering the competition from around Australia.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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