This update is long overdue, but late in 2019 I was very lucky to spend three and a half very productive weeks in Brisbane on a May Gibbs Creative Time Fellowship.
The aim of the Creative Time Residential Fellowships (CTR fellowships) is to enable published children's authors and illustrators to take up one-month residencies (in Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra) to concentrate intensively on their work and to advance their creative skills.
I was honoured to wear the May Gibbs badge during my stay as I visited local schools, appeared at the Brisbane Writers’ Festival and attended talks and informal catch-ups with publishers, teachers and fellow children’s authors.
Every Fellow writes in this journal
It wasn’t always easy to have all that free time to write, and sometimes I crawled the walls, crawled out of my skin, and felt very alone in a room of my own.
My goal was to finish a half written scrap of an idea for 9-13 year old girls. 15 thousand words became 40,000 in a small flat overlooking the Brisbane CBD. I took long walks, swam in the local baths, rode the ferries along the Brisbane River, sat over coffees, beers and burgers at Howard Smith Wharf, and pondered what sort of book I wanted to write.
It turns out I wanted to write about the awkwardness of growing up, about family, best friends, messy love, the ailing planet and anxiety. I hope you’ll get to read it sooner or later.
Here are some other photos of my time in Brissy…thanks to everyone who went out of their way to make me feel welcome in this beautiful city x
PS: Do you want to be a fellow? Apply here:
My May Gibbs badge of Honour!