From a young gun footy player named Specky Magee to a fearless young French boy named Frederic, Aussie children's author Felice Arena has been dazzling his readers with vivid characters and storytelling for decades.
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The actor-turned-author will be inspiring Griffith's schoolchildren to be their best creative selves when he drops by Griffith City Library for three days as part of Book Week 2022.
The Specky Magee co-author said his presentations will fuse conventional storytelling with interactive theatre improv activities.
He also said his book characters and settings will be brought to life with audience participation.
"We might bring Specky Magee to life with slow motion speckies, or we might even bring my history novels to life," he said.
Mr Arena said the presentations will also feature multimedia showcasing the research he did for his historical novels, like Fearless Frederic and The Unstoppable Flying Flanagan.
Mr Arena, who grew up in Kyabram in country Victoria, said he wanted his presentations to inspire country kids.
"I want to show kids to only fall in love with stories and books, but to show them they can go a long way and that they aren't limited by growing up in the country," he said.
"It's an advantage in a lot of ways, because you learn to be resourceful."
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Mr Arena also said he hadn't visited Griffith since he was a child and that he was excited to finally return.
"I've always wanted to get back to the country, because I was a country kid and I know how we sometimes missed out by not being in the city," he explained.
"Regional kids need to see there are wonderful opportunities out in the world."
The award-winning author also said his performances weren't just for the kids, but were also made for older audiences too.
"There's a little something for everyone, including the adults," he said. "I've often found teachers will come up and say 'Gee, I learned something in that presentation as well!'.
"These are high energy presentations to not only get the kids excited about books, but to also bring the characters to life.
"Hopefully they will be entertained, informed and inspired to create, write and fall in love with books, if they haven't already."
Felice Arena will be visiting the Griffith City Library on Monday 8, Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 August.
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