Book Chat: Susanne Gervay
- engaging kids and young adults
2pm Thursday 1 December
Julie Long OAM, President of the CBCA ACT, launches Craig Cormick's latest book What If Histories of Australia - Colonial Settlement.
Join us to catch up with Susanne Gervay - a prolific author of books for children and young adults that seek to empower children and adults through the power of story.
Her younger fiction in the I Am Jack series are rites-of-passage books focusing on school bullying reaching adults and children. The first instalment has been adapted into a play by the award-winning Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People.
As the child of refugees, growing up with the emotional complexities of parents who had been through war, migration and loss, books were her source of escape, comfort and courage. Writing has been the driving force in her 20 year immersion in the children’s industry, as a writer, mentor, speaker, advocate for literacy and a voice for young people and their communities
Susanne Gervay is a leading author & educational consultant, awarded the Social Justice Literature Award by the International Literacy Association, an Order of Australia, Astrid Lindgren nominations & Crystal Kite Award.
She is Patron of Monkey Baa Theatre, Regional Advisor of the Society of Children Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), Australia East & New Zealand, Writer Ambassador for Room to Read, Role Model for Books in Homes, literacy ambassador and many more.
She is passionate about unlocking the private maelstrom engulfing many young adults, as they navigate their journey between powerlessness and independence.
Her latest novel The Edge of Limits explores issues of peer pressure and consent.
When Sam, 17, treks into the wilderness on the school survival camp, he misses his girlfriend Laura with her belly-button ring. The gruelling physical challenges are hard, sometimes hilarious, sometimes cruel as he treks deeper into unknown territory forced to confront the underbelly of real mateship, sexual consent and the dangers of guys like Watts.
Ultimately, the camp winds to the final place of initiation, to the edge of limits, where Sam must choose what he stands for. This is a journey from the city culture of beach parties, girlfriends, sex and consent, to the vast wilds of trekking, abseiling, rock climbing, white-water rafting, sweaty days and freezing nights.
A novel that will change the conversation on consent for. Ages 14+
Venue
Alfred Deakin High School
Denison Street Deakin, ACT 2600