We had the privilege of hosting work experience student, Giselle, a few weeks ago. While she was with us, she got the chance to meet and interview Morris Gleitzman, one of her favourite authors. This is her account of the experience.

We’re so proud of how well Giselle did during her time in the office with us and we’re truly blown away by the quality of her writing.

They say never meet your heroes.
They couldn’t be more wrong.

It was a cold Melbourne Wednesday when I had the utter privilege of meeting my hero, Morris Gleitzman. As a young work experience student, it’s safe to say I was, in equal amounts, absolutely excited and absolutely terrified. But Morris did not disappoint and I came away with so much more knowledge and respect for his work and all that has gone into creating it.

Without a doubt, Morris Gleitzman is one of the best Australian children’s authors we’ve seen in a long while, so it’s no surprise that I jumped at any chance I could get to talk about the work behind the colourful and moving books we see on the shelves.

With over 40 books to his name (44 to be precise), whether you’re reading Once or Toad Rage, Gleitzman excels at varying his tone and ideas to fit the text and keep his readers engaged—even his website was riveting. There’s always that special something in his work. You can always tell it’s a Gleitzman book when you pick it up.

It’s this unique authorial voice—something increasingly rare in modern day—that I really wanted to know more about. How did he develop it? How does he maintain it across all his texts and what inspired and shaped it?

When asked, Gleitzman was more than happy to share his tricks. Gleitzman’s unique voices are developed by the characters in his stories. He writes based on what the character—no matter if they’re a young boy, girl or even a bird—knows and how they act. His ideas and views take a step back and allow the characters to take center stage. It’s this mix of wise and mature values and wisecracking young characters that form the Gleitzman way of writing.

But how is it that these books originate? Does Gleitzman draw from personal experience and the world around him? Does he first develop in-depth characters? Do the plots simply spring fully-formed into his mind?

Turns out, it’s a combination of all of the above. Some books start as a character, some as a theme and some as a real life issue. Arguably Gleitzman’s most famous text, Once, started as a story of friendship. From this simple idea, Morris built an elaborate world and deep characters, and before long we had the heartbreaking book we all know and love.

To put it simply, Gleitzman focuses on telling a character’s biggest issue. Whether he begins with the character and then discovers their issue, or starts with the issue and finds the characters along the way.

It’s no secret that any aspiring author or writing enthusiast could talk to Morris for days and still have so much more to learn about the writing process and literary world. But if I learned one thing during my time with Morris, it’s that beyond his incredible writing, Morris is an even more phenomenal person.

When asked what Morris loves most about writing and why he continues it, Morris described the way that he loved the impact he had on young people. He elaborated that his stories (though no doubt enjoyable for all ages) are targeted towards one of the most crucial ages in our lives. Youth is when we learn right from wrong, and the idea that his texts can help shape that view, shape the very way see the world is pretty powerful.

With the interview drawing to a close, I had just enough time for one last question. What’s the most valuable thing you learned being an author that anyone trying to become something similar to you should know?

And Morris’s reply?

“Don’t ever think your dreams about your future possibilities are so far from what could happen.”

Don’t ever think you don’t have what it takes.

Believe in yourself.

And with that, I had to thank Morris Gleitzman for being so generous with his time and let him get back to whatever it is that famous authors do with their spare time (probably writing or reading or drinking tea).

by Giselle Leonard

We hope our wonderful teacher clients have a great break over the next few weeks before settling into the bustle of Term 3.

Here at Booked Out we’re still hard at work, getting ready for all your exciting Book Week (Book Month??) events. If you need us during your school holidays, we’re still here in the office working away and will be available to assist with any enquiries you may have!

And if not, we hope you have a restful break and we’ll see you in Term 3!
📚📚📚

Thank you to everyone for an incredibly busy Term 1!

We at Booked Out hope that our wonderful teacher clients have a great break over the next few weeks before settling back in for Term 2.

Over the holiday period the Booked Out team will still be working hard on upcoming campaigns, library and festival events as well as any general enquiries that you may have.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team with anything that we may assist you with!

Thank you to all our speakers and clients for a fantastic year of literary engagement.

We look forward to another busy year of bookings, events and new releases! But until then, this is the Booked Out team signing off to catch up on some summer reading.

Our office will be closed from December 19 until January 20, 2025. Until then, Booked Out wishes you happy holidays and new years!

Happy 2024!

All of us here at Booked Out hope you had a lovely summer and that you got to tick off your holiday TBR 📚

Our team are so excited for a big year ahead, full of school visits, library events, festivals and more!

You can get in touch about a booking, either by sending us an email at bookings@bookedout.com.au or giving us a call on (03) 9824 0177.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

From all here at Booked Out, we just wanted to say the biggest thank you to all our wonderful speakers and clients for all their incredible work across 2023.

We look forward to another fantastic year of bookings, events and new releases! But until then, this is the Booked Out team signing off to catch up on our summertime reads.

We close on Wednesday December 20 and we’ll be back from Monday January 15, 2024.

To all our book lovers out there, Happy Holidays and have a fabulous News Years!

We are thinking of the students taking the VCE English exam today, and sending our best wishes to them and all our English teacher clients who have worked so hard to prepare their students.

All the best for the rest of the exam period and Term 4 to everyone – hope you have a successful and celebratory end to the year!

It’s the best time of the year – happy Book Week season to all! While the official CBCA Book Week may have finished, the celebrations continue on throughout Term 3. Here in the Booked Out office we are loving hearing the updates on all the hundreds of events around the country and seeing students connecting with authors and illustrators (and we are admiring the dress ups too of course!).

Congratulations to all our hardworking speakers out on the road, and also an extra special congratulations to our speakers who received awards from the CBCA this year: Neridah McMullin (Honour Book – Younger Readers), Anna Walker (Honour Book – Early Childhood), Michael Wagner (Honour Book – Picture Book), Jess McGeachin (Winner – Eve Pownall Award) and Zeno Sworder (Winner – Picture Book of the Year).

We hope everyone is having a wonderful term break! We will be closed this Friday the 14th of April but the office will re-open on Monday the 17th.

You can contact us at bookings@bookedout.com.au or give us a call on (03) 9824 0177 and we will get back to you next week. 🍁

Wishing everyone a restful Easter break from the Booked Out team! 🐣 We will be closed over the long weekend, but our office reopens on Tuesday 11 April. You can contact us at bookings@bookedout.com.au or give us a call on (03) 9824 0177.

Artwork by @suedegennaro from her picture book ‘Easter Days’.