A special event will pay tribute to the late Bendigo-based children’s author and poet, Lorraine Marwood, this October.
Goldfields Libraries and Loddon Valley Arts Trail have teamed up to present The Power of Verse – a tribute to Lorraine, whose award-winning writing often focused on family life in the Loddon Valley.
Lorraine passed away in May this year. She was the author of 18 books of literary and children’s poetry and verse novels, published between 1996 and 2021.
Among her titles are three nationally significant books: the 2010 inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Award-winning Star Jumps, the 2018 NSW Premier’s Literary Award-winning Leave Taking and the 2022 CBCA Notable Book Footprints on the Moon.
She had worked as a primary school teacher, a literacy and writing teacher, and together with her husband and family-of-six children, ran a dairy farm in Dingee for 25 years.
It was Lorraine’s skill in capturing fragments of experience, accompanied by her honest accounts of the heart and harshness of family farm life, that earned her some of the country’s highest children’s literature honours.
The Power of Verse event will feature children’s authors Glenda Millard and Claire Saxby, in conversation with Bendigo editor Cecile Shanahan.
Both writers knew Lorraine well and shared some of their memories of her as part of a Children’s Book Council of Australia tribute in June.
Claire Saxby first met Lorraine in the early 2000s, when they were both fresh to writing for children. Their careers, and their friendship, blossomed over the ensuing years.
“Lorraine was a talented, skilled, generous writer who created work that reflected her rich rural life,” Claire wrote.
“Her work was valued and valuable, bringing readers to story, and writers to their craft.”
Glenda Millard shared Lorraine’s passion for writing, gardening and craft.
“Our ‘crafternoons’ were a thing to look forward to and to delight in,” Glenda wrote.
“And we celebrated each other’s writing successes, each of us winning the Prime Minister’s award for Children’s Literature.
“I count it a privilege to have been amongst Lorraine’s friends.”
The Power of Verse will take place on Saturday 3 October, from 11am-12pm at the Bridgewater Hall, 39 Eldon Street, Bridgewater.
A copy of Contours of Our Lives: reflections from the kitchen table will be gifted to all attendees. The book was co-created and edited by Lorraine as part of a Dingee Library Agency mentorship project. Goldfields Libraries has re-published the book especially for the tribute.
The event is free and includes morning tea. Bookings essential via the Loddon Valley Arts Trail website.