Joel McKerrow

BIO

Joel McKerrow is an award-winning writer, keynote speaker, educator, children’s author with Penguin Random House and one of Australia’s most successful performance poets. Full time in his creative career for the past fifteen years, Joel was the Australian representative at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships and has performed throughout the world in 15 different countries.

Prolific in his writing he has published eight books of poetry, seven spoken-word albums, a creative-nonfiction book, a graphic novel series with Larrikin House and a HEIST trilogy with Penguin Random House.

Joel is passionate about education and presents in many schools every year where he helps students, teachers and school leaders find their creative breakthrough. He champions the belief that CREATIVITY and STORY are far too important to be confined to only those we deem as ‘creative’ or ‘storytellers.’

Over the last fifteen years Joel has taught the creative process to literally hundreds of thousands of students throughout the world and he has presented at many of Australia’s premiere writing festivals including Sydney Writers Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival, Cairns Tropical Writers festival, Somerset Storyfest, Whitsunday Voices and many more. Renowned singer Kate Cebrano describes his work as, ‘Completely free, reckless & unbound in his expression.’

“Poetry as old and boring was thrown out the window as students were spellbound….and then were able to create vibrant and interesting pieces of their own. A brilliant incursion.” – Head of English, Heatherton Christian College

SHOWS

Poetry or Story Sessions

  • Primary
  • Secondary

POETRY SESSIONS

POETRY PRESENTATIONS: Through performing his own poetry and talking about the inspiration behind his pieces, Joel will break student’s perception of what poetry can be. He will use poetry to help them reflect on issues of identity and self-stories as well as social-stories. This introduction to the world of performance poetry can end with students beginning to write their own poem if it is a longer session.

POETRY WORKSHOPS: In these workshops Joel goes through his four-step poetic process of INSPIRATION, CREATION, CONSTRUCTION and INVITATION. This process is then used as students craft their own poems. Can be one session or a whole day.

STORY SESSIONS

AUTHOR TALKS: Focussing on his fiction work – URBAN LEGEND HUNTERS and the HEIST trilogy, Joel explores the inspiration behind his writing, and how students too might be able to lean into the inspiration in their own lives.

WORKSHOPS: Using a framework Joel has developed over many years, THE STORY TREE FRAMEWORK, Joel engages students in the writing process in a way that simplifies narrative writing, to help them develop their own short stories. He can also focus in specifically on writing graphic novels, spooky stories, or Heist/Mystery stories.