A story about the literary importance of morning tea with Sue Warren

Sue Warren (aka Losang Zopa) joins us on the show this week. To read Sue's blog you can visit... https://losangzopa.blog

Please review, rate, subscribe, follow and like the show. Your support will help us keep this podcast going.

To find out more about R.A. Spratt visit raspratt.com
To find out more about Jacqueline Harvey visit jacquelineharvey.com.au
To find out more about Tim Harris visit timharrisbooks.com

Transcript

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Rachel Spratt: Let's get into it.

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Rachel Spratt: hello! And welcome to real stories with random writers. I'm Ra. Spratt, and I'm here with Jacqueline Harvey and Tim Harris, and today's special guest is Sue Warren, or you may know her as I'm going to mispronounce this

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Rachel Spratt: Los sang Zoper. Did I get that right? Okay, excellent Sue? Or Los Sang is the writer of reviews for the long running blog. Just so. Stories. She also writes teaching notes for publishers, and, most importantly of all, she's a real life superhero, because Sue belongs to the most important profession of all. She is a librarian. Welcome to the show, Sue Yay.

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Losang Zopa: Thank you very much for inviting me.

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Rachel Spratt: Oh, we're super excited to have you. Okay. Well, we're all storytellers. Normally we write our stories down or read them to children in libraries. But for this podcast we're going to be telling them to you instead. And today, we're going to be telling tales about the impact of school author visits now. Just so, you know, if you're not in the business like for us, we know what that means, because Tim, Jackie and I are authors, and at this time of year we spend 6 to 8 weeks traveling all around Australia and New Zealand

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Rachel Spratt: visiting schools, and we go in, and we do like a 50 min or an hour-long presentation, where we talk to kids about what we do, and we do about 3 or 4 of those every single day, 5 days a week for about 6 to 8 weeks at this time of year. And so it's a really really big part of our lives, and a really big part of how we earn our income. So we thought we would today get the point of view of someone from the other end who is at the school where these crazy creatives come in and create turmoil.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Yeah, so.

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Rachel Spratt: Starting off today we are gonna have a story from Jackie.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Well, hello, everyone I I'm

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Jacqueline Harvey: I've sat on both sides of the fence here because I was a teacher, and I was a deputy head of a school. So I've worked in schools. And I I'm gonna tell you one quick story about what not to do when you're the author visiting author in a school. Don't make the children bleed.

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Jacqueline Harvey: I did that one day. I I have one of those pull up banners which I now absolutely freeze to take with me, because they they are deadly weapon. And so I had one of the the big pull up banners, and I went to do my pull up, banner.

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Rachel Spratt: Literally broken the toes of authors. They cut your hands.

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Jacqueline Harvey: They are hot.

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Rachel Spratt: Really dangerous.

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Jacqueline Harvey: So dangerous. So I had one that I think I had. On one occasion I had cut myself and didn't realize I'd cut myself. And so a teacher said, Oh, you're bleeding! And I looked down, and there's all over my nice white shirt like blood everywhere, I thought, oh, that's awesome. But in another school I I put my banner up and it fell, and it fell really hard on this kid, and it like took out this side of it they borrowed, and I think they had to go like for stitches.

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Rachel Spratt: Oh, my!

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Jacqueline Harvey: Are.

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Tim Harris: The collateral.

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Rachel Spratt: How much room cause, like people say to you when you're when you're setting up, cause they're always rushing you because they make you wait forever in the lobby, and then you come in, and you say I need 5 min to set up, and there's 400 children watching you. So.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Like.

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Rachel Spratt: But are you just gonna start talking? It's like, Can I just set a few things up and they're like, we'll help you. And they go to help you put up the banner, and you're like no.

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Jacqueline Harvey: It's a danger to yourself. So anyway, that's my 1st recommendation. Don't make yourself all the children bleed during an author visit.

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Jacqueline Harvey: But there are other things that you probably shouldn't do either. And this story is actually from when I was still working in a school, and I was helping to run our biennial literary festival, and I was on long service leave overseas at the time, and I was doing a book tour in England.

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Jacqueline Harvey: And this one particular author who is going to remainless and who doesn't get out there at all anymore. So I'm not telling tales about somebody who's currently in the market kept on writing me emails and being quite cross emails about the fact that he couldn't get a reply from somebody who he needed to get a reply from.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Anyway, I'm in this school in. Let's just say I'm in the middle of England somewhere in this school, and I'm doing a talk. I'm I'm teaching all day, anyway. This

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Jacqueline Harvey: teacher says to me afterwards he said.

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Jacqueline Harvey: father-in-law's an author in Australia. I said actually him. And I said, oh, it's a small pool. Maybe I do, anyway, he said to me.

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Jacqueline Harvey: He said the name of the father-in-law. I got an email from him this morning, and I said, How do you find him? He said to me, How do you find you? I said, No, no, no! How do you find him, and he said, I think his words were mad as a cut snake was pretty much the response that I got, and so I thought, oh, well, at least I'm not the only one who has that opinion. So I go back to Australia, and I'm in the school, and we're having the big, swanky soiree for the 1st night of the festival.

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Jacqueline Harvey: and and the the lovely librarians had put together this.

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Jacqueline Harvey: It's a slide show of all the different authors that were there. And all of a sudden I hear this very loud explore is that. And it was that particular author. They put a photograph of somebody else who had the same name.

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Rachel Spratt: But not that.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Person. And so I'm thinking, oh, my gosh! Of all the people! This could happen to this, the very inauspicious start. So anyway.

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Rachel Spratt: Can I just say that's a phenomena like I've got a friend in America who's an Asian author.

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Rachel Spratt: and she's convinced everyone's racist because they get her and this other Asian author mixed up, and it's like, no, it's all of us.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Like getting.

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Rachel Spratt: Ahead that you look like someone else.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Well, I've been introduced as Jacqueline Wilson, and she and I look nothing alike. You know she's English, and has very short crop down.

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Rachel Spratt: There are a weirdly large number of jackies in children's publishing.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Well.

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Rachel Spratt: Dry Leah.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Oh!

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Rachel Spratt: There's Jackie, friend.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Oh, French morios!

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Rachel Spratt: Jackie Moriarty, cause I had 3 of you in my car at one stage, and with Sammy, my young one, and she was like, and we still giggle about the time we had 3 jackies in my car.

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Jacqueline Harvey: So anyway, this this story gets worse because this particular person like to be a little bit controversial. And so 1st gig of the of the the next day with a very a group of kindergarten and year one children, anyway, out of the backpack fall this thing that looks it's it's not that coffee thing that you know, like a little coffee filter thing that you can put on.

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Rachel Spratt: Yeah, yeah.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Yeah, and it kind of has a silver muzzle like effect to it. Anyway.

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Jacqueline Harvey: This person, you know, said, Oh, look, look, girls, I bought a gun with me, and the kids were like.

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Jacqueline Harvey: and take just this.

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Jacqueline Harvey: No, you please, please, Blah, please tell the children that that's not the case, and blah goes, it is, and I'm going to bloody. Well, shoot any of them that upsets me.

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Jacqueline Harvey: So can you imagine

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Jacqueline Harvey: imagine as I'm the I'm still, you know very much a part of the school staff, even though I am an author. At this stage, too. You imagine the phone calls I fielded that afternoon from a very, very upset group of parents. So I basically had a really good lesson in all the things not to do when you go into a school. So there you go, so I'm sure that the person I'm speaking about will never realise that I've spoken about this person because I haven't said their name, so I'm pretty sure.

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Rachel Spratt: I know who you're talking about.

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Jacqueline Harvey: That.

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Rachel Spratt: I am both horrified, and yet secretly admire him for his audacity.

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Jacqueline Harvey: I didn't say it was a hymn, did I,

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Jacqueline Harvey: anyway? So there's there's a couple of my little takes on, you know.

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Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Visits.

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Rachel Spratt: All right.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Over to you. Yeah.

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Rachel Spratt: Like it's on the outside.

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Losang Zopa: Don't know how I can top that.

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Jacqueline Harvey: You can. You can.

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Losang Zopa: It was interesting, because when I started thinking about it, and it's been a long time I've been doing this gig for about 25 years, 26 years.

