Digital Schools Program
Byron Writers Festival 2022 Digital Schools Program is now available!
Featuring Isobelle Carmody, Corey Tutt (Primary), Emily Bitto and Gary Lonesborough (Secondary).
Sessions are now available on-demand from your classroom, from Monday 7 – Friday 18 November.
YouTube links to each video can be found below. For technical troubleshooting, please refer our Tech Support PDF.
Check session details for stage suitability. You can also access and download teacher resources, developed in partnership with Southern Cross University. Resources are available as a PDF and include author information, curriculum links, discussions guides and activities.
A message from Southern Cross University
How to participate
- All on-demand sessions are now accessible via YouTube. Links to each video can be found below.
- YouTube links can be copied into Google Classroom for home learning lessons.
- You can also access and download teacher resources, developed in partnership with Southern Cross University.
- Closed captioning is available for all videos – to access captions click on the (CC) button on the bottom right corner of your YouTube Player.
- If you plan on accessing on-demand videos and are yet to register your class or school, you can do so here.
Author Videos
Meet Isobelle Carmody
Suitable for
Primary stages 1—3 (years 2—6)
Duration
15min
In this session, Isobelle Carmody tells students how she became a writer, and where she finds inspiration for creating entirely new worlds in fiction.
Isobelle Carmody, author of The Velvet City, is one of Australia’s most highly acclaimed authors of fantasy. At fourteen, she began Obernewtyn, the first book in her much-loved Obernewtyn Chronicles, and has since written many works in this genre. Isobelle’s work for younger readers includes her two series, The Legend of Little Fur, and The Kingdom of the Lost, the first book of which, The Red Wind, won the CBCA Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers in 2011. She has also written several picture books as well as collections of short stories for children, young adults and adults.
Meet Corey Tutt
Suitable for
Primary stages 1—3 (years K—6)
Duration
8min
In this session Corey tells students about his book, The First Scientists, and talks about some of the deadly discoveries made by Australia’s First Nations peoples. Corey believes that we are all scientists, and that science is all around us, if we care to look.
Corey Tutt is the award-winning founder of DeadlyScience, a champion of STEM and the author of The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia’s First Peoples.
Corey is a Kamilaroi man from Nowra on the NSW South Coast. In 2018, while working as a research assistant for the University of Sydney, Corey founded DeadlyScience, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to provide science books and telescopes to remote schools in Australia, and connects young Indigenous people with mentors to encourage their participation in STEM subjects. Corey was named 2020 NSW Young Australian of the Year, and a Human Rights Hero by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Narrative Devices with Emily Bitto
Suitable for
Secondary stages 4—6 (years 7—12)
Duration
18min
In this session, award winning author Emily Bitto discusses the craft of writing with Sunil Badami. Emily talks about how she became a writer, and offers tips for getting started, battling self-doubt and finding your writing style and voice.
Emily Bitto is an award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. She has a Masters in Literary Studies and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne. Her debut novel, The Strays, was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, and the published novel went on to win the 2015 Stella Prize. Her second novel, Wild Abandon, was published in 2021 by Allen and Unwin. It is currently longlisted for the 2022 ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year award and shortlisted for the 2022 ALS Gold Medal. Emily has been teaching creative writing for over a decade, and is currently a teacher and course advisor at the Faber Writing Academy.
Coming of Age Stories with Gary Lonesborough
Suitable for
Secondary stages 4—6 (years 8—12)
Duration
12min
In this session Gary Lonesborough discusses his coming-of-age debut novel, The Boy from the Mish. Talking with Rhianna Patrick, Gary tells us what inspired him to write a story about queer love and identity, and offers a few tips for budding writers.
Gary Lonesborough is a Yuin man, who grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW as part of a large and proud Aboriginal family. Growing up a massive Kylie Minogue and North Queensland Cowboys fan, Gary was always writing as a child, and continued his creative journey when he moved to Sydney to study at film school. Gary has experience working in Aboriginal health, the disability sector (including experience working in the Youth Justice System), and the film industry. He was Bega Valley Shire Council Young Citizen of the Year, won the Patrick White Young Indigenous Writers’ Award, and has received a Copyright Agency First Nations Fellowship. The Boy from the Mish is Gary’s debut YA novel.
