Storylines Festival Story Tour 2014 Reflection

The storylines tour has come and gone once again, last week both Extension groups went to the Storylines Festival Story Tour for 2014. Four authors presented, Juliette MacIver, Jill MacGregor, Catherine Mayo and Paula Green. Out of them, I enjoyed Juliette and Catherine the best. Juliette writes children’s picture books while Catherine is into ancient Greece. The different styles of writing were very interesting to listen to, though that talked differently and about different things, their stories were very cool.

I didn’t know but Juliette wrote the three Marmaduke Duck books and a lot of picture books that I knew of, it was good to hear the actual author talk about all those books. When she first came onto the stage, she was wearing a headband with a toucan on it, then she showed us her book Toucan Can. After talking about Toucan Can, we knew that she LOVED to rhyme. To finish off, she read us one of her books, Queen Alices Palaces.

Catherine Mayo told us about her trip to a cave in Greece that she went to to find inspiration for her books, Murder at Mykenai and The Bow which is the sequel to her first novel. She brought with her some pictures of her in the cave and a sword that she had bought from a man who made a replica of a famous dagger from ancient Greece.

If I were to present at the festival when I am older, I think that I would talk about when I was at school and where I got my inspiration from to write. If I did write a book, I would bring that too. I probably wouldn’t bring any props because I like writing about real events more that narratives, but I would bring pictures.

If I would ask any questions to Catherine or Juliette or the other authors, I would say, “Why do you write?” because everyone says where they get their ideas from and who inspires them but I was wondering, why, why do they want to. I enjoyed the Festival and I would like to go again next year to find out more about New Zealand authors. Thanks Catherine, Juliette, Jill and Paula for talking to us, I learnt lots about the different styles of writing.

Storylines Festival: Authors

Juliette MacIver

Juliette MacIver is a author from Wellington, New Zealand who is a mother of four and a children's book author. Julliette writes children's picture books, but does not illustrate. When I researched Juliette properly, I noticed that she wrote the books, Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam, Marmaduke Duck and the Bernadette Bear and Marmaduke Duck on the Wide Blue Seas, the books that automatically pop into my mind when I think of picture books. 

Catherine Mayo

Catherine Mayo was born and living in Auckland. Cath studied at Auckland University studying history and philosophy. She was born in Catholic Maternity Hospital in Auckland and was named after St Catherine. Her writing inspration was from Barbara Leonie Picard's retelling of The Odyssey. 

Paula Green

Paula Green lives in West Auckland with her partner, artist Michael Hight, her two daughters and their pets, three cats and two springer spaniels. She regularly visits schools from year 0-13 through the New Zealand Book Council. She also privately runs NZ Poetry Box which is a blog for students, parents and teachers from year 0-8. When she is not writing, she loves walking, biking, swimming, boogie boarding, reading, cookng, watching movies, listening to music and visiting new places.

Jill MacGregor

Jill MacGregor was born in Dunedin but currently lives in Kapiti Coast, home of Kapiti ice-creams. She spent two years teaching in Tonga and since then, she travelled around the Pacific experiencing the village life. Most of her school journals about the Pacific are based on her travels and experiences. 

After my experience last year, I think that the Storylines Festival will be interesting, funny and full of information.  I am looking forward to all the authors but the person I am looking forward to the most is Jill MacGregor. I would like to hear of her times in the islands and of her books that she wrote about the islands. Also Catherine Mayo, I would like to hear her. After research I found she is really into ancient Greece.