Exhibition inspires with renowned Australian authors and illustrators' childhood creations

“It’s terrible, awful, self-indulgent garbage.”

That’s how Albury-based children’s author Aimee Chan described The Communal Biscuit – a memoir she wrote as a teenager – at the recent launch of her exhibition, Juvenilia.

Juvenilia features over 100 childhood works of some of Australia’s best-loved children’s authors and illustrators, including Andy Griffiths, Alison Lester, and Graeme Base.

“This collection is an insight into the early creative writing and drawing of some of Australia’s most established authors and illustrators,” said Aimee.

“It’s inspiring for kids to see that everyone starts at the same place.

“We are not born best-selling authors. Nobody’s born with The Magic Beach or the 13-Storey Treehouse. These stories come because you’ve spent a lifetime honing your craft.”

Aimee wrote The Communual Biscuits on foolscap paper with binder holes in the side. It is on display in Juvenilia.

“I used to carry that story with me everywhere. I would write it between classes and on the tram,” Aimee said.

“It was meant to be the real inside story of what it’s like to be a teenager.

“At the time, it was my most important piece of writing.”

When the exhibition curator pulled it out to read her work last year, she found it “mortifying”.

“Even now, when I look at it, I have to use all my self-control not to pull it out of the exhibition.

“But it’s there to show that you need to go through the process of writing the bad stories to get to the good ones.”

One of the oldest items in the collection is a book created by Alison Lester. Stapled together and written in fountain pen, it’s a “clear rip-off of an Enid Blyton Mallory Towers boarding school book”.

“Part of what I like about that story is it shows that plagiarism is a normal part of the process,” Amiee said.

“The fact that kids are directly copying their literary heroes is something to be celebrated because they’re reading and writing and trying and learning.”

The mother of one said she was pleasantly surprised to see how much people had fallen in love with the exhibition.

“There are people who follow the exhibition around. Every time I relaunch, they will follow me from town to town because they love seeing the pieces,” Aimee said.

“It touches the nerve with people remembering that sense of vulnerability, dreaming, hoping, and wishing to become published.

“Children are engaged with the exhibit. They can see themselves in it, and they recognise that we’re showing them a vulnerable side of ourselves, the side that is full of mistakes, unoriginal ideas and unpolished words.”

When asked about the exhibition’s long-term impact on the next generation of writers and illustrators, Aimee said it could foster a new wave of writers and illustrators who could continue to create and engage with their communities and mentor future talents.

“It’s a deliberate decision by me to tour in regional communities rather than in major east coast cities,” Aimee said.

“We are looking for funding support to continue into 2025.

“If people believe in the exhibition, they can advocate it to another library.”

Aimee has also been delighted by how much parents, teachers, and librarians have enjoyed the exhibition.

“It’s been far more intergenerational than I expected. I didn’t expect to see so many adults fall in love with the exhibition.”

Over the past two years, Juvenilia has toured literary festivals, libraries, and galleries in Victoria, NSW, South Australia, and the ACT.

It will remain at Holbrook throughout September then move to Culcairn Library, where it will open on Friday 4 October. Holbrook Library is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5 pm.

The exhibition is free to view. For more information, visit the Riverina Regional Library or call Holbrook Library on 02 6036 0100.