Juvenilia Exhibition
December 2024
The Juvenilia Exhibition brought together the juvenile works from some of Australia's most loved and established children's authors and illustrators including Graeme Base, Andy Griffiths, Mandy Foot and Alison Lester.
Everyone starts somewhere. Whether it is hand writing stories on scrap paper or drawing pictures in pencil and then rubbing them out, today's most prominent creators of children's books all started as children too, dreaming about being able to publish their own story.
Curated by author Aimee Chan, this unique and intimate collection highlights their early attempts at storytelling sure to inspire budding creatives.
Unley Libraries was thrilled to be the exclusive host of this exhibition in South Australia.
Author/Illustrator interviews
Leading up to the exhibition we have had the great opportunity to interview a few authors/illustrators.
Aimee Chan
Listen to an interview with Aimee Chan on ABC Adelaide with Nikolai Beilharz. Aimee talks about the Juvenilia Exhibition at Unley Civic Library and her own early creative efforts. Nikolai reads one of her first stories, Fairyland.
Andrea Rowe
Children's author, CBCA winner and May Gibbs Fellow, Andrea Rowe, visited Unley Libraries in the lead up to our Juvenilia Exhibition and talked about how she became an author. She was kind enough to bring in some of her juvenilia and share a story about a meeting and a moment that helped her become the amazing author she is.
Emma Bowd
Emma Bowd, author of Wonderful Shoes and This is My Happy Place dropped into Unley Libraries in the lead up to our Juvenilia Exhibition and had a great chat to Karyn about her early adventures in storytelling and how she became a children's author.
Dymocks Hyde Park
Caitlin from our Youth and Children's team visited Dymocks Hyde Park to find out some of the booksellers' favourite books from our Juvenilia Exhibition.
Authors & Illustrators Showcase
To celebrate the South Australian Launch of the national Juvenilia Exhibition, Unley Libraries is hosted a Creatives Showcase. We were honoured to host some of SA's best children's authors and illustrators including Janeen Brian, Katrina Germein, Danny Snell and more! They spoke about their creations from childhood, what it's like to be a published author/illustrator, the creative/publishing processes, and what they're working on now.
This was the perfect event for budding writers and artists, those looking to become published and families who value rich children's literature. This exhibition and showcase gave children and visitors a chance to explore material written and illustrated by some of their favourite creatives and learn the art of perseverance, self-belief, and connection to story.
Authors who attended the Showcase
Click here to view form.