Afternoon Tea with Our Stars (ATWOS) 2025

Teacher Librarian Jan Pocock and her staff welcomed guests, both presenters and participants to this inaugural CBCA WA regional event at Lishman Library, Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School (BCGS).

Our stars were fourteen WA literary creatives; authors and illustrators of children’s and young adult stories who introduced themselves, presented current titles and shared insights into their writing worlds.

The audience was educated and entertained in a variety of ways – from Gabriel Evans drawings to Jasmine Berry’s Q & A chart, to Ash Harrier’s Ghostlings’ dolls, to the strong link between the setting of south West WA in nearly all of Deb Fitzpatrick’s books, to Dianne Wolfer’s whip (you had to be there!), to Sally Murphy’s analogy between brussels sprouts and poetry (yes, she displayed a bag of brussels sprouts purchased on the way to the event!) and even Cristy Burne’s op shop outfit which she had purchased due to washing, ironing and then leaving her clothes in Perth!

Some of the presenters were new to this type of event and all of them presented with a genuine love of their craft and were thankful for the opportunity to present to an audience represented by teachers, librarians, library technicians, primary and secondary students and interested literary folk.

Renée Treml, who recently moved to WA was presenting at her first event here. What we did learn from her was her erudite explanation of What is a thylacine? One of the new presenters commented that she loved watching and learning from the more experienced presenters. Quite a few had not met each other before. Jasmine Berry and Sally Barton were pleased to meet and share ideas and a signing table.

WA Branch President, Kris Williams made closing remarks, and the raffle prizes were drawn. The Branch thanks James Foley for two limited edition prints from his award-winning book Stellarphant. James shared a secret about nonfiction and fiction follow ups to this amazing work.​

The afternoon concluded with book sales from WA Branch supporting bookshop Dymocks Busselton. Thank you to Beth Herbert for this support. Presenters then had an opportunity for book signings, meeting audience members and having some photos taken by keen supporters. A delicious afternoon tea was served allowing networking opportunities to continue in a relaxed atmosphere.

Thank you to CBCA WA committee member Jan Nicholls, who worked with Jan Pocock and Beth Herbert to plan and manage ATWOS.

Thank you to committee members Denise Robins, Gail Spiers, Jenny Botje and Liz Allen who travelled from Perth and assisted with the smooth running of the afternoon, especially Denise who ably stepped up into the MC role when ill health prevented Jan from attending.

The event coincided with the beginning of National Volunteer Week 2025 under the theme Connecting Communities and linked beautifully as it helped us:
💛 connect WA creatives with readers and educators
💛 connect authors and illustrators in regional WA
💛 connect CBCA WA with an audience which promotes quality literature for children and young adults.

Liz Allen
CBCA WA committee