Poppy from our Teen Advisory Board reflects on how attending book launches, author signings and workshops can enrich your reading experience as well as be inspiring and educational.

Books can be so much more than something you read once and put on your shelf. Attending book launches, author signings and workshops can enrich your reading experience. It allows you to meet the creator behind the work, understand their point of view and motivate you to try something new.

I still remember the chicken! Renowned children’s illustrator Anna Walker drew a chicken on my copy of her picture book Peggy at the Readings store in Hawthorn. I would have been four or five years old and I still have the book with her inscription, and chicken illustration. It’s a charming tale of finding yourself even when you get lost in a big city. All of her children’s books are delightful and worth exploring.

Just recently I was in the Readings Malvern store looking for a first birthday gift for my neighbour. The bright cover of Alice Oehr’s Off to the Market caught my eye and reminded me of an iPad illustration workshop I attended a few years ago taught by her. For a couple of hours, I learned how to capture potted plants in digital form, and highlight their shapes and textures. Off to the Market takes the weekly shop and turns it into a gorgeous exploration of seasonal colour.

Karys McEwen’s All the Little Tricky Things is a lovely middle-grade novel covering the transition from primary to secondary school. I know this author as Ms McEwen, my school’s librarian and it was an honour to introduce her for the book's launch at Readings Kids in Carlton last year. All the Little Tricky Things follows Bertie, a girl scared to leave her small town and worried about what will happen to the relationship with her best friend when they seem to be going in different directions.

The Wheeler Centre offers 'Telling Tales' events where three established YA authors along with three emerging teen writers read some of their work. I have seen several well-known authors at these events and always enjoyed them. Most recently, I saw Amie Kaufman, who wrote The Isles of the Gods, and Lisa Fuller who wrote, Ghost Bird – they were both highlights. Amie Kaufman excels at world-building and The Isles of the Gods sweeps the reader into a voyage across the sea, forcing you to question how far you would go to save the ones you love, even if it means risking the world. Lisa Fuller is a First Nations writer who crafts unsettling tales blending the spirit world and totems with reality. In Ghost Bird, twins Stacey and Laney are as different as anything, but when Laney goes missing, Stacey will go to frightening lengths to get her back.

Meeting all these interesting people has given me insight into how they create, giving me inspiration to create myself. So what book events are near you? Local libraries, bookstores, writing centres and festivals offer many opportunities to meet the name behind the book on your shelf.