It's Festival time!

The two words Kernewek Lowender, mean Cornish happiness and is the name for the biennial Cornish Festival which occurs in the old copper mining towns of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.

It’s a time for Maypole and Furry dancing, singing, wrestling and historic walks, for parades, pasties, poetry and more, all to celebrate the Cornish culture that came to Australia through the early immigrant miners and their families who arrived in sailing ships from Cornwall from 1840's onwards.

I was thrilled to have a special Cornish launch of my historical, children’s novel That boy, Jack, (Walker Books) which is set in the heart of the copper mining region, during this week's festival. And to know that my ancestors were miners who made a new life in South Australia. 

It was made especially memorable because my friend and writing colleague, Rosanne Hawke, herself of Cornish ancestry  and acknowledged as a Bard of Cornwall, launched the book. 

She will also launch it at a city event on Monday, June 10^th, 2013. 

Threes in writing

I love threes in writing.

Threes in lists. Threes as an action builder. Threes to mount suspense.

It’s all so satisfying.

First the set-up. Then the body. Then the climax.

Here’s a set up of threes from my latest ms, called What a Mouthful!

‘And courage and guts is also what it takes to stand up in front of hundreds of kids who have to sit and listen to you. From up on stage, you can hear their razor-like minds sharpening for the kill. Their elbows hovering to nudge each other. Their mouths bent, ready to guffaw into their chests.’

And here a three photos, with no apparent connection, apart from the fact that they are part of my writing and reading world.

How could I promote my passion of adults reading to kids?

Easy. Have a sticker made for the back windscreen of my car! Apart from promoting my website, it states Please read to your children every day!

Here’s Rosanne Hawke and myself in Port Augusta, South Australia. I launched her latest book, Taj and the Great Camel Trek, and because we’ve both written a number of camel books, we’re now known asThe Cameladies!

This dapper chap was snapped at the Kernewek Lowender, a festival in Yorke Peninsular, South Australia, celebrating the culture of early Cornish miners, who left Cornwall in the 1800’s to work in the copper mines. Notice the papier mache ‘hard-hat’ and the candle for light in the tunnels. I have researched and written a novel called Mined-Out (or Arthur Underground)about this period. It’s out at publishers at the moment.