Harrisdale Visited By Australian Author Norman Jorgensen

Students and teachers alike loved his cheeky sense of humour and were enthralled by his entertaining stories.

Norman spoke about how he started writing as a young boy. His experiences with grumpy school teachers and an intolerant, cane-wielding principal assisted him in crafting stories that delighted his peers and family, who were his first audiences.

He related the adventure stories that captured his imagination and which became instrumental in influencing his writing about pirates and Vikings.

We learned about his love of travel, and how he even wrote his first draft for The Smuggler’s Curse while staying at a lighthouse in the very room in which Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island!

Norman also shared some very valuable writing tips, encouraging the kids to treat writing like any sport; if you want to get better at it, you must practise every day.