Sofie Laguna

Sessions - for Students & Adults

LOWER PRIMARY:

In her presentations for lower-primary students, including kindergarten and preps, Sofie draws on her acting skills; she performs a play based on her book My Yellow Blanky. Sofie plays the main character, an energetic and wilful five-year-old, and the children from the audience play the other parts, complete with costumes and props. The show is dynamic and highly interactive, providing the students with an opportunity to understand the connection between text and performance and how exciting it can be. Sofie also uses her successful picture book, Too Loud Lily as a tool for interactive performance. With this text students have the opportunity to work together as a chorus, with Sofie in the role of ‘conductor’. These sessions celebrate the relationship between words, sound and action.

MIDDLE / UPPER PRIMARY:

There is also a strong theatrical element in Sofie’s presentations for middle and upper primary students. After speaking with students about the different inspirations for her stories, Sofie plays director and the students act out scenes from her novels. She has found this to be an excellent way of engaging the audience in her work and giving them a deeper understanding of character. Sofie also discusses the inspiration behind her work – from stories about embarrassing parents, to family holidays. She empowers her young audience with the belief that their own lives are rich with material for great stories. In 2004 the Australia Council awarded Sofie a writing residency in New York, at Art Omi in Ghent. It was here she wrote her first novel for young adults, Bird and Sugar Boy. The novel was published in 2006, (Penguin) winning Honor Book in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards 2007. Sofie uses this sensitive, moving story as a springboard for a discussion with upper primary/lower secondary students about families, best friends and the power of nature in our lives.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

Using her books as a springboard, Sofie discusses the importance of character in her own writing. She examines the different ways we can create strong characters and their importance in building a compelling story. Sofie’s audience learns how to create characters of their own and to develop the stories that lie within them. The sessions end with real life ‘interviews’, where students play the characters they have created. This has proved to be enormous fun, and a wonderful way to understand how characters can be brought to life.

JOURNAL WORKSHOPS:

Sofie has kept a diary since she was seven years old when her grandmother bought her a blank book as a gift. When Sofie asked why the pages held no words or pictures her grandmother explained that the book was for writing stories about herself. Sofie has been keeping a diary ever since. In her journal-keeping workshops Sofie explores the different ways journals/diaries can function in both our personal and creative lives. She shows her audience the first drafts of her many books all contained within her diaries. Sofie discusses the value of having a private place to be creative and expressive and the ways it has healed and helped her.

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Sofie’s writing workshops for adults include:

Creating Compelling Characters

Sofie will focus on different ways participants can create compelling and original characters with engaging stories to tell. Workshops will open with a discussion about character where Sofie uses her own work as a springboard to stimulate ideas, and to encourage students to identify memorable characters in their own reading history. She will then use a ‘brainstorming exercise’ where the group works together to create a character and his or her world. Sofie will demonstrate that the answers to the challenges of plot, tone, structure and style often lie in knowledge of character.

Participants will be asked to bring a 500-word dramatic monologue to the workshop, written in the voice of one of their characters. All participants will be encouraged to read out the work and receive constructive criticism.

Sofie will ask participants to consider their characters in unexpected ways in order to deepen their understanding of, and passion for their stories.

Elements of the Novel

Sofie will examine the elements of the novel – character, plot, voice, tone, and structure, and how these elements intersect. Sofie will give participants strategies that will address problems in every element, mainly through knowledge of character.

Participants will be asked to bring a 500-word piece of writing to the workshop. All participants will be encouraged to read out the work and receive constructive criticism.

Picture Books for Children

Sofie will explore the relationship between text and image – looking at the way language can successfully make space for illustration. Using a number of popular picture books, Sofie will as participants to consider the elements that make picture books work – rhythm, energy, tone and structure. And of course, story. Participants will be asked to bring their picture book stories to the session, and these stories will then be shared with the group for constructive feedback.