Author in Residence

Later in the term Year 6 Facci will be meeting Nathun Luff (our author in residence) on Friday, 9 September.  Nathan Luff was born in 1981. He is one of five boys and they all grew up on a farm outside of Yass, New South Wales. Nathan was born with his head in a book and has rarely been seen without one since. He graduated from Charles Sturt University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Theatre/Media) and later received a Graduate Diploma in Screenwriting from the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (AFTRS).

Nathan began his career writing for newspapers, theatre & television. In 2007 he was nominated for an Australian Writers’ Guild Award (Awgie) for a youth/community theatre project titled Smashed. The same year he received 2^nd prize in the Grenfell Henry Lawson Short Story Competition and was commended in the Children’s Book Council (NSW Branch) Frustrated Writer’s Mentorship Program for what was to become Chicken Stu. Since 2005, Nathan has worked for the Wakakirri National Story Festival, an arts festival for Australian schools promoting sustainability and education through the telling and sharing of stories. In 2010, Nathan takes on the role as Festival Director for Wakakirri.

Chicken Stu, published by Scholastic in April 2010, is Nathan’s first children’s novel.  The story is loosely inspired by the antics he and his four brothers got up to on their home farm. We are currently reading this book as a class.  We have already encountered witty moments and look forward to reading the remainder of the novel.