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His novel
Snigger James On Grey was highly praised when it appeared in 2000 and was
cited as a "Notable Book" in the CBC awards.
It is a lyrical novel set in contemporary Australia
but with many yarns of another, older Australia long
gone , a place of farms and hard yakka. The observations
of teenage life and teenage problems are wry and pointed
and the awkwardness of friendships under pressure
is well detailed.
Set in the Queensland of 1876, is an unsettling
account of the disbursement of "troublesome blacks"
by the Queensland Native Police. Titled Poison Under Their Lips, it is the story of Arthur
Wilbraham, a young well educated and idealistic Christian
who comes from South Australia to the new Colony of
Queensland to help save the natives.
Rat Face and Snake-Eyes was a CBC Notable Book in 2004. A reward is offered for live pythons, used to eat the plague of rats. Snake-eyes and his gang become snake catchers. The gang uncover a smuggling operation and fight to have it exposed.
Circus Carnivore
is a wonderful book full of nonsense prose
guaranteed to delight young and old. It features beautiful illustrations by Ben Redlich.
His previous work was Shadow Snake published
in mid-2004. It wasn't the boy's idea to go camping down the creek, but Pud's dad insisted. If only he had known what was out there and what fear the night would bring.
 Mark's most recent work is the picture book Kestrel, illustrated by Steven Woolman & Laura Peterson.
Mark says: "Kestrel is based on a story Val told about his father and their next door neighbour, a young boy named Malcolm Jones. Malcolm wanted a dinghy to go crabbing and fishing in Gladstone harbour in Central Queensland. Malcolms father wouldnt let him have a boat and so Vals fathers subterfuge was born as he and Malcolm built the boat together in secret as a present, for a boy for his birthday."
www.marksvendsen.com
www.lothian.com.au
Mark Svendsen specialises in workshops aimed at enhancing the teaching of writing narratives. These workshops guide teachers through a series of hands-on, classroom-level techniques aimed at ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’ written narratives with particular emphasis on editing student work.
As the following testimonials attest, Mark’s Professional Development workshops are always very well received. |
