UP COMING! We are very excited to have Australian educator and author Jacqueline Harvey speaking at our next webinar: Engaging Readers: a novel approach. If you haven't already registered, there is still time! As library professionals, we are often asking how do we make reading interesting and fun for all students and ensure that their teachers are engaging with books on a regular basis too?

ALIA Membership - Did you know??? Did you know that ALIA Schools webinars are free for ALIA members? If you are not already an ALIA member, now is a great time to sign up and reap the benefits!

The Australian Coalition for School Libraries (ACSL), the school library sector committee of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), has released four key policies to guide school leaders and school library staff. These nationally agreed statements provide guidance on the expectations for school library resourcing, activities and staffing across Australia.

Tell us about yourself. How did you end up becoming a librarian in a school? My path into school librarianship began more than 30 years ago as a primary classroom teacher, where I discovered a deep passion for nurturing young minds. Over the years, I held various leadership roles—from curriculum and literacy coordinator to deputy principal and acting principal. Each position was rewarding, but I found myself particularly drawn to the library, a space where my love of reading could intersect with my commitment to cultivating information literacy and curiosity in students.

Are there any current issues or challenges facing your library and how are you working to overcome them? Sustaining a love for reading in an era of instant gratification is the biggest challenge. In today’s fast-paced, digital world, fostering a love for reading and helping students build reading stamina can be challenging.

I love libraries because… The library remains the heart of our school—a vibrant hub for learning, growth, and connection. It’s here that we immerse ourselves in literature, embark on research journeys, and engage in endless intellectual adventures, side by side. I love libraries for their unique blend of formality and warmth. They provide a space where we can find both quiet refuge and meaningful connection—a sanctuary to pause, reflect, and feel at ease. Libraries offer more than just books; they provide resources, music, and all the essentials for people to work, play, and grow.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Holden Sheppard and I’m a writer. I mostly write full-length novels, which are my bread-and-butter: my thee published novels are Invisible Boys (2019) and The Brink (2022) and the King of Dirt (June, 2025). My books are raw, gritty, upper Young Adult contemporary fiction, although the reality is most of the people who read them are actually adults. Everyone can relate to the awkward, coming-of-age teenage years. My characters are mostly – although not only – young men, grappling with issues of sexuality, masculinity, identity, mental health and love.

What is your favorite part of being a storyteller? I get to make things up for a living! There aren’t many jobs where you can literally make an art form of writing things down that never happened. I’ve had a creative, slightly hyper brain since I was a little kid so it’s a good outlet for me. I get sick if I don’t write. I am a very high energy kinda guy, so people sometimes assume I love the social media promotion and touring side of the author career the most. I do love mucking around on the socials, and getting to meet readers and answer their questions at events, but I’m also more introverted than I look. So, my honest favourite part of being a storyteller is the part where I’m sitting alone at my desk in my home office drafting or editing a new manuscript. Sunlight beaming through the window, some rock music playing on Spotify, a can of Monster Energy beside me, and writing a story. It’s the best.

Where do you write? I almost always write in my home office, as mentioned above. It’s essentially a shrine to the Collingwood Football Club – big expensive footy memorabilia on the walls and posters from our 2023 Premiership win – and it happens to have my desk in it. I do occasionally write at a café with my writing group, but I am typically distracted and way less productive in public. I know some writers prefer writing outside or in public or in a group or workshop setting, but being in any situation where I’m expected to produce creative writing with people around me usually stresses me out. I do my best writing and thinking when I’m chill and peaceful at home.

Assuming you were a big reader as a child, what was your favourite book as a child? I was an absolute menace of a reader from the age of about three, if you can believe it. Even before I could read, I would walk around constantly asking questions of my parents and siblings – I always just wanted to know more information, more answers, more ideas, more knowledge. I’m the fifth kid of six, so my family went around calling me “number 5”, not just because of my birth order, but after a robot in a 1980s movie called Short Circuit, who always wanted more input! So, yes, big reader as a kid. I inhaled lots of Enid Blyton, Emily Rodda, Geoffrey McSkimming, Donold J. Sobol, and then when I was older, JK Rowling and John Marsden. I loved Tintin comics so much it’s the reason I later went to France and went to uni to study French. But maybe my favourite books as a kid were those Usborne Puzzle Adventures, where you had to solve a mystery or puzzle or work out a clue before you could turn the page. I loved getting those from the library as a kid. The first one I read was on a stormy night when I was seven – it was Danger at Demon’s Cove by Karen Dolby – so I think for that reason, it’s maybe my favourite. Although Green for Danger by Emily Rodda in the Teen Power Inc series might be even with it. I’m Italian and I’d never read a book with a wog boy character in it like Nick Kontellis, who was Greek – so I really related.

What’s coming down the pipeline for you? 2025 is shaping up to be a big year. The ten-episode television series adaptation of my first novel Invisible Boys premiered on Stan Australia. This has been incredibly exciting. I have also my third novel King of Dirt being released in June. It’s a story of a delayed coming of age, and a redemption, and learning to open yourself up to love again after you’ve been hurt and abandoned. It’s one of the most raw things I’ve ever written, and it’s also my first novel for adults. And after that, I’ll be editing my fourth novel, which is a sequel to Invisible Boys. No rest for the wicked!