Schools and Students

As a participatory storytelling activity of the Melbourne Writer’s Festival School’s Program, HOIST hangs out the stories and suburban tales from the younger generation. In the classroom, a book or idea based on life in the Australian Suburbs is read or discussed between Teacher and Class prompting students to write about life in the Australian Suburbs.

On a Melbourne Writer’s Festival excursion, the class take their stories to the HOIST at Federation Square. The class is greeted by the HOIST attendant who encourages each student to read aloud their stories to NYID’s interactive touch screen-camera. The stories are recorded, stored and retrieved like memories on this website. They can be watched at home or at school. The attendant assists the class in pegging their stories onto the HOIST for others to see, read and enjoy.

Some of the stories will be screened on Federation Square’s Big Screen over the course of the Festival. HOIST provides the student with an artistic connection to the Melbourne Writers Festival, linking the Adult and Schools program through writing, storytelling and ideas.

Possible linked reading include- Shaun Tan’s Tales from Outer Suburbia or Alice Pung's Growing up Asian in Australia. Suggested written text for students 100 - 500 words.