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Losang Zopa: And

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Losang Zopa: speaking of

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Losang Zopa: making impressions, I have been very fortunate in that most of the schools I went into. I was taking over from

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Losang Zopa: a teacher librarian who was.

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Losang Zopa: let's say, basically disinterested in the whole job.

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Losang Zopa: So it makes it a lot easier to, you know, make a good impression.

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Losang Zopa: But

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Losang Zopa: I started to try and think how many authors have I? I can't remember honestly.

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Losang Zopa: and there will be some that I've forgotten.

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Losang Zopa: But here is here is one of the 1st author visits, I remember, and I didn't actually organize it. I think it was our network, and I was teaching at a place called Nanango.

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Losang Zopa: was my 1st posting

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Losang Zopa: I've been in the classroom as a mature age graduate for about 4 years, and then went into the library, finished my library degree as well.

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Losang Zopa: And I think the

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Losang Zopa: network organize this group. Small group, maybe 3, I think authors to come for a visit, and probably during Book week.

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Losang Zopa: All I can remember is the late great John Winch, who was.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Oh, he was at Chicago.

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Losang Zopa: Man. Yeah, lovely man.

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Losang Zopa: and my kids were really excited because I loved the old man who loved to sing, and the old woman who loved to read, and I think there was probably only about 3 or 4 books out at that time. It's a long time ago.

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Losang Zopa: and I honestly can't remember anything about the actual school visit. I just remember we went out for dinner a bunch of people, including my principal

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Losang Zopa: and his wife.

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Losang Zopa: and as we were all leaving that night. John pulled me to one side and he went.

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Losang Zopa: It was really difficult. That dinner and I went.

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Losang Zopa: Why, like.

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Losang Zopa: yeah, but thinking, oh, my God! We fit in something that he didn't like, or whatever you know, couldn't he, anyway? Your boss's wife was actually playing footsie with me.

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Rachel Spratt: I know I was just flat.

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Rachel Spratt: That's fantastic.

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Losang Zopa: It was. It was pretty funny that stuck in my memory. For a long time I thought that poor man.

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Rachel Spratt: Have you ever had that happen to you, Tim?

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Tim Harris: Never.

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Jacqueline Harvey: I thought Tim was gonna say all the time.

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Rachel Spratt: Never had it.

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Tim Harris: Happen in a.

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Rachel Spratt: School I've had like.

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Tim Harris: Like a.

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Rachel Spratt: At sign ins

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Rachel Spratt: because people don't realize I'm married. I had to start wearing a wedding ring when I did events because I would get like kids when they were sharing joint custody with their parents. And obviously it was like a big thing with them and their dad. They'd read my books together, and then their dad would like drive them 6 h to come to one of my events, and they'd be in the line, and they'd be like, and I'd hear like a voice, 3 kids down going. We're nearly at the front, Dad, quick! Take your glasses off, straighten your shirt, and I'd be like. Oh, no!

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Rachel Spratt: I had a.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Creepy. I I had a creepy dad come to very far for an event once, and was really kind of giving me the eye, and I thought, Oh, no, this is so awkward! And I was without beloved Zoe, and she got rid of him quick, smart! So that's.

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Rachel Spratt: Yeah, Zoe was really cause. Oftentimes they know ahead of time, because people will send creepy emails. Zoe is actually like, really brilliant at like spotting the stalkers.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Yeah, actually. Well, that's another topic for another day, because I've got some great stalker stories. But anyway.

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Rachel Spratt: Anyway, back to you, Sue.

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Losang Zopa: So then I thought about who is the 1st author who I got to visit my school, who, I know, really made an impact, and it was

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Losang Zopa: Jeffrey met skimming

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Losang Zopa: in his Cairo gym.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Yep.

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Losang Zopa: Character.

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Rachel Spratt: Yeah, yeah.

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Losang Zopa: And it was lucky, because it was kind of like a shared thing. He was coming to our district. By that time I was at Glass House mountains, beautiful glass house, mountains.

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Rachel Spratt: Or just that part of the world.

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Losang Zopa: And so we were sharing half a day each, you know.

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Losang Zopa: and I at that school I had.

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Losang Zopa: I think there was about 450 kids. They weren't great readers. I had like a small dedicated core.

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Losang Zopa: but, as is often the case, some of the boys were really really reluctant, but that was when

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Losang Zopa: Jeffrey was doing the TV show Saturday morning. Kids TV. I can't remember what it was called, but he used to do guest appearances on it as Kyra Jim.

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Losang Zopa: So obviously

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Losang Zopa: it was like, Guess who's coming to the school. It's Cairo, Jim. You will have seen him on.

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Losang Zopa: And the boys just went mental lost their mind. So I had. And I charged them $2 each. Because I thought if I charge them some money

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Losang Zopa: they're gonna know it's really worth it. But I wanted to make it accessible for everyone. So it's only 2 bucks. I had about 50

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Losang Zopa: 55 boys

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Losang Zopa: sign up it was, we must have just pulled them out of class, I can't remember, but they just thought it was the best thing since Slice read, and those books which are not the easiest to read.

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Losang Zopa: You know you need to be a fairly astute

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Losang Zopa: middle grade reader to get them.

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Losang Zopa: They just didn't stay on the shelves afterwards. They just literally were flying off the shelves the whole time. So that was really a big success. He also said I was the best teacher librarian this side of the pyramid. So he's okay.

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Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

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Jacqueline Harvey: It's funny you say him, Sue, because when I was a very, very young teacher he was probably, I think he was the 1st author that ever came to the school that I was that I was teaching at, and I've never met any authors when I was a kid, cause, you know that was back in. I'm I'm old, so you know, that was back in the day.

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Losang Zopa: Like yourself.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Well, and he came to our school, and I remember what a big impression he made on the kids, but he also made a big impression on me because I started thinking, oh, wonder if I could do this for a job one day. And so, yeah, and and I've subsequently met Jeffrey many times because he.

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Jacqueline Harvey: I lived on the north Shore in Sydney, and he lived just sort of down the road, and he would come to the school that I ended up at every year. Pretty much so. Yeah, that's funny that.

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Rachel Spratt: Testing from our point of view as authors, because

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Rachel Spratt: he has made a conscious decision to approach. Author talks like as a showman, like as he's putting on a show.

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Losang Zopa: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love it.

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Rachel Spratt: Not all authors do that like I do that Nat Amor does that? But

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Rachel Spratt: when you consciously bring the the entertainment industry, mentality to doing an author visit and it's it's good that we all do different types of things. And like, if if a school has an author every year they get different spread. But yeah, for me, as someone who comes from television. I look at someone like that and think, Oh, okay, I there's lots of things I can't do because I don't have a teaching background, but I can do that. I can put on a show. So yeah, he influenced me as well.

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Tim Harris: To.

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Losang Zopa: And the thing is, Rachel, that you do that with

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Losang Zopa: teaching.

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Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Not a show as a team.

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Losang Zopa: I, yeah.

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Jacqueline Harvey: You know.

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Losang Zopa: Show, because you want them to be looking at you. You want them to be listening to you, and whatever so.

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Jacqueline Harvey: Yeah, I guess my philosophy about school visits is that you have to entertain, and I think I put on quite a good show. But you also have to it. There has to be something in it for the teachers and for the kids like they've got to have a takeaway. There's gonna be something, then go. Oh, well, I could tell a great story, or I could, you know, use this idea for writing or blah, blah. So yeah, and I'm pretty sure, Tim, you were gonna say something, too.

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Tim Harris: I was. Gonna say, yeah, that

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Tim Harris: bizarrely Jeffrey Mckinnon Thanksgiving was the very 1st

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Tim Harris: author presentation that I remember as a teacher as well, and and the funniest thing is the only type. The only thing I can remember, apart from it was great. I remember it was great, and I remember we listened to Kyra Jim at lunchtime on say they cause everyone loved it. But the only thing I remember him saying was, ways. One of the students said, Are you rich? And he he sort of laughed and said, Oh, no, you like. There's not huge money to be made in books, and I remember sitting there thinking.

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Tim Harris: yeah, right?

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Tim Harris: And about 15 years later, I was like.

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Tim Harris: I think he's right. Yeah.

