Stonnington Libraries

Presented as part of the Stonnington Libraries Literary Festival, [untitled]: our writers, readers and stories

Location: Toorak/South Yarra Library, 340 Toorak Road, South Yarra VIC
Time: 6.30pm - 8pm
Tickets are $10 plus booking fee and GST. Tickets are non refundable.

John Marsden has spent his adult life engaging with young minds - through both his award-winning, internationally bestselling young adult fiction and his work as one of Australia's most esteemed and experienced educators. As the founder and principal of two schools, John is at the coalface of education and a daily witness to the inevitable and yet mysterious process of growing up.

In 'The Art of Growing Up', John pulls together all he has learned from over forty years' experience working with and writing for young people. He shares his insights into everything - from the role of schools and the importance of education, to problem parents and problem children, and the conundrum of what it means to grow up and be 'happy' in the 21st century.

John is joined by writer Alice Pung to discuss the astonishing, ambitious manifesto that is 'The Art of Growing Up'.

John Marsden has written more than 40 books, mostly for teenagers and children, including 'Tomorrow When the War Began', 'So Much to Tell You', and 'Letters from the Inside'. He has sold over five million books worldwide, and has won every major award in Australia for young people's fiction. 'South of Darkness', written for adults, won the Christina Stead Award for Best Novel of 2015. John's passionate interest in education led him to start two schools, Candlebark and Alice Miller in Victoria; the two schools enrol 380 students in 2019.

Alice Pung is an award-winning writer, editor, teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. She is the bestselling author of ‘Unpolished Gem’ (which won the 2012 Western Australia Premier’s Literary Awards) and ‘Her Father’s Daughter’ (which won the 2007 Australian Book Industry Newcomer of the Year Award) and the editor of the anthologies ‘Growing Up Asian in Australia’ and ‘My First Lesson’. Her first novel, ‘Laurinda’, won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Alice’s writing has appeared in the Monthly, the Age, and The Best Australian Stories and The Best Australian Essays.

This event will be Auslan interpreted.