The power of writing and reading

“I'm inspired by a curiosity to know things about the world.”

Author Catherine McKinnon is discussing the inspiration behind her writing journey and new book To Sing of War which explores themes of war and peace, ahead of International Literacy Day on 8 September.

To Sing of War, released this year, captures the life of a young Australian nurse meeting her first love during a time of war, sacrifices and death.

^{Associate Professor Catherine McKinnon's latest book, To Sing of War.}

Associate Professor McKinnon, Co-director of the Centre for Critical Creative Practice at University of Wollongong looks at books as an opportunity to learn from and a way to understand the world around her. 

“Many years ago, I read Damned Whores and God’s Police, by theorist Anne Summers, and I learnt from it the ways in which the idea of what it means to be a ‘woman’ is something constructed. From If This is a Man by Primo Levi, I learnt much about the cruelty and complexity of being human,” Ms McKinnon said.

Ms McKinnon said her curiosity and good and bad around her is what inspires her to keep writing. 

“People. Life. The planet. The wonder of being here on this earth. The atrocities that occur. The injustice of particular events. The cruelty of people, of systems. The funny misunderstandings. Love. Writing is a way to understand what has happened, what is happening, what will happen; I'm inspired by a curiosity to know things about the world,” she said.

This year, International Literacy Day focuses on ‘Promoting multilingual education: Literacy for mutual understanding and peace’.

International Literacy Day has been celebrated since 1967 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which believes literacy is a fundamental right for all.

Learning comes with various challenges and although literacy is essential, literature plays a big part to engage the learners during their practice.  

Author and University of Wollongong Associate Professor in Creative Writing Shady Cosgrove reads to empathise with others and believes connection is the key to literacy.

“We read/internalise another's words and they inspire our imagination to take us to places beyond our experience. This connection is profound, it can lay the foundation for profound empathy and promote literacy through connection,” Ms Cosgrove said.

^{Associate Professor Shady Cosgrove's latest poem collection, Flight.}

Author Cosgrove launched a new poem collection called Flight focusing on “both the profound and the banal”.

“I see these poems as small meditations … I suppose I’m interested in those small moments when we realise we’re alive,” Ms Cosgrove said.

Hayley Scrivenor, author of Dirt Town and Girl Falling, and a University of Wollongong graduate, said stories led readers to be curious and read more. 

^{Author Hayley Scrivenor. Credit: Emma Leigh Elder-Meldrum.}

“We remember things better when they are put into a narrative, and I believe the complexity that we are now able to hold in our heads, as both readers and writers, is a testament to the fact that it feels pleasurable to get information this way,”

“I remember reading The Hobbit when I was too young for it, probably. I was determined to persevere through words I didn't know to get to the good stuff,” she said.