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Jacqueline Harvey: My favorite, my favorite. Take on. That was I was with Marcus at a festival, and I said, What do you say when the kids ask, I, are you? Oh, how much money do you make? And he said Tons! And I thought his was like a so fulfilling prophecy, because then he wrote the book, and he did make tons of money. So I'm with Marcus. You just.

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Rachel Spratt: I think Ian told you that to like Jackie's husband told her to when the kids asked that to say it's a swear word loads, and so

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00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:36.990
Rachel Spratt: I I for a while I used to say when they asked I'd say, Oh, bucket loads, cause I couldn't swear. I'm not like Jackie. I haven't got the fat mouth.

399
00:34:38.165 --> 00:34:39.069
Jacqueline Harvey: Jackie.

400
00:34:39.070 --> 00:34:40.419
Rachel Spratt: Going to hit me later, saying that.

401
00:34:40.420 --> 00:34:41.150
Jacqueline Harvey: I'm.

402
00:34:41.150 --> 00:34:53.233
Rachel Spratt: But now what I say is, when they say that I have a smile on my face, I look swiftly to distantly, and I say, I earn untold riches.

403
00:34:53.659 --> 00:34:55.969
Jacqueline Harvey: So have you got any more stories to tell us about.

404
00:34:55.969 --> 00:34:56.399
Losang Zopa: Oh!

405
00:34:56.400 --> 00:34:57.629
Jacqueline Harvey: Anywhere else, lined up.

406
00:34:58.390 --> 00:34:58.720
Rachel Spratt: I think.

407
00:34:58.720 --> 00:35:01.756
Losang Zopa: I'm gonna I wanna tell you the opposite, though, because.

408
00:35:02.060 --> 00:35:02.840
Jacqueline Harvey: Yeah, yeah, we want.

409
00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:11.270
Losang Zopa: Talking about. You know people who make a big impression, and people who are entertaining, and whatever I want to tell you without mentioning a name

410
00:35:11.510 --> 00:35:17.839
Losang Zopa: about an author I booked when I was. This is about 12 years ago, and I was at Scarborough State School.

411
00:35:18.170 --> 00:35:19.030
Losang Zopa: excite.

412
00:35:19.030 --> 00:35:21.859
Jacqueline Harvey: Don't give too much information away, so we'll get all the endpoints.

413
00:35:21.860 --> 00:35:22.400
Rachel Spratt: All right.

414
00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:22.850
Jacqueline Harvey: And she.

415
00:35:22.850 --> 00:35:25.930
Rachel Spratt: He's retired. She doesn't care. I don't have to worry.

416
00:35:25.930 --> 00:35:31.969
Losang Zopa: Don't forget. I would have an author every year, you know. It's not like I'm being specific, anyway.

417
00:35:33.350 --> 00:35:49.729
Losang Zopa: This person came, and it was Book week, and it was when the Beijing Olympics were on. I'm not gonna get into my political views on the Olympics, but it was a hard decision whether to decorate the library as Bookwick or Olympics. So

418
00:35:49.990 --> 00:36:04.790
Losang Zopa: we kind of went with Olympics because I think the Book week theme was a bit we didn't like it much. But anyway, we went overboard. We I had built a big temple gate at the front door, and they came in through that like that. I had a great library aid. It looked

419
00:36:04.990 --> 00:36:09.399
Losang Zopa: magnificent. If I say so myself, and this person came in

420
00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:11.430
Losang Zopa: looking like

421
00:36:16.450 --> 00:36:18.630
Losang Zopa: trump would be the word.

422
00:36:18.630 --> 00:36:19.270
Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

423
00:36:19.270 --> 00:36:21.640
Losang Zopa: Anyway, like no effort made.

424
00:36:22.420 --> 00:36:23.689
Losang Zopa: and we were

425
00:36:23.950 --> 00:36:25.199
Losang Zopa: well, you know.

426
00:36:25.350 --> 00:36:29.999
Losang Zopa: my, I was a lot like me, fairly personable. I think you know, Chatty, whatever.

427
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:30.700
Jacqueline Harvey: Aye.

428
00:36:30.700 --> 00:36:32.780
Losang Zopa: We barely got a Hello!

429
00:36:34.813 --> 00:36:41.939
Losang Zopa: I was unable to actually be at the presentations which were in the hall, because I was teaching at the same time.

430
00:36:43.080 --> 00:36:44.020
Losang Zopa: Apparently

431
00:36:44.870 --> 00:36:48.756
Losang Zopa: the teachers said yes, she was all right. She wasn't very

432
00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:50.740
Jacqueline Harvey: Amazing.

433
00:36:50.740 --> 00:37:02.299
Losang Zopa: I don't have much personality, but what got me was that, like all my author visits, I had laid on, you know. Beautiful morning tea, beautiful lunch, whatever, you know. She walked into the library. She never said a word about it.

434
00:37:02.570 --> 00:37:29.459
Losang Zopa: she never even looked at it, and I thought would have been nice to have at least say, Wow! This looks good, whatever morning tea and lunchtime. She took herself way up the other end of the library to eat her food, and didn't speak to us, so I would say there was about an exchange of 10 words the whole day she was there, and I just thought, look! I don't expect you to be my next best friend, but I would have thought a little bit of you know.

435
00:37:29.930 --> 00:37:30.400
Jacqueline Harvey: Courtesy.

436
00:37:30.400 --> 00:37:31.529
Losang Zopa: And be nice.

437
00:37:31.610 --> 00:37:43.160
Losang Zopa: Very strange, very odd, and I have heard the same thing from other people, so I don't think it was just us, anyway. Most people I have had visit.

438
00:37:43.883 --> 00:37:55.446
Losang Zopa: I remember this one time I had this amazing opportunity, and I didn't even have to pay for this that we had this great author, called Jacqueline Harvey come to us.

439
00:37:56.210 --> 00:38:15.500
Losang Zopa: It was so amazing, and it was my girl school, Morton Bay, and those girls were just beside themselves with all the excitement that Jackie was coming, and we had a whole week of celebrations for that event, and made the little teacup

440
00:38:15.550 --> 00:38:16.650
Losang Zopa: piglets.

441
00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:21.143
Jacqueline Harvey: Do you know, I still have my little teacup piglet.

442
00:38:21.570 --> 00:38:23.959
Losang Zopa: How hard I had to search for that.

443
00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:24.825
Jacqueline Harvey: I.

444
00:38:26.430 --> 00:38:29.430
Losang Zopa: And you know Jackie's books were really popular.

445
00:38:29.550 --> 00:38:31.930
Losang Zopa: no doubt about that. But

446
00:38:32.020 --> 00:38:34.179
Losang Zopa: for weeks afterwards

447
00:38:34.390 --> 00:38:38.180
Losang Zopa: there was just. There was such a long reserve list on all of them

448
00:38:38.210 --> 00:38:40.500
Losang Zopa: they were. They were never on the shelves.

449
00:38:41.090 --> 00:38:45.479
Losang Zopa: 6 weeks later I still had the head of school coming up to me and saying.

450
00:38:45.660 --> 00:38:51.240
Losang Zopa: I've still got girls rushing up to me to tell me how great that was. So you know to

451
00:38:51.590 --> 00:39:01.109
Losang Zopa: if you've got the right person there, they can make such an impact. And those kids will remember that forever. They will remember it always. So.

452
00:39:01.110 --> 00:39:08.004
Jacqueline Harvey: I will, I will remember it always. It was one of my favorite school visits that I've ever done. So. There you go, meeting you.

453
00:39:09.090 --> 00:39:14.599
Losang Zopa: True, I mean it was good for me. Tim Harris went to that school, too.

454
00:39:15.090 --> 00:39:21.170
Losang Zopa: He visited that school because he was friends with the head of the Junior School, head of Primary.

455
00:39:21.170 --> 00:39:28.920
Tim Harris: Yes, that's right. Yeah, that was one of the very 1st schools that I ever visited out of Sydney. And did Morton, by the boys and the girls school

456
00:39:29.220 --> 00:39:30.150
Tim Harris: say.

457
00:39:30.150 --> 00:39:45.830
Jacqueline Harvey: Yeah, I will. Well, you know, you're absolutely right. I see that. Like, you know, they when you get someone great, the kids will remember it for a really long time. And it's a it's a hugely important thing that we can do as authors, just to give out time to to do those visits.

