Libraries Literacy Festival 2023

Check out the Festival's highlights. 

The Festival will return next year, bringing more exciting events and activities. 

Shire of Harvey Libraries Literacy Festival

Libraries Literacy Festival 2023

9 - 10 March 2023 at Australind and Harvey Libraries.

Please note, this event has concluded. 

Calling all book lovers - there’s plenty to be excited about on the 2023 literacy calendar! 

The Shire of Harvey Libraries are proud to present its inaugural Libraries Literacy Festival. The theme for this festival is "Imagine the possibilities".

The two-day event will include a mix of free community events for all ages - creative writing workshops, author talks and special activities. 

The festival features an exciting line-up of award-winning authors, including Fiona Palmer, Ian Hooper, Rachael Johns, Brook Dunnell, Dervla McTiernan and Jeanette Stampone. 

Download Australind Program here.

Download the Harvey Program here. 

Check our Events page. 

Featured Authors

Fiona Palmer

Fiona Palmer lives in the tiny rural town of Pingaring in Western Australia, three and a half hours south-east of Perth. She discovered Danielle Steel at the age of eleven, and has now written her own brand of rural romance. She has attended romance writers' groups and received an Australian Society of Authors mentorship for her first novel, The Family Farm.

She has followed on from its success with many more novels all bestsellers.

Ian Hooper

Originally from Northern Ireland, Ian now lives in Western Australia, where he relocated to after serving in the UK’s Royal Air Force as an Intelligence Officer.

Writing under the penname of Ian Andrew, his first crime novel, Face Value, won the Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize for Fiction in 2017. Since then he has continued to add to that series, has been featured in a number of anthologies, is a successful ghost writer and has founded both Leschenault Press and the Book Reality Experience, a publishing assistance service that helps writers become independent authors.

Rachael Johns

Rachael Johns is an English teacher by trade, a mum 24/7, a Diet Coke addict, a cat lover and chronic arachnophobe. She rarely sleeps and never irons. She is also the bestselling, ABIA-winning author of The Patterson Girls and a number of other romance and women’s fiction books, including her recent bestseller, Something to Talk About. Rachael is currently Australia’s leading writer of contemporary relationship stories around women’s issues, a genre she has coined ‘life-lit’.

Rachael has finaled in a number of competitions, including the Australian Romance Readers Awards. Jilted (her first rural romance) won Favourite Australian Contemporary Romance in 2012, and The Patterson Girls won the 2016 Romance Writers of Australia RUBY Award and also the 2015 Australian Book Industry Award for General Fiction. She continually places in Booktopia’s Top 50 Aussie Authors poll.

Rachael lives in the Swan Valley with her hyperactive husband, three mostly-gorgeous heroes-in-training, two ravenous cats, a cantankerous bird and a very badly-behaved dog.

Brooke Dunnell

Brooke Dunnell is a writer, mentor and workshop facilitator. She's a winner of the 2021 Fogarty Literary Award for The Glass House.

Her short fiction has been widely published, including in the short story collection Female(s and) Dogs, which was a finalist for the 2020 Carmel Bird Digital Literary Award and shortlisted for the 2021 Woollahra Digital Literary Award. Brooke has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Western Australia and lives in Boorloo (Perth) with her husband and two dogs.

Jeanette Stampone

Jeanette Stampone was born in a three-hundred-year-old English house and grew up with stories of local legends, pixies, ghosts, and fairies. She now lives in a small country town in Western Australia with her husband and two boys. 

Jeanette released her debut picture book Shadow and the Girl in March 20022. 

Jeanette is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators and the Children’s Book Council Australia.

Dervla McTiernan

Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writer, Dervla McTiernan is the author of The Ruin, The Scholar, The Good Turn  (together the Cormac Reilly series) and The Murder Rule as well as the audio novellas The Sisters, The Roommate and The Wrong One. 

Dervla has won multiple awards, including a Barry Award, a Davitt Award, a Ned Kelly Award and in International Thriller Writer Award.

Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved from Ireland to Australia and turned her hand to writing. Dervla lives in Perth, Australia, with her husband and two children.

Events and Activities

Illustration Workshop with Leanne White

Leanne has 25 years of teaching and 15 years of commercial art experience to draw on in her children’s book writing and illustrating. Her primary ethos in children’s books is to develop the child’s imagination and curiosity in an ever-changing world.

This event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.

Teddy Bears Roadshow

Join in on the fun and laughter in the Teddy Bears Tent, meet our special guests and say hello to 'Marley'!

City of Bunbury Libraries are bringing theTeddy Bears Roadshow to the Ridley Place park on Thursday, 9 March 2023 at 10am. The program consists of a Story Time followed by a Teddy Bears Picnic in the special teddy bears tent.  Families are encouraged to enjoy a coffee, stay, play and connect at the playground thereafter. Face painter will also be attending on the day.

BYO: towel to sit on (or sit on the grass) and your child’s favourite teddy bear.

