It was clear that 2023 Shire Christian School graduate Sophie Wainwright had a knack for English. But having her work published in a book was the biggest realisation that she had noticeable talent in the literary form.
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Sophie was one of 19 students in NSW chosen for The Young Writers Showcase, which was launched in May at the Sydney Writers Festival, an event that celebrates the exceptional work of emerging young writers from the 2023 HSC.
The showcase is one of five launched throughout the year. It includes the best student works from English Extension 2, with the selected pieces published in an anthology.
Many of these students became published authors for the first time. This year, Sophie was one of them.
To honour the graduates' work, the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has released the Young Writers Showcase Anthology - a book for schools, students' families and the public.
This is the 23rd year in a row that NESA has developed the Anthology, which brings together selected works of poetry, short stories, scripts, critical analysis and a podcast.
Students composed an original piece of 5000-6000 words in a style of their choice. Sophie's piece Portrait of Joy is a creative non-fiction composition that combines prose and poetry to examine the life of the Australian painter Joy Hester.
"Through this vibrant and complex individual, I endeavoured to illuminate the intersections between place, art and gender that shape Australia's national identity," Sophie said. "I was able to experiment with different styles of writing while staying true to the life of Joy Hester. Additionally, I attempted to develop a unique piece of writing by experimenting with the way words flow across the page, mirroring the art that Joy produced throughout her life."
An extract of Sophie's piece:
It was a farm before it was a house, and before that it was Land. Land was not just bare-crusted desert. Land was a capsule of light, where green escapes from sandy earth and water flows into the sky. Grassy trails meander, carrying with them the prints of kangaroos, of wombats, and sleek lorikeets ascend with unassuming grace - as if not constructed to fly - against the roar of an army of cicadas and the laughing of a thousand kookaburras. Then, within the Land, dotted here and scattered there, true Desert bakes under the orb of the sun, hidden in patchwork bush. True Desert is ochre and red, having swallowed the sun's colour in its dusty throat. There are sounds, there must be, but compared to the Land, it is silent because the Desert is ancient work. True Desert was here before, when there was only Desert, that stretched ceaselessly through rambling plains. Desert is the sorrowful wallow of life decaying and frying and becoming a shallow carcass.
In a raggedly sewn hem between Desert and Land, sits the Scar Tree. Yingabeal. Its red bark churns with swirling phloem and xylem. Its gum leaves scent the air and send a force humming through the heart of the Land. The Scar Tree is saying things, speaking of life without words. It speaks of the cold blessing of wind through its bristling leaves, of the gentle kiss of sunlight in its stretching branches. It worships celestial dew in its twisting roots, and tells the history of the people in its scarred, sacred trunk. Talk runs far afield in this Land. Wisps of kangaroo grass speak of the dance of life. Wattle shakes down its vibrant pollen; soon it will become seeds, then flowers. Eucalyptus trees echo the wind's gossip, and bluebells laugh as time breezes through.