458
00:39:45.830 --> 00:39:51.570
Rachel Spratt: It's hard, though, isn't it? Because, you know, sometimes you go somewhere and you smack it out of the park, and you've had a big impact.

459
00:39:51.720 --> 00:39:55.740
Rachel Spratt: and then sometimes it just goes wrong and.

460
00:39:55.740 --> 00:39:59.370
Jacqueline Harvey: I I think it's got a lot to do whether whether the kids are being prepped or not, though too.

461
00:39:59.370 --> 00:40:00.200
Rachel Spratt: You think like.

462
00:40:00.200 --> 00:40:04.590
Jacqueline Harvey: Whether they're, you know, when you walk into a school, and they don't know that you're coming, and you can't.

463
00:40:04.590 --> 00:40:06.060
Losang Zopa: Or they don't know who you are.

464
00:40:06.060 --> 00:40:07.608
Jacqueline Harvey: Oh, you are! And you think oh.

465
00:40:07.830 --> 00:40:23.090
Rachel Spratt: Sometimes you're tired. You've been on the road a long time, and sometimes they're really, really rude in the front office. And so by the time you're actually in the room with the kids. So they're really rude in the front office. Then the librarian comes out, and you're like coaching yourself like this is me because I have poor social skills.

466
00:40:23.090 --> 00:40:38.058
Rachel Spratt: Be nice, be nice. This is a big deal for them. This is like their wedding day. They've been planning for weeks. Be nice, be nice, be nice, and then but I'm just something will go wrong. You just say something that's in a you know, and you wrong foot them, and then they disappoint it, and then they tell you off.

467
00:40:38.576 --> 00:40:39.130
Jacqueline Harvey: Spot! That.

468
00:40:39.455 --> 00:40:39.779
Rachel Spratt: So.

469
00:40:39.780 --> 00:40:45.815
Jacqueline Harvey: She's exaggerating. She's really fabulous, and that never that. Well, that has hardly ever happened to her.

470
00:40:46.826 --> 00:40:48.140
Rachel Spratt: Oh, yeah.

471
00:40:48.140 --> 00:40:54.669
Losang Zopa: But he's a big, but I have worked with someone who probably had that effect on.

472
00:40:54.670 --> 00:40:55.580
Rachel Spratt: Is it.

473
00:40:55.580 --> 00:41:01.250
Losang Zopa: And I have never been so mortified in my entire life.

474
00:41:01.570 --> 00:41:03.270
Losang Zopa: He's the example.

475
00:41:04.310 --> 00:41:10.420
Losang Zopa: We were doing a crossover because I was about to take over, and it was when the bookwake authors were coming.

476
00:41:10.860 --> 00:41:12.460
Losang Zopa: And I

477
00:41:12.950 --> 00:41:18.160
Losang Zopa: she, this woman, put down a plate with 2 of the cheapest

478
00:41:18.430 --> 00:41:19.780
Losang Zopa: chop chip cookies.

479
00:41:19.780 --> 00:41:20.360
Rachel Spratt: You know.

480
00:41:20.360 --> 00:41:21.050
Losang Zopa: Like the

481
00:41:21.320 --> 00:41:22.700
Losang Zopa: no brand ones

482
00:41:23.270 --> 00:41:27.240
Losang Zopa: on the plate with Amandarin, and I kind of looked at it.

483
00:41:27.580 --> 00:41:29.779
Losang Zopa: and she went out at the office.

484
00:41:30.050 --> 00:41:36.310
Losang Zopa: and the 2 girls on the team just went. That's the author's morning tea. And I went. What

485
00:41:38.540 --> 00:41:42.350
Losang Zopa: is she? Gonna cover it? At least no left it there like that.

486
00:41:42.370 --> 00:41:46.450
Losang Zopa: And then lunch was what subway would you like?

487
00:41:46.510 --> 00:41:54.509
Losang Zopa: And I? And then I actually said because I was handling one of the sessions, and that was with Greg's lovely man.

488
00:41:55.048 --> 00:41:56.759
Losang Zopa: But I actually said

489
00:41:57.140 --> 00:42:02.010
Losang Zopa: to her, and do we have, like a Thank you, gift that I would be presenting at the

490
00:42:02.200 --> 00:42:03.120
Losang Zopa: No.

491
00:42:04.070 --> 00:42:07.634
Losang Zopa: Why would we do that? We already pay them.

492
00:42:09.890 --> 00:42:10.320
Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

493
00:42:10.320 --> 00:42:12.810
Losang Zopa: See what I mean about being able to make an impact.

494
00:42:12.810 --> 00:42:14.190
Rachel Spratt: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

495
00:42:14.190 --> 00:42:15.630
Losang Zopa: Having it.

496
00:42:15.630 --> 00:42:30.789
Rachel Spratt: Social things are so important. And it took because I mean, like, as I say, I'm a bit slow, but and I have to consciously think about it. It took me years to realize, that the librarian, and sitting and eating lunch with the librarian and making small talk with them. It's part of the package

497
00:42:30.790 --> 00:42:52.349
Rachel Spratt: and so so to try and behave better. But it's but food is so ingrained in us. Culture sharing food is so important. And the problem I have is like, you're on the road for 6 weeks. So you're doing it every day, and I am a health nut. So I don't wanna eat high carb food, but I write about a pig who just eats cake and chocolate.

498
00:42:52.350 --> 00:42:53.400
Jacqueline Harvey: That's everyone.

499
00:42:53.400 --> 00:43:09.200
Rachel Spratt: Assumes I want to eat that. And then, in addition to that, I'm allergic to nuts, so I can't really eat any cake like, especially if it's bought from a shop. I have to speak to the person who's made it, and you can just see the crushing look of despair in their eyes. The number of times I have shut.

500
00:43:09.200 --> 00:43:11.520
Losang Zopa: They ask you what you can eat.

501
00:43:12.040 --> 00:43:30.289
Rachel Spratt: Yeah. But you gotta want to sell. Like, if you're visiting 2 schools a day for like 4 weeks, and you turn up. And you're like. Is this the school I told, or I didn't tell, and you know it's the. And so the number of times I put something in my mouth realizes nuts, and it pretended to eat it. And they're like, spat it out because you don't want to offend anyone. Anyway, it's fun.

502
00:43:30.290 --> 00:43:43.570
Losang Zopa: Well, honestly on like the kids love it. But we I love it, and my teams have loved it because we've had great. Simon Higgins was a great one. Kids loved him because he was doing all his martial art stuff.

503
00:43:43.570 --> 00:43:44.020
Rachel Spratt: That's what.

504
00:43:44.020 --> 00:43:53.119
Losang Zopa: Talking about the books and waving the big sword around. But then, in break times he's sitting out the back room with us, telling us the most outrageous

505
00:43:53.630 --> 00:43:54.680
Losang Zopa: anecdotes.

506
00:43:55.125 --> 00:43:55.570
Rachel Spratt: And.

507
00:43:55.570 --> 00:44:00.030
Losang Zopa: Until we were all screaming with laughter. So yes, you know.

508
00:44:00.030 --> 00:44:00.650
Rachel Spratt: Sometimes.

509
00:44:00.650 --> 00:44:01.080
Losang Zopa: Just my.

510
00:44:01.080 --> 00:44:12.669
Rachel Spratt: Great friends like I went up to Queensland last year, and I did. You know Megan Daly? I met like her bestie, and we ended up all going, and, like Megan, Daly's library assistant, turned up

511
00:44:12.670 --> 00:44:40.359
Rachel Spratt: just like crashed the school visit, and there was like 3 of us. We all ended up going out to dinner. I'd never met these people. And then we had this fantastic dinner talking about all this stuff and drinks and cocktails. It was great. So yeah, it can go. Anyway, I should tell my story so the problem I have like I thought about from my perspective as a kid like Jackie. I never had an author talk at my schools, and in fact, the school I went to because I live in a part of Sydney. That's very, very maths and science, orientated, very coaching.

