Year 7 English Author Visit

On Thursday 27^th February, renowned Australian author, Kirsty Murray, conducted an afternoon workshop with all Year 7 SMS students and their teachers in the Senior School lecture theatre. Kirsty is the author of the current Year 7 novel, The Four Seasons of Lucy McKenzie, a time travel fiction set in Australia, and she shared her inspiration for the novel with the girls as well as instructing them on how to be better descriptive writers.

A recipient of numerous Premier’s Book Awards, as well as the winner of the 2013 Aurealis Award for children’s fiction, Kirsty led the girls through some visualisation and creative writing exercises, where each student then wrote a detailed descriptive account of their most memorable place.

Some girls were invited to share their writing with the rest of the cohort and Kirsty was impressed with all of the girls’ imaginations and thoughtful use of descriptive language. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were especially excited about being able to ask her questions and have each of their novels signed by an inspirational, Australian female writer. Such incursions are an invaluable experience for our students and encourage creativity and a love of writing.