IBBY Australia invites you to celebrate International Children’s Book Day. At this event you will hear two outstanding writers explore the way their words are changing the world for young readers.

Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of nine books, including the ABIA and Indie award-winning short fiction collection Foreign Soil (2014), and the critically acclaimed memoir The Hate Race (2016). Her poetry collection Carrying The World won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry. Maxine is the author of three picture books, including the CBCA and Boston Globe / Horn Book Prize winning picture book The Patchwork Bike, illustrated by Melbourne artist Van T Rudd. She is the resident poet for The Saturday Paper and the editor of Best Australian Stories 2017, and Growing Up African in Australia (2019). Her most recent books are Meet Taj at the Lighthouse, and The Saturday Portraits.

Gabrielle Wang is an award-winning author and illustrator born in Melbourne of Chinese heritage. Her maternal great grandfather came to Victoria during the Gold Rush and her father from Shanghai. Gabrielle’s stories are a blend of Chinese and Western culture with a touch of fantasy. She has twice won the Aurealis Award with her novels The Garden of Empress Cassia and A Ghost in My Suitcase and many of her books are CBCA Notables. Gabrielle’s young adult novel, Little Paradise received a Highly Commended in the 2011 Prime Minister’s Awards as did A Ghost in My Suitcase. She has also written books in the highly successful Our Australian Girl series. Her most recent middle grade novels are The Wishbird, The Beast of Hushing Wood and Ting Ting the Ghosthunter. You can read more about Gabrielle at www.gabriellewang.com

Completing Words Change the World will contribute 2 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Registered PD addressing 6.2.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.

$40 for member | $45 for non-members

Delicious afternoon tea included

IBBY Australia acknowledges the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund for supporting this project.