Sri Lankan student of Girls Birrong High School in Sydney, Australia, Aamina Mustafa launched her first book Grey Anecdote at Story Factory’s Parramatta Centre Sydney recently.
She presented her first book to Amy Goodhew. Aamina thanked Story Factory, Penguin Random House, Bilal, Bec, Nikki (editing) and Matt (cover illustration) for helping her launch it. She also thanked her family, friends and everyone else who supported her.
Aamina studied at Ilma International Girls’ School Colombo from Pre-grade to Year 8 and moved to Sydney Australia with her parents and sisters.
She has always been a creative person. However, writing wasn’t something that she was encouraged to explore until her English teacher in MIEC asked her to keep a creative journal. After a month when she began getting homesick and started missing all her friends and family she began to write poems to express her loneliness and isolation, the start to something big.
Story Factory is a not-for-profit organisation that runs creative writing and storytelling programs for young people aged seven to 17.
Joining the Novella program at Story Factory has been the best opportunity for Aamina to be involved in this year. A group of young writers aged 13 to 17 took part in the year-long-program and produced a fully realised novella.
They were mentored by Bilal and Bec, two amazing storytellers who aided not just her but ten other amazing young dedicated writers to publish their novellas.