Dr Egg goes to the Top End

For the past few days Dr Egg's Catherine Fargher has been in the Northern Territory for Wordstorm 2014, the Top End's writers' festival. It was a brilliantly hosted and welcoming festival of writers in the tropics. Catherine was invited by Festival Director Panos Couros to be part of the Digital Kids strand of the program. She featured on the panels: 

Honey I lost the kids... apps and distractions with Johanna Bell, Nick Bland, Leonie Norrington and Ana Vivas, taking a look at where the world of interactive digital publishing is heading in children’s literature;

My picture book won’t talk to me! with Jeswynn Yogaratnam, Ana Vivas, Barry Jonsberg and Teresa Crea, examining the effects of digital literature on developing minds and reflect on how we have already changed the trajectory of childhood development, and;

Powerful Translations with Katherine Thomson, discussing unusual adaptations, such as Joshua Santospirito’s graphic novel adaptation of Craig San Roque’s psychology essay The Long Weekend in Alice Springs, Nicki Greenberg’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby to a graphic novel, and, of course, Catherine's transmedia experimentation in The Dr Egg Adventures.

It was an exciting few days of lively discussions, conversations with other awesome writers, Indigenous and non-Idigenous, and workshops with aspiring interactive writers ranging from 8-years-old to 58-years-old. Catherine also gave workshops on interactive writing at Browns Mart, Corrugated Iron Youth Arts and Palmerston High School.

Wordstorm 2014 ran from 29 May - 1 June and was partnered with the Northern Territory Writers' Centre, Charles Darwin University, the Australia Council for the Arts, and the Northern Territory Government.

Click here to find out more about Wordstorm 2014.