Only ten more minutes to register for Navigating Our Future, an event in partnership with @ArtsUnimelb and featuring Professors Larissa McLean Davies and Ken Gelder talking about the challenges of teaching literature to students during times of crisis. #mwfdigital https://twitter.com/MelbWritersFest/status/1293772487914790913

‘The sell-out of books by Indigenous writers in light of the recent Black Lives Matter protests says to us that as a community and public, we need to hear stories that haven’t been part of our education system.’ – @LarissaMcD1 #mwfdigital

‘The role of Australian literature in schools is therefore in helping us negotiate these crises, of helping us hear the stories of others, which we then take on as part of our own subjectivity and identity.’ – @LarissaMcD1 #mwfdigital

1/2 ‘The status of Australian literature in schools reflects the status of Australian literature for many years—it’s often been a fragile discipline...’ #mwfdigital

2/2 ‘…and part of that fragility comes from the strong arm of colonisation and how it imposes itself in some ways on our text selection.’ - @LarissaMcD1 #mwfdigital

‘We often say that an Australian writer has about as much chance of being set and taught in an Australian school as they have of winning the lottery.’ – Ken Gelder #mwfdigital

‘We need to pay attention to the fact young people are very concerned about climate change, they are very concerned about issues of race, issues of injustice.’ - @LarissaMcD1 #mwfdigital

‘We do need to think about developing new intertextual networks for English teachers that enable new Australian writing to be accessed in the classroom.’ - @LarissaMcD1 #mwfdigital

'Students should be able to be swept away by literature, but teachers sometimes have to provide the broom.' - Ken Gelder #mwfdigital

‘It’s really important to have professional development opportunities that recognise teachers are creating their own knowledge about text and teaching that to their student in local contexts.’ - @LarissaMcD1 #mwfdigital