JOHN LARKIN

AUTHOR

John Larkin grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and became a writer in spite of - or perhaps because of - the fact that when he was in Year 10, he was in the second lowest English class along with people who still referred to verbs as 'doing' words. However, he left school at 16 to play professional soccer for the National League, Blacktown City. He eventually gave up at 22 to become a writer because he felt that chasing a bag of air around a field was an incredibly silly way to make a living.

At various stages of his writing career, John has supported his habit by working as a trolley boy, factory hand, forklift driver and computer programmer. He has a BA in English Literature and an MA in Creative Writing from Macquarie University. John hates gardening and yapping dogs and is the worst handyman on the face of the planet. He now writes full-time and his ambition is to retire to a lighthouse in Ireland….where he just been researching another book !

John has published a number of books for the young adult market including Spaghetti Legs, Pizza Features, Ghost Byte, Growing Payne and Cyber Payne. He has also released a generation X novel entitled Deja Vu and a collection of short stories, Bite Me!

For the primary market he has written a hilarious series of four novels about soccer - The Western Wildcats - suitable for 8 -12 year olds, with titles like Gazza's Gone and Western Wildcats Suck! His screenplay 'Friends with Potential' has been signed by an independent film maker and is currently in the pre-production phase.

John is available for talks and workshops for primary and high school students and is especially popular for his stand-up comic approach to his sessions. He also enjoys talking to teachers and librarians. He has been a speaker at the Brisbane Writers' Festival and at the CBC one-day conference in NSW and he has twice been invited to take part in the 'English is for Boys' program organised by the Powerhouse Museum. One class commented about John's visit, 'Cool! Really enjoyed it', and teachers have said,

Feedback:
"His gentle way with the students was fantastic. They, in turn, trusted him and were willing participants in the activities. He is more than welcome back next year!"
Geelong Grammar School

"'John engaged the students with shock tactics - he aimed to jolt them into thinking outside their individual worlds' ...'very, very funny, outrageous - pushing the boundaries and giving them plenty of food for thought'." - Lateral Learning Agency