Introduction

Ursula Dubosarsky enjoyed writing stories, poems and puppet plays all through primary and secondary school. She has written many books for children. Ursula’s first book Maisie and the Pinny Gig was a picture book published in 1989. Since then she has written for all ages up to young adults. Her books have won or been shortlisted for many awards. Her novel The Red Shoe won the 2007 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award for young adult fiction. The picture book Rex, illustrated by David Mackintosh, was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s award for Book of the Year 2006.

Ursula studied English and other languages at university. Her latest book The Word Spy explores the amazing, quirky nature of the English language, providing interesting facts and fun activities to engage children in learning about words and how they work.

In this resource, Ursula shares her passion for writing, as well as what inspires and involves her in the writing process. She reads from the wonderful adventure novel The Game of the Goose.

In the masterclass, Ursula describes how objects found around her house became the focus of The Strange Adventures of Isador Brown, a short novel from the Aussie Bites series. Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 from Ferncourt Public School in Sydney’s inner west, try out this technique in their own writing.