Allison Paterson is the author of the 2016 ABIA and CBCA longlisted title Anzac Sons: Five Brothers on the Western Front, the children’s version of her adult non-fiction title Anzac Sons: the Story of Five Brothers in the War to End All Wars. She has written four other children’s books, Granny’s Place and Shearing Time and two books in Big Sky Publishing’s highly successful non-fiction series regarding Australia’s military history – Australia Remembers 1: Anzac Remembrance Day and War Memorials and the 2021 publication Australia Remembers 2: Customs and Traditions of the Australian Defence Force. She was a recipient of a 2017 May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust Creative Time Fellowship. The resulting young adult manuscript Follow After Me was published in 2019.
Allison grew up on a farm surrounded by sheep, dogs and chooks. She loved to read and enjoyed endless hours in the school library. She became a teacher and her love of reading and children’s literature forged a pathway to becoming a teacher-librarian, the perfect job for a book-loving teacher. She also loved to write. That passion has led her to the life of an author, immersed in words, books and sharing stories. Allison presents talks and workshops in a range of situations and to audiences from kindergarten to retirement villages, Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services, libraries, bookshops, service clubs and of course, she loves to visit schools. Allison is a member of the Australian Society of Authors and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and now works full-time as a writer and publishing consultant. I Wonder, a charming new picture book to be released in 2021, was inspired by the lovely beaches of the Sunshine Coast which she calls home.
Workshops and Talks Summary
Allison delivers inspirational talks and workshops for the early Primary School years through to the elderly. Topics include the creative writing process, the making of a picture book, using your own inspirational stories, Australia’s involvement in World War I and the journey of an author. All can be modified for the needs of the audience. She can visit online as well!
Author Talks - Class Size up to 90 students
I Wonder! Caring for Our World (Ages 5-10 – 45 minutes)
Allison describes the inspiration behind her 2021 title I Wonder. Using her latest book Allison will assist students to discover the small steps they can take to care for their world.
It’s Shearing Time! (Ages 5-8 - 45 minutes)
Students will discover the inspiration behind the author’s picture book Shearing Time, will enjoy a reading and meet Annie the dog puppet and her friends the lambs. Participants will learn about the process of shearing and enjoy a sing-a-long.
Follow Your Dreams (Ages 9-Adult - 45 minutes or 1 hour)
An author’s journey. From a lifetime dream, to writing fact then fiction - sharing real life experiences and turning them into stories.
Remembrance – One Family’s Story (Ages 10-Adult – 45 minutes to 1 hour)
The story of Allison’s grandfather and his four brothers who served in WWI is ideal for Remembrance Day, Anzac Day, Year 9 WWI studies and Senior Australian History.
A data projector and screen need to be available for Allison to use. Teachers do need to stay as the students gain much more from teacher involvement.
Workshops - up to 30 students
The Plot Thickens (Ages 8 -13 - 1 hour)
Allison has read thousands of children’s stories as both a teacher and current judge for the Redgum Young Writers’ Awards. Our young writers create sizzling starts but writing excellent endings can be a challenge. Children will develop characters and create a story skeleton from head to toe.
Creating Picture Books (Ages 8-13 – 1 hour or 90 minutes)
Allison outlines the steps to creating a children’s picture book. Students plan and storyboard a simple story and learn how text and images interact with and complement one another.
Place As Character (Ages 10-16 – 1 hour or 90 minutes)
A writing workshop for advanced writers. The setting comes to life in the first few pages, going beyond description to the very core of the characters’ experience. Participants will create a setting, link detail with emotion, invoke a true sense of place and learn how authors say more by saying less.
Digging Up Bones – turning facts into fiction (Ages 12 - adult - 1 hour or masterclass)
A writing workshop for advanced writers. Weaving historical facts, life experiences ad powerful messages to create engaging fiction – the research and crafting process.
A data projector and screen need to be available for Allison to use. Teachers do need to stay as the students gain much more from teacher involvement. Students should bring writing books and pencils.
