Oliver+Phommavanh

Oliver Phommavanh is a Sydney boy and proud to be a Westie. He is from a Thai Aussie family and was a teacher before breaking out as a stand up comic and a children's author. Oliver got turned on to reading by Morris Gleitzman, Paul Jennings and Andy Griffiths. He claims to have stalked Andy for two years - not really! Thai-Riffic! is just a story put together by listing the 200 most embarrassing things his parents ever did to him, apparently. Con-Nerd is out soon so we'll have to wait and see what it holds. Oliver also does writing workshops with kids from 9 to 15.

Oliver took the stage with Richard Newsome in a session called Mates Mayhem, with Josh Earl (comedian AND librarian) asking the questions and adding to the humour. Coming an hour or so after some very feisty words from Lili Wilkinson about the gender imbalance in publishing (she was speaking against the received wisdom that a female main character limits a book's appeal in comparision to a male protagonist) these guys really had some fun with the topic in a self-deprecating but hilarious way. Arriving on stage on a scooter, Oliver did a lap and proceeded to hit his head on the big screen - ouch! Before the end of his session he had convinced award winning author Leanne Hall to plank right on the stage (he had a table specially prepared but she wimped and just lay on the floor for a few seconds).

Anyway, the boys all put up a brave face, reclaiming the term "sausage fest" (you had to be there, really) and tried to look like a truly testoserone charged lineup. Then Oliver started talking through his soft toy friends who were in abundance on the desk.

Both authors felt that for the young boys who read their books friendship and adventure are the important features of the stories - although coming into lots of money also has some appeal. Oliver thinks that "school is just like one big virtual facebook type place", which put 'the social network' back in perspective.

Oliver tweets here @oliverwinfree and blogs at Free as a Word

Website: http://www.oliverwriter.com/

Images:

http://www.indies.com.au/IndiesAdmin/ObjectLibrary/16052011095241.bmp

http://www.oliverwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/thai-rifficcover.jpg

http://www.oliverwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/9780143304869.jpg