JB Rowley    

storyteller and author

In January 2011 my story The Flowerdale Tattoo, which arose from my experiences with the Victorian communities  affected by the devastating bushfires on February 7^th 2009, was one of the two winners in the ABC ‘Hope 2011- stories that must be told’ competition.

The prize was a return flight to Sydney with overnight accommodation and the opportunity to present the story on a live broadcast on
ABC Radio National on Monday January 24^th at 8pm.

The evening was hosted by the well known and talented Wendy Harmer and began with a wonderful presentation about storytelling
from John Bell (Bell Shakespeare). The event was a great experience and I was thrilled that I could, through storytelling,
bring to life some of my experiences with the Black Saturday communities and hopefully
convey a sense of their rejuvenation as they went about putting their lives back together again.

You can listen to The Flowerdale Tattoo here:

You can listen to the whole show at Radio National Hope 2011

(John Bell’s presentation is at the beginning of Part 1 and The Flowerdale Tattoo is at the beginning of Part 2
followed by the other Hope 2011 winner, Betty Birskys, and other excellent speakers.)