Somerset lifetimes 2019 Semester 1

Storyfest This year Storyfest delivered its inaugural festival under the newly developed brand continuing the tradition and upholding the title of Australia’s leading youth literature festival. Storyfest will deliver a series of literary experiences throughout the year which include workshops and masterclasses for our emerging writers along with featured author presentations to engage our readers! This year’s festival saw over 20,000 ticket sales to some 8,000 individuals over the three days. It is difficult to determine which

Photo: Darcy Beynon

clear throughout the festival was the commitment each presenter made to ensure their presentations were captivating and relatable across the multiple age groups. The expansion of Storyfest has seen opportunities extend to the wider Gold Coast community. We recently partnered with Book Links (Qld) Inc | The Centre for Children’s Literature to host Romancing the Stars, a discovery about the books our local authors and illustrators have been creating recently for children and young adults. Another wonderful initiative for Storyfest is the On the Road programme, which sees the van taking authors into schools offering pop up writing workshops and continuing to share the love of literature. Similarly, our Little Lending Libraries have also been far reaching, landing in remote parts of the state, on popular beaches and in and around local suburbs.

aspect of the festival engaged with our audiences the most. A highlight for students would have been the Illustrator Battle which entertained some 700 children who cheered on crowd favourites as they battled against legendary illustrator, Graeme Base! What became abundantly

Photo: Ruby Sherrington

Photo: Isla Clancy

Storyfest

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Oliver Phommavanh getting slimed in the Quad Felice Arena entertaining youngsters