The Day I Met Melina Marchetta!

On the 12th of September, I got to meet the one and only, Melina Marchetta! Not only is she amazing (and Australian!) but she is one of my favourite authors. Melina has been touring a lot recently, in the US and Australia, but here’s a recap of what went down, for those of you who are interested!

When Melina arrived, we were all ready and raring to go. Melina covered a wide range of topics; she talked about Looking for Alibrandi and how it was the start of a wonderful journey. For a while, she thought that maybe she was going to be a one hit wonder (not a chance!) but at least her debut had been so well received. Though it took a while for her to write book two, 11 years later, in 2003, Saving Francesca released! She also talked about her first ever research trip to Europe which she went on for Froi of the Exiles. It’s not enough for her to just see pictures of a place and to imagine it, not when the setting she wanted to write about was half way across globe. Whilst she was there she travelled to caves, went exploring every day and then came back to her hotel and put pen to paper, capturing what she had seen that day. Melina also mentioned that she has been working on the script for On the Jellicoe Road for years, perfecting it and making sure that it’s the best it can be, nothing less. Melina revealed that they have approached an actor to play Taylor, but there’s still a long road ahead and that’s all the information she can tell us at the moment.

After answering questions from the crowd, Melina then signed our books. She was lovely and chatted with each and every one of us, even if it was only was for a minute as she had a long line to get through. When it was my turn, I mumbled a sentence or two, said that On the Jellicoe Road is amazing and my favourite of her books. I almost passed out from excitement so I call that a success! ;D

After the book signing, a group of us Perth bloggers grabbed dinner at Grill’d where we continued to squeal and chat. Thank goodness for the loud atmosphere because we were pretty rowdy and at one point, got into a heated discussion over who was Team Dimitri and who was Team Adrian (personally, I’m Team Dimitri all the way!).


From left to right: Hannah @ The Girl in a Cafe, Clair @ Claire Reads, Nicole who guest posts for Claire, Me, Amy @ Following the Reader, Jess @ The Tales Compendium and Taneika @ Flipping Through the Pages

This event would not have been possible without Melina Marchetta, Perth YA Fans Unite and the wonderful Subiaco library! If you’re YA fan and want to help bring more authors to Perth, make sure you head on over to sign the petition and like us on Facebook.