512
00:44:40.360 --> 00:44:57.979
Rachel Spratt: clinic, math, science, math, science, get into medical school. So I, when I became an author, I wrote to my primary school, and I had a friend who is working in the canteen. And I said, Just tell the principal I'm an author, you know, I'd been a very successful television writer. I'm happy to come and talk to the kids. And they basically.

513
00:44:57.980 --> 00:44:58.920
Jacqueline Harvey: But you come into.

514
00:44:58.920 --> 00:45:03.334
Rachel Spratt: Disrupting our school day, so I've never been to either of the schools. I went to

515
00:45:04.180 --> 00:45:13.260
Rachel Spratt: and yet they never had. We had a guy who'd fought in Gallipoli once. Come and talk to us, and that's like the only time I think, we ever had someone come and talk to us at school.

516
00:45:13.480 --> 00:45:15.534
Rachel Spratt: cause I grew up in a home like my dad's.

517
00:45:15.740 --> 00:45:18.760
Losang Zopa: Lucky you I had Jack Wang come and visit my school.

518
00:45:20.060 --> 00:45:40.099
Rachel Spratt: Oh, yeah, anyway. But my dad worked in insurance. He grew up on a farm. My family from the country. The idea of going to like a book event would never, ever have occurred them taking a kid to a book event or an author sign in. So I had never been to a book event, or a launch, or anything.

519
00:45:40.100 --> 00:46:00.849
Rachel Spratt: until I was like 23, and I went to New York, and I went to Wall Street to see Wall Street, the Stock Exchange, and this Trinity Church at the top of Wall Street, which, if you ever in New York, that's where Hamilton is, and his family with all the graveyards of those early New York politicians that they all are all the people. All the people in Hamilton are basically buried there.

520
00:46:01.100 --> 00:46:18.040
Rachel Spratt: But anyway, so I was looking at Wall Street, and I walked past Trinity Church, and they had like one of those fold out sandwich board signs, and it says there's a literary event today taking place in the church. Sister Helen Prejon is going to be talking now, sister Helen Prejean. She is the nun, that dead man. Walking was based on, played.

521
00:46:18.040 --> 00:46:18.429
Losang Zopa: I see.

522
00:46:18.430 --> 00:46:32.179
Rachel Spratt: Sarandon. She won the Academy award for it because she used to visit people on Death row in the South in America. So I thought, Well, that's really cool, and it was like then the next day she was going to be there. So I went back the next day, and I went to this. I sat in the church

523
00:46:32.190 --> 00:46:46.999
Rachel Spratt: and listened to a talk, and it was just amazing it was mind blowing like she just talked about all these things like I'd seen the movie. But she talked about all these things like, I love being ideas. I love being exposed to ideas I hadn't thought about. So I there was all of that. But the thing that really sticks with me

524
00:46:47.130 --> 00:47:06.010
Rachel Spratt: was the audience. It was a bit like a it was a bit more like a congregation than a regular audience would be, because it was in a church. And there was this African American lady there. She's probably like in her fifties, maybe even early sixties like. And they had QA. And they had a microphone stand, and people had to come up and line up to ask a question, and she came up, and she was very upset, and she was like

525
00:47:06.260 --> 00:47:17.930
Rachel Spratt: saying to this woman, saying to Sister Helen, Prejon, I don't know how you can do it. I don't know how you can forgive someone who's committed murder like I've come from a family I've lost family members.

526
00:47:17.930 --> 00:47:26.940
Rachel Spratt: and I pray like she's a very religious woman. I pray to God to give me the strength to forgive someone I don't know how to do. And then they had this big conversation back and forth, where they talked about

527
00:47:26.940 --> 00:47:49.430
Rachel Spratt: forgiveness and death and the death penalty. And it was just this crazy, intense thing as a 23 year old. I'm sitting there trying to wrap my mind around what these 2 women have been through and their ideas, and what that meant about how I felt about these issues that had never touched my life. And so, anyway, we're talking about school visits. Then I thought, I have no experience of school visits from the other side. But that was like my 1st window into

528
00:47:50.160 --> 00:48:14.330
Rachel Spratt: how someone talking about ideas for an hour, even though, like maybe 90% of it. You sort of tune in and out, but then you can just get some a moment where you feel like you've really experienced a moment that has changed your way of thinking for your whole life. So I know when I go into schools I try to put on a really good show. I try to capture kids into attention and be entertaining to make them excited about reading.

529
00:48:14.440 --> 00:48:28.629
Rachel Spratt: But you do hope for those moments where you maybe get a kid at that formative stage and change the way they think. So. I was on tour in Orange, like we were touring, and Penguin Random House was organizing it.

530
00:48:28.630 --> 00:48:48.480
Rachel Spratt: And they had this new thing because they were always trying to change the way they do it, where they were sick of you, going into schools and the schools not preparing, and just sort of like the teachers would zone out beyond their laptops. So they started to make schools pay to have you go. So they said they were going to tour me and this other author all around the orange region. But schools had to pay, or we wouldn't go because they were sick of them, not not

531
00:48:48.530 --> 00:48:50.390
Rachel Spratt: embracing it properly.

532
00:48:50.410 --> 00:48:56.630
Rachel Spratt: But this teacher at the high school, like we, were really supposed to be talking about primary schools. But this teacher at Orange High School just kept writing, saying.

533
00:48:56.630 --> 00:49:21.629
Rachel Spratt: Please, can you come to our school? We can't afford to pay you, and we're like, no, we're not coming unless we're paid. It's ridiculous the way you go into schools, and they just aren't interested. I mean, it's not much to us. The kids to pay a dollar each. Just do that. And the teacher just kept running back so they don't have a dollar each. The kids won't bring in a dollar each. We have no funding at school, and in the end me and this other author we just cracked, and I'm like, and I was grumpy about it said like fine. We'll give them an hour of our time. We'll be in and out. I'll talk for half an hour. He'll talk

534
00:49:21.630 --> 00:49:39.049
Rachel Spratt: for half an hour we'll do it. And so we. So we're like, Yeah, whatever. And it's part of this big tour. We're really busy, you know. We're drinking every night and going out to dinner. We're meeting book sales. We're talking to all these other schools, and then we come out to the school, and they're like, Oh, this is the one where they couldn't afford to pay you. And we're like, Oh, right? Okay, we get out of the car. And you're like.

535
00:49:39.050 --> 00:50:07.749
Rachel Spratt: oh, and you realize you sort of you don't realize the poverty that some people live in, and you don't realize how underfunded some schools are. And this High school looked like a prison. All the all the the windows had bars on them all the doors. It's hard to explain to someone hasn't been somewhere like this. The doors in these schools have to be reinforced, and there's no adornment on anything, because anything like that would be ripped off and vandalized so, and every door looks like someone's tried to kick it in. It's like, really like battered.

536
00:50:08.360 --> 00:50:25.540
Rachel Spratt: And they take us in there, and they're like they just want us to do a workshop with one class of about 25 kids, and they say they've got low literacy rates. They can't necessarily read and write, but they want us to talk to these like year 7 to 10 s. About why they should read books, and why they should work on their literacy.

537
00:50:25.540 --> 00:50:43.559
Rachel Spratt: And I said, Well, what type of kids are these? And they said they come from difficult homes. There's a lot of indigenous kids. And I said, But are they storytellers. And they're like, Yeah, they're great storytellers. So I go in there. The other author talks a half an hour, and he talks them all about structure and character and how to come up with ideas. And then I'm there. And I'm sort of like, I'm tired. I'm really homesick.

538
00:50:43.560 --> 00:51:03.989
Rachel Spratt: And I'm like, Okay, I'm not going to mince my words, and I say, Look, I know you come from a really disadvantaged background. I can't imagine what goes on in your homes. But I said, storytelling is the most powerful force in the universe, and I said, You think you've had it hard, you know, and I tell them, I say, have you all heard the story of the Good Samaritan? And they're like.

539
00:51:03.990 --> 00:51:28.989
Rachel Spratt: Yeah, of course. And I said, Do you know where that story comes from. Do you know what a Samaritan is? And they're like? Oh, it's like from the Bible. It's someone who's a good person. I'm like. No, no, a Samaritan is the name of an ethnic minority. It's like saying a good Arab or or a good Chinese person. A Samaritan's an ethnic minority, but that word has come to mean a good person because of the power of the story. So we talk about the story of the Good Samaritan, and about how Jesus told that story, and whether or not you believe in Jesus.

