Stella Schools – Story Sessions: Sydney
Meet the storytellers shaping Australia’s literary future: an exclusive opportunity for highschoolers to meet Stella Prizelisted authors
Date: Tuesday, 10 November 2026
Time: 10am-2pm
Location: The University of Sydney, Camperdown/Darlington Campus
Tickets: Available here, through Humanitix. This event is FREE to attend, but bookings are essential.
Join Stella for a FREE one-day literary educational event, where secondary school students can hear directly from critically acclaimed women and non-binary authors as they discuss their books, writing processes, inspirations and careers.
These sessions offer a unique opportunity for students to deepen their literary understanding, explore future possibilities, and connect with the ideas at the forefront of contemporary Australian literature. They will facilitate conversations that spark literacy: curiosity, creativity and critical thinking.
Interactive Q&A sessions will encourage active participation in English by prompting students to ask questions, and deepen their understanding through rich discussion of themes, characters and the big ideas in the year’s most excellent Australian books.
The event is suitable for highschoolers of all age groups, with a particular focus on years 9-10.
This event includes FREE book packs for teachers to take back to their school libraries. Each pack contains a showbag of books from the featured Stellalisted authors, plus additional resources and material.
Speakers
Mandy Ord is a Naarm/Melbourne based cartoonist whose illustrated book Chalk Boy (A&U) written by Margaret Wild was shortlisted in 2019 by the CBCA for Picture Book of the Year. Her book When One Person Dies The Whole World is Over (Brow Books) was longlisted for The Stella Prize in 2020. She is also the author of Rooftops, Sensitive Creatures, Bulk Nuts and Sassy.
Sophie Gee is Professor of English at Princeton University, and co-host of the Secret Life of Books, a much-loved and internationally acclaimed podcast about classic literature. Her most recent book is The Barbarous Feast: Eating and Writing in the Eighteenth-Century World, about how eating rituals across the eighteenth-century globe reveal an untold story about the rise of the novel She lives between New York and Sydney. From 2024-25 she was the inaugural Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Sydney, and now co-leads the Eleos Collaboration in the Humanities. This program focuses on the arts and humanities as foundational to the purpose and value of universities. Sophie speaks worldwide at arts and literary festivals about why books and humanities matter.
Michaela Kalowski is an interviewer, moderator & curator for writers and ideas festivals. Highlight interviews include Margaret Atwood, Tim Winton, Zadie Smith, Mieko Kawakami & Stan Grant. For five years she curated Big Weekend of Books, ABC RN’s annual on-air writers festival. She’s presented programs and conducted interviews across ABC Radio & TV.
Jumaana Abdu is the author of Translations (Vintage) which was shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the MUD Literary Prize, and a NSW Premier’s Literary Award. She was named SMH Best Young Novelist in 2025 and her widely published fiction and essays have been awarded internationally. During the day, she is a medical doctor
Rawah Arja is an acclaimed writer and teacher from Western Sydney. Her first YA book, The F Team, was published by Giramondo and has been shortlisted for many awards including the Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult Literature as well as for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Her writing has featured in Second City: Essays From Western Sydney, Arab, Australian, Other, SBS Voices and at the Sydney and Melbourne Writer’s Festival. She currently teaches creative writing workshops around Australia.
This event includes three one-hour talks designed to mirror school timetables and class length.
Talks include
- Author in conversation with a moderator, and book readings
- Critical conversations about the themes, characters and stories in the year’s Stella-listed titles
- Insights into writing and related careers and pathways
- Open forums for students to ask questions and engage in discussion
Event Schedule
- 9.50am – Doors open, registrations begin
- 10am – Session 1: Mandy Ord in conversation Sophie Gee
- 11am – Morning tea break
- 11.30am – Session 2: Santilla Chingaipe in conversation with Michaela Kalowski
- 12.30pm – Lunch break
- 1pm – Session 3: Juumana Abdu in conversation with Rawah Arja
- 2pm – Event ends
Accessibility and Venue
Please refer to the ticketing site for further information about getting to the venue, and FAQ’s about this event.
This program is proudly supported by:
Explore the latest from Stella Schools
Stella Online Literature Club 2026 Empathy, Expression, and Engagement with Women and Non-binary Literature “Stella has opened up a new world of …
Help change the story
As a not-for-profit organisation with ambitious goals, Stella relies on the generous support of donors to help fund our work.
Every donation is important to us and allows Stella to continue its role as the leading voice for gender equality and cultural change in Australian literature.
Stella is a not-for-profit organisation with DGR status. All donations of $2 or more are tax-deductible.
