The Melbourne Writer’s Festival was an exciting day as we made our way around to a number of different events in the city. Our first stop was the Immigration Museum where we made our way around the displays on identity and inspirational athletes. We explored many different forms of identity such as appearance, not just background and heritage.

At the Immigration Museum author, Alice Pung shared her story with us about growing up in Melbourne with parents from Vietnam and Cambodia and it opened our eyes to the difficulties faced by people from other countries and cultures when they come to Australia. Her stories were interesting and whilst educating us on important issues, she incorporated lots of humour, keeping us entertained and attentive.

We had time for only a short lunch break before walking into a theatre to hear the authors of Take Three Girls interviewed about the novel they wrote together, published only two days earlier. We all found it interesting to learn about how the three women collaborated, each creating a character, which then intertwined to form the story line. They gave us insight into their writing process and highlighted the importance of having other people read and review your writing, something I have always tried to avoid.

Our final event was the Victorian Student Poetry Slam Grand Final at Federation Square. Each group of students presented a different issue and performed it in an individual way. They were energetic and exciting and always involved the audience as the students related it back to issues prevalent in our society. It was a definite highlight of the day and Ms Spanos now has ideas about St Catherine’s becoming involved in this competition in the future.

There was the opportunity to ask questions throughout the day and it was a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about the authors and writing in general as well as gaining valuable information that we can all incorporate into our own writing through Writer’s Club at the school.