Phillip Gwynne Visiting Author
The Sydney Morning Herald - SPECTRUM - Review by Cameron Woodhead - 27th Nov 2021:
Phillip Gwynne's young adult novel The Break is set in Bali where 16-year-old Taj learnt to surf with his dad Kimbo as a small boy. An idyllic childhood was changed forever when Kimbo was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to death. He has lived in Kerobokan prison in the decade since, with no date set for the execution to be carried out. Until now. The election of a new Indonesian president has doomed his father, unless Taj can orchestrate a daring and dangerous jailbreak to save him. Gwynne has produced a character-driven rite-of-passage thriller that will be accessible and appealing to teens. Adults will be reminded of the deaths of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, and there's a charged consideration of questions of law and morality - especially the ethics of capital punishment - snuck in among plenty of action and even more surfing.
Phillip Gwynne's many awards include
Phillip Gwynne, the prolific, multi-award winning Australian author does so much more than just talk in his dynamic presentations.
Depending on the age, interests and abilities of his audience Phillip will tailor each performance to maximize the impact of his ‘writing is for everyone’ message. As you can imagine after 23 years of writing over 30 books and presentations too numerous to count, he has a host of topics to choose from …
- Getting your first book published: is it that difficult?
- Social Justice – how writing can make a difference! (Small Town)
- The different types of writing Phillip does: picture books, chapter books, novels, film, television, journalism
- Ideas: where do they come from and what do you do with them?
- How Phillip’s kids help him to write - he sometimes even steals ideas from them! (Little Piggy’s Got No Moves).
- Rhyme: why rhyme rocks your socks! (Ten Green Geckos, A Boat of Stars)
- Why does it take twenty minutes to write one book (Ruby Learns to Swim) and years to write another (What’s Wrong With The Wobbegong)?
- How books can help readers think differently about the world they live in (Brothers from a Different Mother)?
- Role play: students act out one of Phillip’s stories (The Queen with the Wobbly Bottom)
Phillip’s own story: how one of eight children who grew up in a rural house that had no books became a multi-award winning novelist and scriptwriter, is funny, moving and absolutely inspirational. Along the way he also managed to be a professional footballer, a marine biologist, a fruit picker and a computer programmer, so Phillip is able to incorporate a rich amount of life experience into his presentations. Phillip has been giving school talks and running writing workshops for over twenty years. As a father himself - he has a 28 yo son and 14 and 12 yo daughters - he is absolutely passionate about working with teenagers, nurturing and developing their reading and their writing.
Curriculum Relevance: Literacy.
Price: $5.50 per student ( No GST Applies ).
Suitable: Preps, K to Year 12.
Minimum Audience Size: 130 students.
Times: Show: 60 minutes. Set up: 20 minutes. Pack up: 15 minutes.
Requires: an indoor performing area 3m deep x 5m wide.