PUBLIC TALKS & WORKSHOPS 2026
April
Brisbane and Gold Coast school tour week to celebrate the launch of Raised By Wolves
May
5 May Raised By Wolves released! 🎉 📚
Perth, Adelaide and Canberra schools tour.
7 May Adelaide Book Launch – Shakespeare’s Bookshop 6-7.30pm. Bookings and Info Here
9 May ALIA Schools Online Webinar, 10.30am – Developing Readers and Writers Through Engaging Literature. Contact ALIA for details.
9 May Book signing at Paper Bird bookshop, Fremantle, WA, Midday!
18 May Your Kid’s Next Read Online Launch Event. Available to all. Book your free ticket now!
24 May Sydney Writers’ Festival Family Day Panel with authors Sue whiting and Suzanne Leal. Bookings and Info Here
25 / 26 May Sydney Writers Festival Secondary Schools Days. Bookings and Info Here
27 May Canberra Book Launch Canberra Grammar School / Canberra Writers Fest Bookings and Info Here
June
4 June The Book Room, Byron Bay. Raised By Wolves launch. Bookings essential here.
July
20 July
GC / Brisbane schools tour week.
20 July Brisbane Raised By Wolves Launch PLUS Carla Salmon We Did It Anyway Launch at Brisbane Grammar School STEAM Atrium 6pm. MC: Sally Wilson from Brisbane Writers Festival. Bookings and Info via Where the Wild Things Are bookshop here.
23-24 July Storyfest West Moreton (Ipswich, QLD)
Tickets and event details here!
August
Sydney and Melbourne schools tour.
Sunday 16 August Byron Writers Festival – Sunday Kids Program and ‘The Reading Crisis’ panel. Details and Booking
12 August 6.30pm, Melbourne event. Public Double Book Launch With Felice Arena at Scotch College! Register Interest Now. Ticket link soon.
17 August Online Multi-School Author Talk Event. Details below. Enquire now through Booked Out!
Book Week, Monday 24 August ‘Meet the Author’ Event Stanton Library North Sydney 4.30-5.30pm. Details and Bookings
Book Week, Thursday 27 August Sydney Teacher-Librarian event at Gleebooks, 6pm. Email to register interest and for more details.
In-Person and Online Talks
One of the best parts of my job as an author for children and teens is speaking about storytelling and creativity at festivals, conferences, bookshops and schools, hopefully inspiring kids, teens and adults to read and create. These sessions are bookable through my speaking agents below. You can also scroll down for my event calendar.
Speakers’ Agency Contacts
QLD
To check my availability for Queensland-based school and library talks you can email Tamara at Speakers Ink. My Speakers Ink page is here.
All Other States
For information and availability on visits in all other Australian states school and library talks, just email Booked Out or see my Booked Out page here.
International
For information and availability on international school and library talks and workshops, here’s the best email address.
Young Writers’ StorySchool
Young Writers’ StorySchool is my new online video writing masterclass program for students aged 9-13. It is 24 x 3-4-minute videos to supercharge the writing process in the classroom with comprehensive teachers’ notes. Like having an author in the classroom all year round. See the trailer above and the first video lesson at www.youngwritersstoryschool.com.
Live Online and Recorded Video Talks
Here is a two-minute trailer for my live online events and recorded video talks. The recorded talks are personalised for each school and are available to stream for two weeks, providing flexible delivery, which particularly seems to appeal to high schools.
Feedback From Schools (I promise I didn’t write these myself. 😉
I wanted to say thank you for your assistance in organising our online guest speaker session with Tristan Bancks at Mount Beauty Secondary College. His session was brilliant – all teaching staff and Year 7 students involved were very thankful and really found his session extremely worthwhile. Tristan relates in such an engaging and energetic manner with the students due to his relatable nature with adolescents, his array of visuals and movie clips, along with his experiences as a published author and animator/movie maker. I had many Year 7 students tell me how impressed they were, and how much better the session was compared to their expectations. It was certainly inspiring for them, and the English teaching staff involved with the session found Tristan’s authorial experiences really worthwhile in discovering other creative writing activities and strategies. Please find attached an article published in our local newspaper, The Alpine Observer, recounting our great experience. – Anthony Brewergray, Mt Beauty Secondary College
Tristan was marvellous and the kids loved him working with them. His presentation to our entire Year 7 cohort was interesting, funny and informative. After this session, the conversation amongst the students related to reading, getting hold of Tristan’s books etc and this was perfect as we were just launching our Term 3 Reading Challenge.
His Writers Bootcamp over two lessons was brilliant. The students’ responded very positively and his sneak peak of Chapter 1 of his new novel had all of us ready to queue up for this book when it’s finally published.
Feedback was most positive and I’d not hesitate to book Tristan again. Students particularly liked how Tristan utilised technology in the stages of his writing.
It was truly a great experience seeing Tristan work with the kids. All positives and no regrets.
– Bray Park State High School
I thought Tristan was fantastic. If I was a kid I would want to read all of his books. He really appealed to kids in a contemporary manner, talking about electronic devices and how he uses them to help his writing. I thought that his idea of writing and taking pictures outdoors to develop character and setting could be easily transferred to the our writing lessons.
—A. Barnett, Teacher Librarian, Mentone Grammar
The English department teachers, Deputy Principal and students involved were extremely impressed with Tristan Bancks and his author session. He was energetic and engaging with young adolescents and very creative and humorous in his approach to writing. The use of interactive media with video and sound was outstanding and catered to a range of learners particularly the male students. We were pleased that Tristan’s passion for writing was passed onto our students and assisted in their assessment task. Tristan also provided excellent resources for students and teachers to use in the classroom and was very willing to assist teachers with further resources and materials from his website. After the session we immediately purchased class sets of two of his novels for our Year 7 and 9 English students for next semester.
– Merrimac State High School
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Wow, such an excellent example of how a Virtual session can be engaging – everyone loved it. I want to read your books now. You were clear and your presentation was such a high quality. I even had tears in my eyes at your ability to engage kids in the reading and writing and what that can mean in a broader sense. Just brilliant.
– Caroline Clarke, Regional Virtual Learning Coach, North-Eastern Victoria Region
We had a fabulous visit with Tristan. I knew he would be good and I was not disappointed. One thing that particularly impressed me was how he was able to tailor his address to each group – he didn’t just repeat the same material. He was very engaging and the feedback from staff and students has been extremely positive.
– Saint Stephen’s College
Tristan was fantastic. The boys loved listening to and working with him. Teachers also gained new ideas to use with the boys. The handouts Tristan emailed for teachers were very well received. The boys were so inspired we sold $800 worth of Tristan’s books! Was very worthwhile.
– The Southport School
Tristan was amazing!
The feedback from students and teachers was overwhelming – everyone loved his sessions. He kept the students enthralled and has inspired them to read and to write.
He is extremely personable, interesting and funny – I can’t wait to have him back here again!
– Sheldon College
Just a quick note to say thank you so much for being our third Writer in Residence. Your enthusiasm, professionalism, and generosity were remarkable, and are much appreciated. I was particularly impressed by the ease with which you worked with a wide variety of participants, from preschoolers to professors.
Dr Elizabeth Hale, Senior Lecturer in English & Writing, University of New England
