In this issue:
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New 2020 Book Week - October, 2020
Due to the fall out from COVID-19, you would all be aware that the CBCA has officially moved Book Week for 2020 to the week commencing Monday, 19th October, 2020.
Given this shift in dates, there has been lots of activity to secure speakers to present to students at this time. Therefore, if you would like to secure a 2020 Book Week Booking in October with one of our talented speakers, please contact us via website enquiry, phone call or email asap as dates are filling up fast.
As such, we encourage you all to check out the full list of wonderful speakers that we represent. All have something valuable to offer!
Touring Speakers
As schools re-establish normal activity, our speakers are on the move again. Deborah Abela will be touring Brisbane from Monday 31 August until Friday 4 September. At the moment, she has slots available on Tues 1 September and Thur 3 September. Book now to grab this opportunity. More information about other touring speakers is available here.
 The Spotlight is on Irena Kobald
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Irena Kobald is the award winning author/illustrator of picture book, My Two Blankets. As an artist, Irena finds nature infinitely inspiring. She would like to share her passion for our natural environment through workshops which allow participants to reconnect with their creative talents. These talents are often dormant and neglected during our busy lives.
Bio-Art is relaxing and therapeutic for all ages and is a cost-free alternative to ‘screen-time’.
Bio-Art uses only what Nature offers, making this art-form sustainable, as well as teaching the aesthestic appreciation of Nature.
Most importantly though, Bio-Art is ephemeral, leaves no ecological foot prints and teaches detachment from ownership. She has developed a series of Bio-Art workshops which are designed to allow participants to reflect and reconnect with Nature. After participants explore suitable environments, resources are collected and then arranged on trays of sand either under guidance or self-directed, according to personal abilities and ideas.
The word ‘bingalum’ was first ‘invented’ by Irena’s then 2 year old son, who used the word to describe a happy place, a happy activity or perhaps even a different world that only he knew. The sound of the word ‘bingalum’ is a happy one and this is the reason why Irena chose it for her brand name.
Irena runs Bingalum BioArt workshops for all age groups. Each workshop concludes with artworks being allowed to return to Nature, to its origin, a practice in ‘letting go’.
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Irena opened the students’ eyes to the possibilities of creativity that Nature provides. Instead of seeing very little other than plants and trees, Irena led them through the journey of seeing what could be found in the leaf litter, often in abundance. These available items became the media pieces of bio-art. The creative ideas and processes, guided and developed, led to inspired pieces. The final part to the process, to walk away and leave the art work behind, was, perhaps, the biggest challenge to students; impermanence in a culture of ownership.Mr. Chris Fitzpatrick, Teacher-Librarian, St Joseph’s College, Toowoomba.
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Vale Jesse Blackadder
It is with deep sadness that we reflect on the passing of Speakers Ink author, journalist and speaker, Dr Jesse Blackadder. Fellow author Zanni Louise had this to say about Jesse:
If you’ve ever had a child who sat under a Storyboard tee-pee, and discovered a love of writing, then your lives have been touched by Jesse. Her books were embraced by thousands - kids, adults, historical fiction fanatics. But Jesse also had a burning desire to unlock this passion for words for young people - to give regional kids the opportunity to fall in love with writing.
After years of voluntarily running a writers group in Lismore for teens, Jesse explored the possibility of bringing the Story Factory and Valencia 826 model to the Northern Rivers. She would have spent countless hours developing programs and putting in funding applications. Only a person as bright and as dedicated as Jesse could pull off a feat like Storyboard. Not only has the program inspired thousands of young people to love writing, it’s given regional authors like me gainful employment for the last few years, meaning I haven’t had to leave my family to put food on the table. Thank you, Jesse for that and a million other things.
If you listen to Jesse’s interviews about her time spent in Antarctica (on multiple occasions), or any of the other adventures she’d had, you’d imagine someone larger than life. Jesse was that. Her light was brighter than most. But she was also incredibly humble and down to earth. She’d read your rough manuscript with genuine pleasure, and give you the most honest and grounded feedback. She was never on a pedestal. She’d throw herself into the adventure of writing anything that gave her satisfaction. Jesse was talented enough to be high and mighty - but she just wasn’t.
In the last few weeks, Jesse’s friends, relatives and colleagues have had the opportunity to celebrate her magnificent life, and share stories of how Jesse touched their lives. I for one am immensely grateful I had the opportunity to not just say goodbye to Jesse, but to tell her how much she meant to me, and how much my life, and others, changed because of her.
I still cannot comprehend that Jesse’s not here in the physical realm. But if anyone lives on long, long after death, it’s Jesse.
My heart is big and swollen for all her knew her. But especially her beloved Andi, who will miss Jesse more than anyone.
If you haven’t already, listen to one of Jesse’s conversations with Richard Fidler, or read one of Jesse’s novels, and your life will be touched by Jesse too.
We’ll miss you Jesse. So much.
Dates for your Diary
Yours in promoting literacy from all at the Speakers Ink team,
Sandie, Margie, Jan, Lia, Rob, Matt and James
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Western AustraliaAuthor, Storyteller / Performer, Journalist / Feature writer, Motivational, Memoir Writing