CHILDREN’S author Nathan Luff spent this week in Broken Hill hosting creative writing workshops at local schools.
Luff, who authored The Nerd Herd series along with numerous other books, grew up in Yass and said he understand the importance of offering kids living regionally the same experiences as those in the city when it comes to learning.
“As someone from rural New South Wales, I’m really passionate about being able to connect with kids in these areas because they don’t get as many opportunities as metropolitan kids do,” he said.
“I certainly didn’t as a kid!”
His visit was a collaboration with local bookshop Big Sky Stories and funded through sponsorship from First National Real Estate Broken Hill.
Big Sky Stories co-owner Jane Vaughan said watching Luff talk about his childhood and life, and then drawing connections between experiences and his writing had been an inspiring experience.
“Watching him share stories and help the students to see that when he writes, he’s writing from real life, from things that happen to all of us has been so lovely,” she said.
Luff said sharing his stories with regional students was a different experience to sharing them with kids from the cities, though Broken Hill pupils had been responsive and engaged.
“It was interesting because I’ve been mostly doing this in cities for a while, and when you talk to city kids, because I tell a lot of farm stories because that’s how I grew up they’re like gosh that’s amazing, or they’re disgusted you know,” he said.
“And the first time I did this regionally in WA, I told my stories and the students were deadpan.
“Afterwards they’d say we’ve got better stories than that and tell me all these wild country stories.
“So coming out here I thought maybe I’d have the same reaction, but it’s been wonderful. It sparks these great conversations, and the kids can relate to it as well because a lot of them have similar life experiences.”
Ms Vaughan said it’s always been a goal for Big Sky Stories to bring authors to the region, and she hopes this visit from Luff is just the beginning.
“There’s nothing on the cards yet but I’m really hoping that this will help us to be able to do this again and again,” she said.
