Two of Australia's most popular authors for young people have a strong Canberra connection. Morris Gleitzman and Garth Nix both studied professional writing at the University of Canberra, and Nix grew up in the national capital. Now they're back in town to take part in Showcase: The Second Festival of Australian Children's Literature.
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The festival was organised by emeritus professor of children's literature Dr Belle Alderman, director of the Lu Rees archive of Australian children's literature at the University of Canberra. Dr Alderman said the festival was intended to celebrate and promote Australian literature for young people- a field that was ''one of the strongest, most inventive and most innovative'' in the world.
The works of Gleitzman, 60, and Nix, 50 - among others - have been translated into many languages and the pair are among more than a dozen writers, illustrators and publishers conducting lectures, seminars, launches and workshops for the festival.
Gleitzman - whose books include Misery Guts and Toad Rage - said one of the questions he was often asked by young people was ''When did you lose your hair?''
''I started to lose my hair the year I published my first novel,'' he said, ''so naturally I assumed a correlation.''
As for writer's block, another subject of questions, ''fear plays a big part of it''.
''I thought it would go away after my first couple of books, but it doesn't,'' he said.
For his part, Nix - author of the Troubletwisters series with Sean Williams, among many others - said when it came to writer's block, he differentiated between laziness and procrastination - ''I suffer from that to some degree'' - and a more serious condition such as depression, which needed treatment.
Nix said he suffered a recurring bout of his childhood asthma when he wrote about a character with the condition.
Both said young readers were interested and engaged, and often aspiring writers. They looked forward to meeting them - and older readers, too.
Morris Gleitzman will speak at Tuggeranong Library on Thursday from 10.30am to noon and Garth Nix will speak at Dickson Library from 10.30am to noon. For bookings and for other events in Showcase, which runs until November 15, visit canberra.edu.au/showcase