A fun afternoon was had at the SCBWI Victoria Zoom gathering which would normally be held at ‘Library at the Dock’ in Melbourne. We had 35 attendees and it was great to see so many friendly faces including our wonderful RA, Susanne Gervay who had a quick chat before we got started.
Caz Goodwin, our ARA for Victoria, gave a warm welcome to everyone and to our guest speaker, Leesa Lambert. Leesa is co-owner and manager of The Little Bookroom, a historical and beloved bookshop in Fitzroy North. Caz also introduced Amy Adeney, our member speaker and the new membership coordinator for our SCBWI VIC committee.
Things got underway with Show & Tell and we enjoyed seeing the latest books and news from members, Emma Bowd, Kesta Fleming, Katie Flannigan, Prue Pittock, Jess Racklyeft and Kaye Baillie (me).
Leesa Lambert of The Little Bookroom
Next, Leesa shared her perspectives and passions through a Q&A with Caz. We heard how Leesa talked her parents into purchasing The Little Bookroom, advice to authors and illustrators on how to engage with bookshops, how their operations have changed since the COVID pandemic and much more. It was so generous of Leesa to take time out of her very busy schedule to share these insights and we loved hearing from her.
Member Amy Adeney and her title slide
Amy provided a fascinating look into her journey from early jobs such as a fitness instructor in London to a publicist in New York and then to public relations in Australia, before becoming a primary school teacher. She discussed how her love of reading to her students led her to write her own stories. Amy has seven books to her name including the ‘Tilda Teaches’ series with Five Mile Press and we learned how Amy worked her way towards achieving this goal. We also heard about the inspiration and journey to publication of her picture book, ‘Turning Cartwheels’ with EK Books. Amy’s experiences of teaching, reviewing books, running bookshop story-times, interning at Writers Victoria, volunteering and networking at conferences have all contributed to her success.
Before we finished up there was a lucky door prize of Amy’s picture book ‘Turning Cartwheels’ which was won by a lucky attendee, Rosalie Street.
Thanks to our SCBWI Vic Team, Caz Goodwin, Jess Racklyeft, Amy Adeney and me (Kaye Baillie) and to speakers Leesa Lambert, Amy Adeney and to everyone who joined us to make it a special afternoon. Mark your diaries for our final free event for the year, a Sketch and Scribbles on November 20, 2021.