Treehouse author to bring ‘wild rumpus’ to Wodonga

One of Australia’s most popular children’s authors, Andy Griffiths, will take the city’s children on a wild adventure when he visits Wodonga, this Sunday, February 11, as part of the Juvenilia exhibition.

“I’ll be speaking about the exhibition and sharing some of my earliest pieces of writing,” Andy said.

“The thing I love about speaking to my readers is that there’s no predicting what questions they might ask, where the conversation might go or what weird and amusing rabbit holes we may lead each other down.  

“Talking to and being silly with kids is as much a part of the writing process for me as the actual writing and enormously important in helping me to know where they’re at and what they’d like to read next. 

“Let the wild rumpus begin!”

Developed by local author and illustrator Aimee Chan, Juvenilia showcases the rare and very personal childhood works of well-known Australian children's authors and illustrators including Andy Griffiths, Graeme Base, Alison Lester, Ursula Dubosarsky and Danny Katz.    

Visitors can play Graeme Base’s game Worm Haven (developed when he was just nine years old), joke around in the Andy Griffiths Just Tricking Treehouse and dream big in this delightful exhibition.   

Aimee said she was is looking forward to bringing Juvenilia to a familiar audience.

“I’m the most excited about this iteration of Juvenilia,” she said.

“It’s been to several different locations but this is the one I’m really, really excited about because I wanted to bring this back to my local community.”

The exhibit will offer a look into the early creative thinking of the featured authors and illustrators. 

“I think it gives a really unique insight into some of the ways in which some of these creative minds work, in a really intimate way,” Aimee said. 

“You’re seeing things that they were drawing when they were seven, eight, nine or 10 years old, things that have been treasured.

“We want to show you that we were little kids too, we all started somewhere and you can dream big.

“Whatever it is that you want to be, you can do it because we all started from the same place as you.”

Andy will be conducting an author talk from 10.30am to 11am at The Cube Wodonga Courtyard / Community Studio, followed by a book signing from 11am to 12pm at Playspace Gallery.

In conjunction with Terry Denton, Andy Griffiths has sold more than 10 million books and won 80 children’s choice awards. Their much-loved Treehouse Series has been embraced by children around the world and is now published in more than 35 countries. 

A selection of books will be available for purchase.

Junvenilia runs from Friday, February 9, to May 5.