Illustration Workshop with Steve Heron

Steve’s passion is to power hope in children through children’s literature. His love of picture books is shown by his extensive collection. He craves to write quality picture books and novels that engage children, at the same time aid them to handle the tricky things in life. He aspires to keep it real and unreal for kids in his books, some for fun, some to stir hope.

Steve is the founder of Nurture Works Foundation and developed the acclaimed ‘BUZ – Build Up Zone’ social and emotional programs and initiatives used in many schools throughout WA.

In 2016, he was listed in the Queen’s Birthday honours and received an Order of Australia Medal for contribution to the social and emotional wellbeing of children.

This event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.

Local Authors Round the Table

Local authors will be at the Australind Library to talk about their writing experiences and share their publishing journey. 

  • Suzi Spinelli
  • Helene Smith
  • Tricia Trevaskis
  • Rob Littlewood
Australind Family History Society Open Day

Australind Family History Society (AFHS) dedicated to helping people research their family's ancestry locally and worldwide.

AFHS has a comprehensive library where members can pursue their family history interests. 

AFHS will be promoting their services at the festival on Thursday, 9 March from 10am to 3pm.

For more information about their services, please contact AFHS on phone 9796 1050 or email alindfhs@iinet.net.au

Meet the author with Sally Murphy

Sally Murphy, OAM,  is an author, poet, academic and educator, with a passion for writing, reading and speaking. Her life’s goal is to write for, read with and speak to as many people as possible, and spread a passion for reading and writing to children and adults worldwide.

This event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre
  • Performing with Puppets Workshop. Acting, story creation, puppet manipulation and play. This workshop introduces children to performance skills through improvisation and storytelling using professionally made collection of puppets. This event is for local students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information
  • Hand Puppets Workshop. This workshop introduces children to creating their own puppet characters using a range of soft fabric materials. This workshop will be held at the Australind Library on Friday, 10 March at 3.15pm. 
Teddy Bear Storytime Picnic at Harvey Library

Join us in the park outside the Harvey Library for a Teddy Bear Picnic Storytime on Thursday, 9 March 2023 at 9.30am. Bring your own picnic rug and a teddy bear and we will sing, dance, play with our teddies and listen to delightful bear stories. 

May Gibbs Display at Harvey Library

Cecilia May Gibbs was one of Australia’s foremost children’s authors and illustrators and is best known today for the iconic Australian children’s story, The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

Come to the Harvey Library and enjoy the May Gibbs exhibition featuring some unique items. 

Seniors Afternoon Tea

Seniors are invited to a special afternoon tea to celebrate the finale of Literacy Festival at Harvey.

The event includes an intergenerational sharing of favourite stories.

For more information, please contact Harvey Library on 9729 0390. 

Program of Events

Australind Library
Date and TimeActivityNotes
Thursday, 9 March at 9amIllustration workshop with Leanne WhiteThis event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.
Thursday, 9 March at 10amTeddy Bear RoadshowOpen to all. Ridley Park, Australind foreshore.
Thursday, 9 March at 10.30amAuthor Talk: Fiona PalmerRegister for this event.
Thursday, 9 March at 12noonIllustration workshop with Steve HeronThis event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.
Thursday, 9 March at 2pm Writing and Publishing with Ian HooperRegister for this event.
Thursday, 9 March at 3pmLocal Authors Round the TableRegister for this event.
Thursday, 9 March, all dayAustralind Family History Society Open DayOpen to all. Please contact AFHS on 9796 1050 if you want more information about their services
Friday, 10 March at 9amMeet the author with Sally MurphyThis event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.
Friday, 10 March at 9.30amAuthor Talk: Dervla McTiernanRegister for this event.
Friday, 10 March at 10.30Spare Parts Puppet WorkshopThis event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.
Friday, 10 March at 10amRhymetimeOpen to all
Friday, 10 March at 12 noonAuthor Talk: Rachael JohnsRegister for this event. 
Friday, 10 March at 2pmAuthor Talk: Brooke DunnellRegister for this event.
Friday, 10 March at 3.15pmSpare Parts Puppet WorkshopRegister for this event. 
Friday, 10 March from 11.30 to 3.30pmSausage SizzleHosted by Australind Lions Club.

 

Harvey Library
Date and TimeActivitiesNotes
Thursday, 9 March at 9.30amTeddy Bear Storytime PicnicIn the Park outside the Harvey Library.
Thursday, 9 March at 11.30amIllustration Workshop with Leanne WhiteThis event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.
Thursday, 9 March at 1.30pmAuthor Talk: Fiona PalmerRegister for this event.
Thursday, 9 March at 3pmAuthor Talk: Jeanette StamponeRegister for this event.
Thursday, 9 March, all dayMay Gibbs DisplayOpen to all
Friday, 10 March at 9.30amAuthor Talk: Rachael JohnsRegister for this event.
Friday, 10 March at 11.30 am and 1pmMeet the author with Sally MurphyThis event is for local school students by invitation only. Please contact Australind Library on 9797 4590 for more information.
Friday, 10 March at 2.30pmSeniors Afternoon TeaPlease contact Harvey Library on 9729 0390 for more information.
Friday, 10 March, all dayMay Gibbs DisplayOpen to all