Students learn to tell their own story

She outlined the trials and tribulations creatives face, but also emphasised the importance of finding one’s own voice, whether as a creative artist or not.

“I think self-expression is really critical,” she said.

“So the message is not about how to be an author, the message is about how to express yourself.”

Aimee also presented her latest work, The One, published in September this year and illustrated by Pinky Wittingslow.

“You can be heard by other people, but it also means that people are dealing with their emotions, processing ideas, and not bottling things up - which can, as we know, lead to disastrous consequences,” Aimee said.

Aimee herself had a lightbulb moment when author Graeme Base visited her own primary school.

As a part of Graeme’s talk, he invited Aimee and her peers to contribute to the ‘B’ page of his alphabet book, Animalia. It was a life-changing experience for Aimee, who already had her eyes set even at that early age on becoming an author.

“I really was inspired by this idea that we could sit there, and as kids interact with this grown-up, and then suddenly it would appear in a book,” she said.

“I think if young people are not interacting with authors, and they’re only seeing books, you’re taking away the whole human element of it.

“Having a live person speaking to you, and talking about mistakes that they made, and talking about their process and how they do things, is a way of providing accessibility to the art form.”

Year 6 teacher Sarah Hodgson said that hopefully her students saw that they could one day create something like Aimee had.

“Hopefully, they can relate (the story) to themselves and get an interest in writing more, and writing more stories,” she said.

The talk, organised with the backing of Cobram Library, was the first time such an event was held at the primary school.