Media comment

Quick witted, quick spoken and quirky, Jen McVeity is an international speaker who has entertained audiences in nine countries and 11 USA states. She is a veteran of radio and print PR. Do contact us for background information on Jen and her mobile number if you wish to interview her.Jen McVeity

Areas of expertise

  • Literacy
  • Teacher training in literacy
  • Gifted students
  • Success for Boys
  • Writing and publishing internationally

About Jen McVeity

Jen is the author of over 20 books, the ex chair of the largest writing organisation in the world, a Churchill Fellow and a 2006 national Literacy Champion. In her spare time she plays MEN'S beach volleyball and flies on a circus trapeze. She claims she met her husband on a trampoline.

Some quotes from Jen:

Give boys a topic and they'll immediately stand up, throw around ideas and talk. So why do we tell them to sit down, be quiet and write?

We think writing stories is about writing. Wrong. It's all about ideas. We need to teach kids how to generate great ideas, play with ideas, jot down ideas. The actual physical process of writing comes long after that.

We tend to teach writing by trial and error. 'Write me a story' we say and then we correct the written piece and tell kids what they did wrong. Do we ever tell them what they do right?

Forget about the spelling. Writing is not about spelling. It's about creating ideas and sharing inspiration and emotions with other humans.

Don't make it plodding and perfect, make it creative.