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' I was greatly honoured to give the Garth Boomer address in 2020. I had sat and listened to it a number of times in what now seems a peculiar luxury - a real seat in a real auditorium, surrounded by my fellow human beings, with that special conference camaraderie and joie de vivre when like-minded people collectively celebrate a very special occasion. In the strange year 2020, I 'spoke' at the superbly organised online event, the combined AATE and IFTE conference - so we made history, it being the first 'virtual' address. I write in the spirit of a 'talk', a set of rhetorical flourishes where to quote literature is as important as any statistic. I very much felt I was in Sydney in spirit and that the sense of community and celebration were still there - and Garth's spirit was surely there too, enlivening us all.' (Publication abstract)
'This IFTE edition of Reading and Viewing reflects the authors' presentation at the AATE/IFTE 2020 conference as part of the panel 'Inspiring Teenagers' Reading Lives'. Many of the texts mentioned in this column are newer texts that will find their way into students' lives; others are familiar texts that have already resonated in many classrooms. Australian texts and texts from other parts of the world are well represented. There are multimodal texts, novels, plays, poetry and non-fiction. The presentation for the AATE/IFTE 2020 Conference focused on the vital importance of encouraging students to see themselves as readers and on the benefits that reading can bring. Texts referred to are often grouped together to promote a diversity of representations and to support student choice and wide reading.' (Publication abstract)
