Young wordsmiths get the right advice!

August 13, 2004

New Zealand authors give aspiring young wordsmiths the right advice!

The country's top children's authors are sharing their storytelling tips with a new generation of New Zealand writers at the Nestlé Write Around New Zealand: Nestlé Tuhi Amio Whenua creative writing workshops being held nationwide.

Favourite children's authors, such as Apirana Taylor, Tessa Duder and David Hill, are holding creative writing workshops at libraries throughout New Zealand. The aim of the classes is to capture the imagination of children and encourage them to express themselves through writing. (Eds: Authors' biographies available on request.)

Kaye Lally, from Auckland City Libraries and the national coordinator of Nestlé Write Around New Zealand, says it is very encouraging that the authors are using their skills to help train a new generation of creative thinkers.

"The programme is providing over 100 author workshops and each is an excellent opportunity for children from around the country to work with 15 top authors and learn from them personally how they go about writing their stories," says Lally.

Nestlé Write Around New Zealand is a national creative writing programme in which Year 7 and 8 students compete for a share of $60,000 worth of prizes. By entering a story of up to 500 words, children can win collections of great Kiwi books for themselves and their school libraries and backpacks full of Nestlé products. Entry forms are available on www.writearound.co.nz

The Nestlé funded community programme is coordinated by Auckland City Libraries and supported by libraries in 10 competition zones around New Zealand.

The programme will select 30 winners from the 10 zones nationally, and from those, two national winners will be chosen in November, one each from Year 7 and Year 8.

Entries will be accepted until August 31, 2004 in both English and Te Reo Maori. Competition entry forms are available from schools, public libraries and online at www.writearound.co.nz

ENDS

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