A terrific initiative by WestWords (which provides literacy-enhancement opportunities to the people of Western Sydney) has enabled Crack-A-Story to participate in a series of publishing projects with primary and secondary schools. Crack-A-Story has overseen writing workshops that have helped students compile their own works for inclusion in limited edition books. Projects have included: One Word: Me & Us, Places in Time (Delany College & Xavier College—With thanks to Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese), and The Phoenix: Stories of Rebirth and Rejuvenation (Parramatta High School). Three further projects are currently underway in the Parramatta area.
These projects continue a line of similar undertakings that began in 2019-2020 when James collaborated with Watering Can Foundation (India) to workshop and publish a book Global Story Project which involved young people from Australia, India, USA, Burkina Faso, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Cambodia, Uganda, Ghana, and Argentina.
James has had a busy time visiting schools, primarily in Sydney, during the first half of 2024. The second half will be full of adventure! Thanks to WestWords, the schedule includes trips to rural New South Wales, including James’s former hometown, Gunnedah.
Spirit of the Warriors is a fiction book for upper primary and lower secondary readers. It is the first in a series in which sports narratives will promote multiculturalism. See here for more details.
