At the Sydney Writers’ Festival there were five authors – Nat Amoore, Jessica Townsend, Kirli Saunders, Emily Rodda and Andrew McDonald. There was also an illustrator, Ben Wood. The author I enjoyed the most was Nat. She was funny and entertaining. I liked how some authors were calm and some were really funny which made the whole day interesting. I learnt that to write a good book, you have to write a book that suits you; a book that you find enjoyable to write. There were so many differences in the presentations, such as how they presented their writing and how they spoke. A lot of the authors were inspired by something. For example, Jessica was inspired by London to write the Nevermore series.

Kate Shepherd – Year 5

What happened? We got to listen to four different authors and hear about their writing career. Each author had 45 minutes to perform. We got to ask questions and do some little activities such as a live mystery and a meditation. I liked how most authors have only written a few books, but Emily Rodda has written over 100 books. I also enjoyed how we got to be a part of the live mystery. In the live mystery it was funny when Ben Wood (a pigeon) and Nat Amoore (a bread thief) were chasing each other. It was also funny how each time a new author would come Nat would make us do something funny.

My favourite author and illustrator is Ben Wood and Andrew McDonald who wrote and illustrated Real Pigeons. Their performance was funny and entertaining because Ben Wood got to draw live.

Some books were like a comic and funny. Others were scary, child-friendly, interesting, different and spiritual.

Seren D’Souza – Year 5

When we shuffled through the crowd, I was excited. When the music started, I was excited. When the lights went out, I was excited. Then Nat came onto the stage showing us some dance moves. I really liked the Real Pigeons by Ben and Andrew. They made it funny and interesting at the same time. They gave us mystery to solve. PLOT TWIST! Nat was the bread thief and none of us saw it coming.

My favourite presenters were Andrew and Ben because they were very entertaining, funny and interesting. I also liked Nat Amoore because she made the whole day really fun and she was very funny. She would get us all excited to meet the next author. I really enjoyed all the presentations and how different all the authors’ personalities were. Kirli was very calm, while Andrew and Ben were so entertaining and full of energy.

Anna Ward  – Year 5

Yesterday Year 5 had the privilege of going to the Sydney Writers’ Festival at Chatswood. One of the inspirational authors there was Kirli Saunders. She is an Indigenous author who has written many great books. She was originally a primary school teacher but she decided to stop and follow her dreams of looking after country and sharing her elders’ stories. Something that really spoke to us was how passionate she was about looking after her self and country.

Another amazing author that we both enjoyed was Emily Rodda. She is a world-famous author. Something that was quite amazing to us was that both our older siblings used to enjoy reading Emily Rodda books. We liked the tips she gave us all to encourage us to write a book. I liked how she used to read her books to her 7-year-old daughter before they were sent to the publisher.

Lyla Dooley and Tayla Miller – Year 5