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Archie Fusillo
Author, Inspirational Speaker, Personal Development
Archie is one of the most in-demand and successful presenters of author talks and workshops in Australia. Archie’s versatility means he can communicate to, and cater for, a range of abilities and interests. The fact that he was a teacher and features writer probably helps.
Archie’s latest book, Tribal Lores (2020) has won the Australian Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature for the Older Readers category.
Archie is in demand for residencies across the country. Contact Booked Out to organise a residency for your school or library, or to discuss arranging a booking for a network of schools in your area.
Where were you born?
I was born in Melbourne, Australia.
What themes are recurring in your work?
Family, mateship, the migrant experience, and adolescence. In particular, the focus of much of work is on the ways these elements interact in the lives of young people – the resulting tension, the importance of their roots.
What are you passionate about?
The need for all young people to learn to read and write, and through literacy to have the chance to realise their potential.
What have been the highlights of your career?
Having the first novel published, getting gigs at various writers festivals; and winning a Book of the Year Award.
Where have your works been published?
My short stories have appeared in many Australian magazines and journals. My books have been published in Australia, and a few in the United States and China.
What other jobs have you had?
I have worked as a secondary teacher, features writer, a copywriter, and in the public service as a courier.
Haven’t I seen you before?
Perhaps — I speak regularly at writers festivals and cultural events right across the country, and tour schools regularly.
Testimonials
I’ve already had a couple of teachers and the principal call me to say they loved [Archie’s] talk. I’ve seen [Archie] present a few times over the years, and I still can’t hold back the tears when [he] tells the story of the old man and the doll. [Archie’s] stories really touch people, and [he] definitely deserve a mark a H (with and A+ in bracelets of course)
Archie is a very entertaining and engaging speaker who can hold an audience with his humour and stories of his childhood that captivate the audience. Our year 7’s are a challenging group and Archie had them spellbound the whole session.
Amazing, fantastic and thoroughly enthralling! Archie is a true professional who is is truly underrated…
Once again, Archie provided our students with a great insight into his journey, both as an author and as the son of migrant parents. He always engages our students in a positive manner and provides them with lots of humourous stories – this always goes down well with Year 8 students!!
We had Archie Fusillo attend our Year 12 Study camp at Federation University in early Feb. Archie engaged the audience of students and teachers immediately with his humour and enthusiasm. Archie told stories from his childhood which allowed the students to relate to his struggles as an adolescent whom had no confidence to succeed in high-school due to his minimal ability to read and write. Archie’s story was one of those ‘success stories’ and for any school looking to build resilience and a growth-mindset for their students, I highly recommend Archie to make you laugh, at times want to cry and also walk out of the session feeling prepared to make a change, or simply know that when at first you don’t succeed, you must try again.
Our school selected 25 students to participate in a workshop with Archie. The students responded well to him and felt that Archie listened to them and was very encouraging to them with their writing. He took time to read the writing of the students and showed a genuine interest in them and their work.
Archie’s presentation was perfectly tailored to needs of the overall program and today’s session – covering leadership in the community, what it means to be a leader, setting goals, being a project manager, and talking about what individuals can bring to the group. It set up the students really well to launch into their project brainstorming and planning in the second half of the session. I had great feedback from the other teachers and youth workers that were there as well.
I am very appreciative of Archie’s time and effort into putting his presentation together, it was fantastic.
Just wanted to thank you for arranging Archie’s visit to our schools. In chatting to him, it occurred to me, that while we have used your agency a number of times, I have never given feedback to you about the success of the speakers you have provided.
Archie was a wonderful speaker and had everyone, the Year 7 boys and all the teachers, enthralled from the beginning. In the fifty minutes he spoke to our group, he elicited laughter, awe, sadness and empathy. This was the perfect springboard for our boys’ creative writing and really underlined the effectiveness of having an author visit.
Can I also say that your agency has made it very easy for our school to provide these rich experiences for our students. You have made the process very easy for us.
The students enjoyed the more motivational part of the session. It suits the time of year: we want our students to feel calm and confident in starting the year, and Archie’s talk really reinforced that.
I would just like to commend Mr Archie Fusillo on his Writing Workshop at Ilim College Boys Campus. The kids were thoroughly engaged and took away a lot of good information from the workshop.
The fact that Mr Fusillo has been a classroom teacher is a great advantage as he clearly understands students and class dynamics…his advice and insights were invaluable.
Archie Fusillo entertained and engaged the students with his high energy sessions that he tailored to individual groups of students. His understanding of the process of writing was vast, allowing him to share that knowledge with the students.
He has written far more than we were aware of and has many stories to tell. His focus on immigration resonated with the students who had their own stories to tell and his strong connection with family was very poignant.
It was a pleasure to have Archie as our author-in-residence for Library and Information Week. He is humorous, easy going and fitted in to our Halean environment.