Visiting Authors in Melbourne

James Paterson and David Walliams in Melbourne

We have been lucky to have some high profile authors visit Melbourne. Recently we have been to see both James Paterson and David Walliams.

James Paterson

James Paterson is an extremely successful adult writer who has turned his hand to writing children's books. In the Bellarmine library his Middle School series have been very popular. He is a passionate advocate for children reading and in his talk mentioned that he had, had difficulty persuading his son to read. His advice was to insist that children read, provide them with loads of interesting books and limit screen time until they have read. In his words "Books are Love" and as parents, to send a child into the world without being able to read well is to seriously disadvantage them.  We can all agree on that.

David Walliams

David Walliams ( the tall one in Little Britain) is extremely entertaining and kids love him and his books. For over an hour he had a theatre full of 10 year olds ( and their (mostly) mothers) rapt. He was quite a charmer! As one of the boys we were with put it. "he kept us quiet!" To hear the thunderous applause at the end and the queue for book signings snaking down Collins St was a librarian's dream! We have all of David's books in the library and they are always in demand.









Both of these author events were organised by the Wheeler's Centre. Also the program for the Melbourne Writers Festival held in August will be released soon and author events can be pre-booked.