Workshops, interviews, and being controversial

I've been busy

June wrap up

I can’t believe that we’re already half way through the year! Much of 2025 has been a whirlwind for me and June was no different. Off the back of an insanely busy May, June was filled with lots of workshops and talks.

I was honoured to be an Author in Residence at Concordia College over the first three weeks of June, where I taught writing workshops to years 5 - 8 students. I also had the opportunity to speak with a class of year 9 students who were reading The Other Shadow as their class novel. It was incredible to hear their insights into the book and to share the backstory behind this novel.

Workshopping with kids at Concordia College

I’d not workshopped with high school aged children before and I admit, I was pretty nervous. I’d imagined a bunch of uninterested students, rolling their collective eyes at the ‘old lady’ trying to convince them that books and writing were the best things in the world. In reality, the children were amazing - enthusiastic and engaged. There were some impressive stories written and I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the children were able to think outside of the box.

A few of the staff at the school gave me the most thoughtful gifts before I left. Hajnalka bought me a genuine pair of Erstwilder earrings (button-shaped, in honour of my book, Oma’s Buttons), and Scott and Catherine recovered my book, The Other Shadow, in a beautiful purple cover with a personalised Cricut design and complete with gilded marbled endpapers. These are gifts that I will definitely treasure for life.

How gorgeous is this?

Speaking of The Other Shadow, today (1st July) is the first birthday of its release. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported this book over the past 12 months. Thank you for the shares, the reviews and the heartfelt messages. Thank you to the various award judges who have seen something special in my story. For this book to have so many awards attached to it means more than I can express. Thirteen year old Tania would never have believed where life ended up taking me.

In mid June, I was interviewed by Joy Lawn for her Paperbarkwords blog, where I discuss Aggie Flea and the reality of my ‘overnight success.’ If you wish to read more about this, you can find the interview here.

Finally, toward the end of June, I participated in St Raphael’s award-winning Reading Revolution event, where I spoke on a panel about the importance of reading and ran a discussion group with parents who feared that their older children had abandoned reading. We talked tips and tricks for keeping kids interested in stories, and the parents in my group went home with a list of book recommendations for 10 - 12 year old kids, from reluctant readers to advanced. My book list was somewhat controversial, especially my inclusion of graphic novels as valid reading material.

It’s not the first time I’ve come across this problem. Last year I attended a school which no longer kept graphic novels on their library shelves, as parents were complaining about their children choosing these stories over ‘real’ books. Instead, the school kept their graphic novels locked away in the librarian’s office and could only be borrowed with a parent’s permission. I have to add, this was not the school librarian’s choice, nor was it her or preference. The school had been strong-armed into this outcome through the staggering number of parents who had made complaints, fearing their children’s reading would somehow be stunted by having access to graphic novels.

Some people seem to baulk at the idea that graphic novels can be books of substance, but I’d challenge anyone not to find some kernel of beauty in Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet or truth in Remi Lai’s Ghost Book. Even graphic novels for younger children (for the most part) have life lessons hidden beneath the fart jokes and absurdity. I know that I personally worked incredibly hard over the graphic novel sections in Aggie Flea to ensure that each insert had a moral, whether it be accepting yourself (flaws and all) or looking past first impressions.

I’m amazed at how fixed people’s thinking can be when it comes to reading. There seems to be such an emphasis on age alignment instead of enjoyment. I understand that children need to demonstrate progression with their reading ability and comprehension skills, but does reading additional books for a younger age group really do harm? Ninety five percent of the books I read (and have always read) are junior fiction and midgrade kid-lit - what does that mean about me? If we use the same standards expected of children, then shouldn’t I, as an adult, be reading adult fiction only? Shouldn’t my enjoyment of children’s literature be disadvantaging me in some way? Yet, I don’t feel disadvantaged at all by my love of kid-lit. I’m a completely functional adult with three degrees, and one who can read adult fiction if I choose to (and occasionally I do - only last month, I posted about The Salt Path). In fact, I’d argue that reading children’s books has actually kept me young at heart (and perhaps a bit quirky and whimsical too). 😊

So what do you think? Should kids be allowed to read for enjoyment, even if it is deemed below their age group reading level? And do you think graphic novels are a valid choice of reading material?

My hills life

The rain has finally arrived in Adelaide and you can feel the sigh of relief in our hills community. Dams are beginning to refill and tiny shoots of green grass are appearing in the dusty paddocks. It has been a tough couple of years for farmers and though the rain brings some reprieve, the losses will be felt for some time yet.

Between the hustle and bustle of this month, I’ve had a couple of happy days curling up on the sofa with a book or my laptop, watching the swirls of fog rolling past my window. It’s not unusual for my home to be blanketed in thick fog during winter and I love it! I imagine this is what it would be like to live in the clouds. Fog always activates that fantasy-hungry part of my brain and I find myself longing for stories like The Spiderwick Chronicles or The Dark is Rising.

Soon, I will need to prune back the lavenders and the herb garden and start thinking about what seeds I’ll be planting for spring. I’ve bought quite a selection of flowers this year and I’m itching to get them in the ground. But for now, I’ll enjoy the rain and the fog.

Book highlight

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (Little, Brown Books, 2016)

I confess, I’d never heard of this book before the movie came out, but I’m so glad to have discovered it, even if it was late. Roz is a robot who has washed up on a remote island after a storm. She is seemingly without purpose in this wild landscape and goes about trying to befriend the island’s animal inhabitants and make herself useful. When a ship arrives and Roz finds herself under threat, it is her new community that comes to her aid. This is a beautiful, gently-written story of survival, family and finding a sense of belonging.

July events

In July, I get to visit a couple of schools thanks to the SA branch of CBCA and the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Apart from that, I’ll be taking some time out to go away with my daughter on a much needed writing / girl’s retreat, where we will bundle up in a beachside cabin with our heated rugs, our computers, and a stack of books. The plan is to live on tea, soup, cheese and chocolate - write whenever the inspiration hits - and read as many books as we can. I’m actually looking forward to having some down time. It hardly feels as though I’ve had any quality writing time this year and I certainly haven’t read as much as I’d usually read. So here’s to resting and recharging over the midwinter month! I hope you find time to top-up your own spirits as well.

Until next time.

Tan x