540
00:51:28.990 --> 00:51:53.969
Rachel Spratt: This story has been around for 2,000 years, and Jesus, you know he'd never had any money. He was a carpenter's son. He died pretty much penniless. He told this story 2,000 years ago to some friends just verbally told a story. They remembered it. They wrote it down, and that story has spread all around the world. And here you are in a classroom in orange, with all the trouble you've grown up in. Maybe you're not very good at reading and writing.

541
00:51:53.970 --> 00:52:08.389
Rachel Spratt: but you know that story, and you think you misunderstand what the word Samaritan means because of the power of that story, the transformative power. So and you just see all these kids who are like making fun of you 5 min before just them go.

542
00:52:08.990 --> 00:52:14.480
Rachel Spratt: And I'm like, if you can tell a story, you can have such an impact on the world. And they all just went oh.

543
00:52:14.610 --> 00:52:25.139
Rachel Spratt: and like. And you think, yeah, it worked that day. That day I got my job right. And I had a good impact. And maybe I screw up having morning tea with librarians, but that day I got it right.

544
00:52:25.836 --> 00:52:27.230
Jacqueline Harvey: Fair enough.

545
00:52:27.230 --> 00:52:28.619
Rachel Spratt: Yeah, so that's my story.

546
00:52:28.620 --> 00:52:30.400
Jacqueline Harvey: Very good team you've been.

547
00:52:30.556 --> 00:52:31.340
Tim Harris: So great. Tell us, yeah.

548
00:52:31.340 --> 00:52:31.950
Jacqueline Harvey: Story.

549
00:52:32.210 --> 00:52:35.750
Tim Harris: I will. Yeah. So you know, visiting schools. It

550
00:52:35.760 --> 00:52:54.039
Tim Harris: overall it. It is a pretty lonely thing that not actually being in the school, you know, with with the students or with the teachers. But it is a lonely profession, because it's all organized. You organize it on your own, you drive there or get there on your own you go back to the hotel on your own. It is. It's so.

551
00:52:54.040 --> 00:52:55.289
Rachel Spratt: So lonely and.

552
00:52:55.290 --> 00:52:56.339
Tim Harris: So a solo.

553
00:52:56.370 --> 00:53:17.929
Rachel Spratt: I stopped watching TV in in the hotel, because that moment, late at night, when you've been visiting kids all day and signing books all night and prepping for the next day and signing bookmarks, and that moment when you turn off the TV, and it goes to Black and your hotel room far from home. That is the loneliest moment ever. So I just stopped watching TV and hotels because I couldn't bear that moment.

554
00:53:17.930 --> 00:53:25.289
Tim Harris: It. It is so lonely. But I remember, you know, making a a real, conscious effort to start to.

555
00:53:25.350 --> 00:53:28.370
Tim Harris: to, to think about this process, because I worked out

556
00:53:28.809 --> 00:53:37.790
Tim Harris: having cross paths with Sue Whiting, who's 1 of the, I guess, in one of our other episodes at a school, and she was the 1st other author who I met

557
00:53:37.810 --> 00:53:53.980
Tim Harris: as an author at a school. And I remember thinking, Oh, okay, this is great. I feel like I've made a friend. I feel like I've made a friend in the industry, and the cool thing about that is not many people know this. Sue Whiting actually edited exploding. And he's number 4 in house. Yeah, and that. And that was pure.

558
00:53:53.980 --> 00:53:55.880
Rachel Spratt: She still talks to you.

559
00:53:56.270 --> 00:54:14.149
Tim Harris: It does. In fact, she even has a character in the book named after her. So I remember these things, and then so. Jacky was one of the very first, st in fact, the the 1st sort of author who I met, who was prepared to to give some encouragement. And, you know. Organize, hey, Tim, we're going down to barrel to visit, you know, right to scratch.

560
00:54:14.150 --> 00:54:15.060
Jacqueline Harvey: Is it Rachel?

561
00:54:15.060 --> 00:54:16.510
Tim Harris: Thanks, Brett. I'll get

562
00:54:16.610 --> 00:54:39.819
Tim Harris: hey, Tim, we're going down to Barrel to visit Ra Spratt. Would you like to come? And then I met Jules fever and event, Pashoggia, and that was cool. And so what happened is over. Time is you start to bump into other people who are sharing this very lonely profession. So then, in 2018, when Penguin said, Hey, we're going to stick 6 authors on a bus.

563
00:54:39.820 --> 00:54:41.799
Rachel Spratt: Was so much fun.

564
00:54:41.800 --> 00:54:59.109
Tim Harris: The gabbers and the koalas, it just became this, hang on a second. This is not individual anymore. This is this is the glamorous side of writing. This is the thing that people see on Instagram and Facebook and tick tock, because, you know, writing is such a solo slope. And so people sort of crave the glamour. And so suddenly we had

565
00:54:59.450 --> 00:55:03.079
Tim Harris: we had Jackie and Rachel, myself, and Tristan Banks, and Deborah.

566
00:55:03.410 --> 00:55:04.070
Rachel Spratt: I

567
00:55:04.700 --> 00:55:05.660
Rachel Spratt: 's hot.

568
00:55:05.660 --> 00:55:15.210
Tim Harris: And Belinda Morrell and and Debbie Bella. And this was split across across 2 years. And suddenly the game changed, the game just completely changed, and it became

569
00:55:15.220 --> 00:55:18.189
Tim Harris: the biggest hoot we. We go into a school.

570
00:55:18.320 --> 00:55:23.429
Tim Harris: and rather than do 60 min on your you know by yourself you'd watch

571
00:55:23.530 --> 00:55:31.339
Tim Harris: another Creator do their thing for 10 min, and it got to the point where we began to heckle each other.

572
00:55:31.340 --> 00:55:31.760
Jacqueline Harvey: So.

573
00:55:31.760 --> 00:55:32.120
Tim Harris: So.

574
00:55:32.360 --> 00:55:32.840
Jacqueline Harvey: My God!

575
00:55:32.840 --> 00:55:41.219
Tim Harris: Were reduced so much and so what now I really look forward to is every year is the chance that

576
00:55:41.240 --> 00:56:06.333
Tim Harris: you will bump into people who you but and it's it's also happening with teacher librarians as well. Now, if you do it long enough, you start to revisit the same schools. But when you get to hang out with another person it's really cool, because you get to talk shop, and we just don't get to talk shop very often. I remember Jackie and I had a cool trip up to Rockhampton, and that that was the glamorous side of it, and we're on this. Remember, Jackie were in the back of a taxi, and we're both hungry, and we felt like Mac is.

577
00:56:06.570 --> 00:56:07.890
Jacqueline Harvey: Yeah, it's always.

578
00:56:07.890 --> 00:56:09.770
Tim Harris: However, hey, can we have.

579
00:56:09.770 --> 00:56:10.543
Jacqueline Harvey: 5, 3.

580
00:56:10.930 --> 00:56:11.469
Tim Harris: Come in by.

581
00:56:11.470 --> 00:56:19.490
Rachel Spratt: I learned so much from those yaba tools. I learned a lot about you like you were the 1st author where I thought I got to do what Tim's doing. You had a really good

582
00:56:19.570 --> 00:56:30.880
Rachel Spratt: phone to for taking photos, and you would take really good photos because your phone was so much better than my phone. And I went home from that tour. And it's like, I gotta save up and buy a really good iphone. And also I learned how to airdrop, because we're all airdropping photos.

583
00:56:30.880 --> 00:56:32.029
Jacqueline Harvey: Oh, April! Yes.

584
00:56:32.030 --> 00:56:40.639
Rachel Spratt: Yeah. So I that we do that in the bus. And from Belinda I learned a lot about Grace and how to pretend to be polite cause I would just if I felt like telling someone off

585
00:56:41.070 --> 00:57:01.649
Rachel Spratt: like I remember I sent a, you know, like I. By the end of that tour. I was so sick of everyone. I I told a teacher off cause like I I went to the school, and this teacher was just like she. She obviously had some issues, and she wouldn't sit still, and she wouldn't stop talking. And so I got up, and I only had 10 min, and I said, if anyone.

