1. I'll be at the State Library of Queensland in the Library Cafe this Saturday (the 8th), for the Queensland Writers Centre's Whispers reading salon event. It's from three until five in the afternoon and there will be readings from me and four other emerging writers. More details here. If you are in Brisbane it would be wonderful if you came along. (I am a bit nervous about it.)
2. I have just returned from Voices on the Coast Youth Literature Festival on the Sunshine Coast. This was my second time at the festival (I was there in 2011, also). It is always nice to be invited back. It is a really fun festival. I took my camera but I got so caught up having a wonderful time and speaking to all the delightful kids that I only took three photos and they were all of the view from the balcony of where I was staying, which probably isn't very interesting to you (plus I also took near-identical photos two years ago. It's a nice view, up at Alexandra Headland). I didn't think I would ever enjoy speaking and being at festivals but I think my comfort zone may be expanding. It is fairly brilliant to get to speak to roomfuls of kids (lots of whom are keen readers) about books and writing, and meet lots of authors and illustrators. Plus the food was really good.
3. Here is my talk from TEDx St Hilda's School back at the start of May (it is rather hilarious watching myself speak. I am also getting to the point now where the sound of my own voice doesn't make me recoil in horror, which is a good thing). It's about the way teenagers are portrayed in the media vs. how great teenagers actually are (the audience was about 95% teenage girls):
4. Here is an interview that the very lovely kids at Voiceworks magazine did with me while I was in Melbourne (I say they are kids when really they are 20-somethings and older than me, but it's a youth literary magazine so I think I can get away with it) (The last question is my favourite one):
Voix interview: Steph Bowe from Voiceworks Magazine on Vimeo.
5. It is difficult to write about what you've been up to on the internet without it coming across as bragging, and it is sort of un-Australian (I have no idea where to put the capital in that word, or if there even should be one) to talk about yourself too much. I tend to be very self-deprecating generally, so the business of self-promotion is a very odd one to me. My next post isn't all about me, I promise.
