Felicity Castagna

Felicity Castagna
Author | Literary Consultant | Motivational Speaker | Storyteller
Home State:
New South Wales (NSW)
Theme(s):
CBCA Book Week | Environment | Friendship | Resilience | Self-acceptance
Presentation Format(s):
Masterclass | Presentations | Professional Development | Talks | Workshops
Audience Type(s): Adults | Librarians | Secondary Age | Teachers | Tertiary Age
Visit Type(s): In Person | Online

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Felicity Castagna is a highly experienced teacher, speaker, writing mentor and teacher educator who has facilitated workshops everywhere from schools to community arts centres to correctional centres. She began her career as a high school teacher before completing a PhD in Creative Practice and moving on to teach creative writing at multiple universities.

Her most recent novel is Girls In Boys’ Cars which is currently being produced for theatre and film. Her previous book, No More Boats, was a finalist in the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Awards and is published internationally. She is also the author of the short story collection Small Indiscretions and the young adult novel The Incredible Here and Now, which received The Prime Minister’s Award for Literature as well as the IBBY Award.

She publishes essays and creative non-fiction and has been a speaker on multiple shows for ABC Radio and Television. She is very interested in cross-artform collaboration and has worked with artists in many different fields to produce work for The Sydney Festival, The National Theatre of Parramatta, The Four Winds Festival, The Adelaide Festival and many other places as well as with The Finishing School Collective. She particularly specialises in running workshops for year 11 and 12 students studying the Reading to Write Module and Extension I and II, as well as creative writing workshops for students with low levels of literacy and school engagement.

Incredible Stories Talk (approximately 1 hour)

An engaging and interactive talk about writing The Incredible Here and Now or Girls In Boys’ Cars

Powerful Images Workshop (approximately 2 hours)

Students learn to turn the things they see every day into powerful vignettes by focussing on imagery and voice.

Me and My Place Workshop (approximately 4 hours)

This workshop encourages students to write about their world by examining the community they live in. Students will consider the techniques used by writers to convey ‘a sense of place’ and learn how to apply these to their own writing.

Extension I and II Workshops (can vary from 2 hours to a whole day depending on what the school wants covered)

  • Workshop: Students workshop their Extension I and II pieces with professional writer and experienced Extension II marker and teacher, Felicity Castagna.
  • Research Based Creative Practice: Both Extension I and Extension II are courses which require students to make creative work which exhibits critical research. In this course students will learn what exactly that means, how it works on a practical creative level, theories and criticisms that can be applied to the creation of literary works and strategies for writing about their research in their reflection statements.
  • Voice, Play and Experimentation: Students get beyond cliché and learn to create original and sophisticated pieces of work by considering how to create a powerful sense of voice and a unique story structure.
  • Reflection Statements: Students learn what the Board of Studies is looking for in an reflection statement. Topics covered include; how to discuss creative writing practise in sophisticated ways and how to show that your work is informed by theory and research.

Teaching Creative Writing (varies)

Teachers take a close look at how creative writing fits into The Australian Curriculum as well as what the research says about best practice in creative writing at the high school level. In addition, teachers will learn plenty of fun and practical creative writing activities to get their junior students engaged and take their senior students to a more advanced level.

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Some of Felicity's Books

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