Testimonials
I have had such lovely feedback from all the staff at Spring Gully after your talks with the children about Anzac Sons and Granny's Place. Thank you so much for the interesting presentations which inspired especially the grade five and six children to learn more about WW1. Kerrin, Spring Gully State School
I want to thank you again for your visit. My class enjoyed the opportunity of sharing their stories with you on Monday. 'Granny's Place' is the perfect book for this age level to learn about history and find out about the history of our own families. Your power point presentation and your personal delivery was very age appropriate and you held the interest of the students. The teachers have commented on how you encouraged students to hold onto their stories and drawings. At Creek Street Christian College we encourage our students to find out their gifts and talents and to use them. Your presentation also showed how the process takes place when writing a book. We found this interesting coming from a published author and will help in our classrooms when involved in writing activities. Sharon, Creek St Christian College
I really loved Allison's talk. She has such a warm-hearted and genuine manner and her care and sense of responsibility to her ancestors was so clear in her presentation. I loved the way she spoke to all of the audience as equals, not children, and tapped into our sense of history. Wish her well with her future books, Di, Coolum State High School
I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Allison talking about her journey from researcher to author. An amazing thing to be able to collect and sift through and collate all that information and then transform it into the wonderful books that she has written. The whole talk was so well presented. As I said when I reached the podium, I couldn’t speak. Her story about her journey was inspiring and yet very practical and appealed to the storyteller in all of us. I liked her focus on supporting young people who may want to write ... She was very eloquent yet succinct in telling us about the picture book and I am filled with admiration, Adie, Beerwah State High School
Allison spoke and presented well despite the technical issues we were experiencing with the LCD projector. Being a Teacher Librarian, she was [relatively] unfazed by the sudden disappearance of the visual aids to her presentation and continued with good humour and a wonderful, poignant style as she spoke about the research (her personal journey) that she’d undertaken for ANZAC sons. I look forward with great interest to hear – and read - more from Allison in the future. Graeme, Immanuel Lutheran College
Just a quick note to thank you on behalf of students and staff at PHC for making the time to visit us yesterday. I was very pleased to meet you ... Some of the student comments were - very interesting, inspiring, enjoyed learning about how you became an author and the process of becoming an author, made me want to research my ancestors, Nola. Pyramid Hill College
Author, Guest Speaker, Publishing Consultant
May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust Fellow 2017
https://www.facebook.com/allisonmarlowpaterson
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Testimonials
I Wonder
Australia Remembers: Customs and Traditions of the Australian Defence Force
Follow After Me
Australia Remembers - Anzac Day, Remembrance Day & War Memorials
Shearing Time
Granny's Place
Anzac Sons: Five Brothers on the Western Front
Anzac Sons: the Story of Five Brothers in the War to End All Wars
Featured Speakers
Stop Press
Welome to Term 2
Hope that everyone has had a relaxing break.
If you haven't already secured your booking for Book Week, please get in touch - we still have availability for some wonderful speakers.
We look forward to hearing from you soon!
New Releases See all books
Touring Speakers See all tour dates
| Speaker | Location | Tour dates | Book now |
|---|---|---|---|
Brisbane | 30 Apr - 02 May 2025 | ||
Perth | 05 May - 15 May 2025 | ||
Brisbane | 16 May - 16 May 2025 | ||
Singapore | 19 May - 21 May 2025 | ||
Melbourne | 25 Jun - 27 Jun 2025 |
What people are saying
John had us spellbound throughout and I know everyone who attended was touched to the core.
We really enjoyed having Tristan visit us and work with the students during our Writers Camp. Tristan really engaged the students and give them plenty of inspiration as well as giving them practical advice that they could apply to their writing. He exceeded our expectations and I would highly recommend Tristan to other schools. He also took the time to find out what our needs were for our group of students and tailored his presentations to suit our requirements.
Extremely relevant, engaging, useful resources and so many takeaway ideas for me to utilise straight away.
Tim visited us at ATC last week for our annual Literary Festival and the effort & enthusiasm he brought to his presentations was very well-received by students and teachers, alike. The boys really enjoyed learning from Tim and I think we may have converted our 1 'surfie' kid to read his first 'proper' book, Occy's bio 'Occy : The Rise and Fall and Rise of Mark Occilupo'. I would highly recommend Tim to speak at any junior, middle or senior school. He also spoke at our parent night and his presen [...]
We had absolutely no issues dealing with Speakers Ink - very easy to deal with and arrangements were well organised. Yes, we would certainly deal with Speakers Ink again... ...Yes, expectations were very much met!
Our students loved meeting Lisa after enjoying her stories. She was well prepared with a captivating presentation. She communicated beautifully with the students and addressed their many questions. Her stories have remained favourites in our Junior School Library.
Belinda’s presentation style was very suitable for our students. She connected well with all year levels and understood how to engage them. I was very impressed with her style personable and very approachable for students. I would welcome Belinda again to speak to our students.
Cath’s presentation was fantastic. Cath has a wonderful way of captivating and inspiring her audience. (We) would definitely have Cath back again.
Gwyneth Jane Page and daughter Megan were guest presenters at our annual literature Carnivale for 2017. The students thoroughly enjoyed their repertoire and the adventures of PJ Mouse. Both Gwyneth and Megan were able to maintain an interesting dialogue of narrative and illustration that kept the kids enthralled. They also spoke at length about their global travels and the advent of their main character PJ Mouse. The children asked many probing questions about our world and ways to keep it peace [...]
Allison was engaging with both parents and students at our extracurricular book club. Her presentation was interesting, and Allison was asked many many questions and eagerly responded to every one of them. Allison is a delightful guest, and I would recommend her to any school, library or book club.
We had the pleasure of meeting Julie and watching her work with children at the City Cluster Mini-Writers Festival, held this year at our school. The response from students and staff, following your visit, was so positive that our school community would like to invite you back to work with the children of Newmarket State School in 2013. We were hoping to workshop all year levels (except Prep) in "narrative writing" and would love to book you in for next year if you are available.
The workshop was engaging and the boys were immediately hands-on.
We were delighted to host Tannya for our school visit. Tannya is an amazing illustrator and students enjoyed her illustrations for Dingo, Kookaburra, Mallee Sky and Heartbeat. She gave the students many tips on how the illustrations were made and shared her techniques. They enjoyed the drawing lesson with her easy-to-follow instructions. Tannya was an engaging speaker for all ages. She even included the students in a wonderful drama activity as well. I would definitely recommend Tannya for a [...]