586
00:57:01.810 --> 00:57:04.670
Rachel Spratt: I'll give you one warning, I'll give you 2 warnings.

587
00:57:04.760 --> 00:57:06.790
Rachel Spratt: 3 mornings you have to go and sit at the back.

588
00:57:07.130 --> 00:57:10.320
Rachel Spratt: and I said, and then I said, and Mrs. Such and such

589
00:57:10.360 --> 00:57:25.180
Rachel Spratt: you're included in that. I did. I sent the teacher to the back of the room to stop disrupting the class. But yeah, I learned a lot from from traveling and watching all the other authors present, because everyone does it differently, because we're so isolated. Like, you say, yeah.

590
00:57:25.180 --> 00:57:36.750
Jacqueline Harvey: I think, why we love when when you end up being able to do a festival, you know, when you go to a festival, and there's more than it's not just you. And there's some, you know. There's a whole bunch of authors. So it is fun.

591
00:57:36.750 --> 00:58:00.530
Tim Harris: A. And exactly as you said, Rachel, you start to learn what other people do. And you're like, oh, I quite like that idea. I'm gonna try that. We're gonna try this and and stories are generated as well. So the 1st festival, the big festival Somerset that I did. Well, I think it was 2018 for that one and that was right to you there. And you had one of your kids there, and I remember thinking I'm homesick.

592
00:58:00.530 --> 00:58:09.670
Tim Harris: but I like this. And so I've started doing similar things. Where, if if I'm invited into state, I'll say to them, can I bring a child? Because

593
00:58:10.150 --> 00:58:14.500
Tim Harris: be homesick. And so, yeah, you sort of you pull all these

594
00:58:15.530 --> 00:58:29.119
Tim Harris: people are. And it reminds me so much of teaching, because as a teacher you go in with not much of a teaching personality as such. But you start to pull other things that you see from other teachers, and I suppose every professions like that as well. Yeah.

595
00:58:29.120 --> 00:58:31.970
Rachel Spratt: You get smarter about it as you go along. And yeah.

596
00:58:32.240 --> 00:58:54.829
Rachel Spratt: yeah, and just talking to the other writers and being reassured. Oh, yeah, no, it wasn't you. That was odd. And yeah. And like, yeah, being encouraged to persevere because it is such a seat of your parents thing to do, to go into a school where every time you don't know how it's going to go. You don't know what type of kids are going to be there. Even the weather can affect it. I mean, like, I've turned up at schools like I

597
00:58:54.830 --> 00:59:12.770
Rachel Spratt: with someone starts crying like a teacher starts crying because they've had something, not because it's like I've done like. I went to the Blue Mountains after bushfires, and you're talking to them, and they just break down because they've had such a terrible time, and you know you never know what you're walking into. It's a it's a really strange profession, but you know, very rewarding and interest.

598
00:59:12.770 --> 00:59:19.385
Jacqueline Harvey: Or or when they know that used to be a teacher or deputy head of school, and then that teachers will just leave and leave

599
00:59:21.460 --> 00:59:26.400
Jacqueline Harvey: happened to me on a number of occasions, so you know, at least they they're clearly very trustworthy.

600
00:59:26.660 --> 00:59:43.722
Tim Harris: You do handle that very well, Jacky. I remember when we did a little Newcastle publicity trip together, and we were sitting. We were at a school, and there was a couple of Radical kids at the front. That was your session on mine, but I was watching, of course, from the back, and I remember you just paused and then gave couple of these kids the eye

601
00:59:44.470 --> 00:59:45.500
Tim Harris: and.

602
00:59:45.500 --> 00:59:46.769
Jacqueline Harvey: I can. I can. So.

603
00:59:46.770 --> 00:59:47.100
Tim Harris: Thank you.

604
00:59:47.100 --> 00:59:50.480
Jacqueline Harvey: With a an evil eye. Yeah, yeah.

605
00:59:50.480 --> 00:59:51.500
Tim Harris: Very quickly. Set up. Yeah.

606
00:59:51.500 --> 00:59:52.280
Jacqueline Harvey: I like.

607
00:59:52.280 --> 01:00:02.299
Rachel Spratt: A lot touring in New Zealand. One of the 1st tours I did. I did the Storylines Festival in New Zealand, and it was the same deal. It was a bunch of authors in a minivan, and one of the authors was Leonie Agnew, who.

608
01:00:02.300 --> 01:00:03.540
Jacqueline Harvey: Know Leonie. She's lovely.

609
01:00:03.540 --> 01:00:06.039
Rachel Spratt: Yeah, she's fantastic. She was just starting.

610
01:00:06.040 --> 01:00:07.230
Jacqueline Harvey: Teacher, too, yeah, yeah.

611
01:00:07.230 --> 01:00:31.640
Rachel Spratt: Yeah. Yeah. And she taught like kindergarten and everything. And I I got from her. She was so kind and great like you had. Kindergarten teachers have endless patience even when so you know, someone will be stabbing someone with a knife, and they'll be like, well, that's an interesting choice you've made there, Simon. Perhaps we could stop that now and clean up the blood, and then we'll continue on with the math. But anyway, she did this thing where, if because there's always the naughty kid, she would figure out who the Naughty Kid was, and get them to come and sit at her feet while.

612
01:00:31.640 --> 01:00:32.500
Jacqueline Harvey: Oh, okay.

613
01:00:32.680 --> 01:00:41.179
Rachel Spratt: So I so I borrowed that from her for years, but I would not get them to sit at my feet. I would send them to sit with the teacher, because it would also buck up the teacher to get them to pay attention.

614
01:00:41.250 --> 01:00:44.859
Rachel Spratt: And the other thing I learned was that thing that you've both seen me do

615
01:00:45.120 --> 01:01:03.509
Rachel Spratt: at the beginning, I say, who here likes reading books, and most of the kids put their hands up. Some don't. But the teachers are never listening. The teachers don't put their hands up, so I always say, Oh, look at that! Your teachers don't like read, and you make fun of the teachers right at the beginning, and then they have to listen to the rest of the presentation.

616
01:01:03.510 --> 01:01:06.099
Jacqueline Harvey: Too true, too true. Good strategy.

617
01:01:06.470 --> 01:01:12.100
Losang Zopa: Being a teach librarian, because the teachers do that to you all.

618
01:01:12.100 --> 01:01:14.910
Rachel Spratt: And teachers seem so young now, as well.

619
01:01:14.910 --> 01:01:15.270
Losang Zopa: What I.

620
01:01:15.270 --> 01:01:16.060
Rachel Spratt: Main to the.

621
01:01:16.060 --> 01:01:21.269
Losang Zopa: Excuse me, did you miss the bit about the cooperative planning and teaching?

622
01:01:23.710 --> 01:01:25.179
Losang Zopa: Obviously, yes, so.

623
01:01:25.180 --> 01:01:25.800
Rachel Spratt: I just.

624
01:01:25.800 --> 01:01:28.869
Losang Zopa: Like marking. I'll just go out of the room. I'll just go make my yeah.

625
01:01:28.870 --> 01:01:29.200
Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

626
01:01:29.200 --> 01:01:30.519
Losang Zopa: Whatever. Yeah, I'll just.

627
01:01:30.520 --> 01:01:39.360
Rachel Spratt: Some shoe shopping online. So before we wrap up, I just want to check in with you. So you're retired from the classroom. Now, is that correct?

628
01:01:40.560 --> 01:01:43.300
Losang Zopa: I'm retired from the library. Yes.

629
01:01:43.300 --> 01:01:44.320
Rachel Spratt: So.

630
01:01:44.320 --> 01:01:50.140
Losang Zopa: And I'm just. I've just been doing for the last 2 years. I've been doing relief teaching just around locally.

631
01:01:50.500 --> 01:01:53.610
Rachel Spratt: So do you, miss wrangling us authors, and do.

632
01:01:53.610 --> 01:01:58.090
Losang Zopa: I do miss that. I miss my library gig. I don't miss the

633
01:01:58.370 --> 01:02:00.359
Losang Zopa: classroom teaching gate. Yeah.

