Writers on Writing is our regular conversation with a writer or industry professional about the writing craft, industry insights, and their own practice. This week, we spoke to children’s author and comedian Oliver Phommavanh about how he writes funny stories, ahead of his workshop Funny Kids Business: Writing Humour for Children on 1 June 2024.
How did you get into writing funny children’s books?
I always wanted to get into comedy writing. I was doing a lot of stand-up comedy and pursued writing sketch comedy for TV. But then I became a primary school teacher and realised that I was still a big kid myself and had a crack at writing funny stories for children and I haven’t looked back since then.
Do you need to have a funny bone in order to write funny stories?
It helps, but all you need to write funny stories is to work out what makes you laugh. There are so many varieties of comedy, so once you discover what kind you enjoy, then you can use that as a springboard to write your own.
Is it possible to make a living as a children’s author?
You can make a living out of it, but only a few authors can do it based on their books alone. However, children’s authors are lucky that we have different avenues complementary to our writing, from visiting schools as an author to doing writing workshops for kids and adults. I am thankful that I can use my school teaching experience to carve out a niche as an engaging educator on top of being a children’s author.
Who are some of your favourite funny children’s authors we should be reading? Other than yourself of course!
My favourite current funny authors are R.A Spratt (Nanny Piggins series), Kate and Jol Temple (Bin Chicken series), and I recently enjoyed The Rocket-Powered Racing Caravan by C.E Hayes. I’m also still a fan of my idols, Andy Griffiths and Morris Gleitzman, who are still writing some wonderfully funny books.
Oliver Phommavanh is an author and comedian, who uses his experience as a primary school teacher to inspire kids to write funny stories. His many books include Thai-riffic!, The Other Christy and What About Thao. Oliver’s new book, Sneakerheads will be released later this year.
Enrol now in Funny Kids Business: Writing Humour for Children with Oliver Phommavanh, on Saturday 1 June 2024, 10 am – 4 pm at Writing NSW, Lilyfield.
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