Books will come to life this November, as Dymocks Children’s Charities delivers their inaugural Inspired Readers Festival in Armidale.
The event will be held over two days, Monday 13th to Tuesday 14th November, at Lazenby Hall at UNE campus, where there will be a packed program of authors and engagement, followed by a lot of fun and love of reading.
“We are very excited to be bringing inspired readers festival to Armidale,” said Melanie Smith, General Manager Dymocks Children’s Charities.
“There will be the School Program, which will take place on the Monday and Tuesday, then there will be a fundraising dinner on the Monday night and then a Book End party, which is a public event for anyone to attend on the Tuesday afternoon.”
Dymocks Children’s charities have been enhancing our kid’s literacy needs for over 23 years, guided by their mission to create a love of reading, and improve literacy outcomes for all children.
“We believe that reading is the first step in education and to set children up for a great life with work and education,” said Melanie.
“We have always provided literacy programs within disadvantaged schools, and we also do a lot of work in disaster relief, such as in COVID, bush fires and floods.”
“We see this festival as an extension of what we do, and this is an opportunity for students to meetauthors face to face and hopefully gets more books into hands.”
“We want everyone to be inspired.”
The Authors
The event will host four Australian authors, making their way to Armidale for the two-day program, presenting sessions to the students about their books, their process and why they do what they do, the meaning behind their books and of course, book signings.
“We have Jacqueline Harvey, an ambassador of DCC, she is most known for her books Alice-Miranda, and the Kensy And Max series.”
“We have Natalie Amoore, author of Power of Positive Pranking, We Run Tomorrow and other books.”
“Tristan Bancks will be returning to UNE, he did attend there, and he has written wonderful novels including Two Wolves and The Fall,” said Melanie.
“And finally, we have Oliver Phommavanh who is hilarious, he has written Thai-riffic, Con Nerd and Punchlines and many others.”
“They are all so excited to be coming to Armidale and they understand the importance of students meeting authors face to face.”
While author visits are a regular occurrence in the big cities, attracting talent into regional centres can be a challenge, and one Dymocks Children’s Charities are pleased to step up to.
“It is often regional areas that miss out on these face-to-face opportunities, so we think we are closing the gap, allowing students in regional areas to have this fabulous time in November,” said Melanie.
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