634
01:02:00.630 --> 01:02:00.900
Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

635
01:02:00.900 --> 01:02:02.630
Losang Zopa: Well, the thing is that

636
01:02:03.030 --> 01:02:08.580
Losang Zopa: everyone knows our classrooms are in a real crisis at the moment, and

637
01:02:08.770 --> 01:02:17.210
Losang Zopa: I stopped. I was going to even a local big private secondary school. I stopped going there because it wasn't any better there.

638
01:02:17.490 --> 01:02:20.694
Losang Zopa: Well, I suppose it was marginally better. But yeah,

639
01:02:21.270 --> 01:02:24.520
Losang Zopa: But now that my girl is going to tafe.

640
01:02:24.520 --> 01:02:25.000
Rachel Spratt: The app.

641
01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:34.930
Losang Zopa: And she doesn't have a license yet, so I'm driving her to the station 3 days a week and picking her up so it's working out quite well for me not to. I quite like not working actually.

642
01:02:34.930 --> 01:02:35.450
Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

643
01:02:35.450 --> 01:02:37.140
Jacqueline Harvey: Well, you've you've earned it so.

644
01:02:37.140 --> 01:02:37.870
Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

645
01:02:37.870 --> 01:02:44.389
Losang Zopa: And I kind of think I'm almost soft enough to to say, Yeah, I deserve this. So yeah.

646
01:02:44.390 --> 01:02:44.960
Rachel Spratt: But Jesus.

647
01:02:45.353 --> 01:02:46.140
Losang Zopa: My Titans.

648
01:02:46.190 --> 01:02:50.179
Losang Zopa: but like, fortunately, I have got a great

649
01:02:50.640 --> 01:02:53.360
Losang Zopa: network of creators. Yeah.

650
01:02:53.360 --> 01:02:53.860
Rachel Spratt: Yeah.

651
01:02:53.860 --> 01:03:03.520
Losang Zopa: Someone once said to me even a few years ago, you know what? I look at your friends list on Facebook. It's like the who's who of kids lit in Australia. So I'm really lucky that I'm having.

652
01:03:03.520 --> 01:03:05.080
Rachel Spratt: Still feel part of the world.

653
01:03:05.080 --> 01:03:06.490
Losang Zopa: Whole lot of people.

654
01:03:06.890 --> 01:03:11.839
Jacqueline Harvey: Well, I still hang off every every review that she writes.

655
01:03:12.290 --> 01:03:16.380
Rachel Spratt: Yeah, and you were very kind. You came to my Christmas show last year. I really appreciated that.

656
01:03:16.660 --> 01:03:19.800
Losang Zopa: Well, I wanted. I wanted Kisha to see you in action.

657
01:03:19.800 --> 01:03:21.130
Rachel Spratt: Yeah, yeah.

658
01:03:21.310 --> 01:03:21.900
Rachel Spratt: yeah.

659
01:03:22.170 --> 01:03:23.122
Jacqueline Harvey: See so fine.

660
01:03:23.440 --> 01:03:29.240
Losang Zopa: She's grown up now, and she's only what's she reading at the moment she's reading? She's reading it at the moment.

661
01:03:29.240 --> 01:03:29.750
Rachel Spratt: Gosh!

662
01:03:29.750 --> 01:03:31.260
Jacqueline Harvey: Stephen, King. Yeah.

663
01:03:31.260 --> 01:03:33.350
Losang Zopa: She's a she's a horror thing.

664
01:03:33.350 --> 01:03:33.690
Jacqueline Harvey: You know.

665
01:03:33.690 --> 01:03:34.360
Losang Zopa: Wrap.

666
01:03:34.810 --> 01:03:36.609
Losang Zopa: person, horror, genre like.

667
01:03:36.610 --> 01:03:49.441
Jacqueline Harvey: And you can. You can see my my book of of Kevin saves the show finally turned up after you got yours, which is often very funny. Yeah, we often joke. So we'll say, Oh, I've got this book, and I'm like, Well, I don't.

668
01:03:49.720 --> 01:03:50.640
Rachel Spratt: True. Yeah.

669
01:03:50.640 --> 01:03:55.763
Losang Zopa: Regularly, but I get I'll get them before the actual author has got them.

670
01:03:56.130 --> 01:03:58.529
Jacqueline Harvey: Because you're top of the Pops as far as the publisher.

671
01:03:58.530 --> 01:04:06.656
Rachel Spratt: It's like I to find out when my book is published. I often find out by going on the ramp the the website of the publisher, and then it's like, Oh.

672
01:04:07.110 --> 01:04:08.170
Jacqueline Harvey: Let's be.

673
01:04:08.170 --> 01:04:15.029
Losang Zopa: Oh, I can remember when I said to you at one time something about a publication day, and you went. No, no, no, it's this time I went.

674
01:04:16.100 --> 01:04:17.180
Rachel Spratt: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

675
01:04:17.180 --> 01:04:20.259
Losang Zopa: Release from the publisher.

676
01:04:21.137 --> 01:04:21.850
Rachel Spratt: With a like.

677
01:04:21.850 --> 01:04:22.500
Losang Zopa: I still.

678
01:04:22.500 --> 01:04:23.025
Jacqueline Harvey: Yeah.

679
01:04:23.550 --> 01:04:34.349
Rachel Spratt: Anyway. Well, we better wrap it up. Thank you so much for joining us, Sue. If you want to find out any more about any of us, Maya, you can check me out on my website. Iris, brat.com, Tim, where can we find out about you?

680
01:04:34.350 --> 01:04:40.130
Tim Harris: You can find out about me and pastoring memories@www.tim Harris books.com.

681
01:04:40.414 --> 01:04:42.970
Rachel Spratt: And Jackie, where can we find out about you?

682
01:04:42.970 --> 01:04:46.510
Jacqueline Harvey: At www. Dot Jacqueline harvey.com.au.

683
01:04:46.510 --> 01:04:51.090
Rachel Spratt: And Sue, should we check out your blog? What's the best thing to do? If people want to check out your writing.

684
01:04:51.090 --> 01:04:53.380
Losang Zopa: It's called just so stories

685
01:04:53.410 --> 01:04:55.349
Losang Zopa: as my Ode to Kipling.

686
01:04:55.858 --> 01:04:58.350
Losang Zopa: And it's lottangsopa.com.

687
01:04:58.350 --> 01:05:23.899
Rachel Spratt: Yeah, it's really, if you are a teacher or a librarian, and you want to find out about the new releases and reviews of the new releases by Australian authors. It's a fantastic blog or website to hit up. So anyway, I just was going to mention, too, we're coming into bookweek season. And if you want an insight into what that's like for an author, just follow me and Jackie and Tim on Instagram or Facebook, and you will get a very sanitized glimpse.

688
01:05:23.900 --> 01:05:24.310
Jacqueline Harvey: I.

689
01:05:26.050 --> 01:05:33.119
Jacqueline Harvey: And then maybe after the book month touring, we can do our most enlightening book week story. From this.

690
01:05:33.120 --> 01:05:33.700
Tim Harris: Oh! But.

691
01:05:33.700 --> 01:05:34.070
Rachel Spratt: Well.

692
01:05:34.675 --> 01:05:35.280
Jacqueline Harvey: Season.

693
01:05:35.280 --> 01:05:59.279
Rachel Spratt: What I'm actually thinking is, we're going to run out of episodes at about the last week of Bookwick, and we'll still have a couple of weeks of touring to go. So I think in about 4 weeks we might do an episode where we like check in with each other, and it's a bit of a hectic episode, and we'll just say, what's the craziest thing that's happened to you this week. We'll see, anyway, let's wrap it up for now you've been listening to real stories with random writers. Thank you for listening until next time. Goodbye.

694
01:05:59.280 --> 01:06:00.120
Jacqueline Harvey: Bye.

695
01:06:00.755 --> 01:06:01.390
Rachel Spratt: But.

696
01:06:01.390 --> 01:06:01.750
Losang Zopa: Bye.

697
01:06:01.750 --> 01:06:02.490
Rachel Spratt: Earth.

698
01:06:02.915 --> 01:06:05.040
Jacqueline Harvey: Thanks, too. That was fun.

601:33:01.220 --> 01:33:02.130
Jacqueline Harvey: Aye, aye.