H. M. Waugh

HM Waugh is an environmental scientist, author and educator with a long-term love of wild places and high mountains. She is an energetic and dynamic speaker who loves to mix healthy servings of STEAM into her presentations and workshops, and get her audience involved and imagining. Her debut middle grade novel ‘The Lost Stone of SkyCity’ was shortlisted for a 2019 Aurealis Award, and her YA novel ‘Evacuation Road’ is due out in 2021. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching school and community groups about stories, science and the environment. This often involves working with children and animals concurrently, and she loves being able to truthfully say she handles dragons for a job.

She has experience presenting to students from Kindy to Year 12 and is a qualified teacher, so can adapt to suit different ages and requirements if necessary.

Her speaking options include:

Stories, Science and Inspiration: Meet the Author

How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time!

Discover the inspirations behind HM Waugh’s writing. Learn how using real experience and science helps make a story stronger. Why do authors sometimes eat crickets or take late-night self-defence classes? (Hint: it’s all about the research!). Explore the importance of resilience in real life, and in the book. Create a picture or mindmap of an imaginary world, bringing in some of your own experiences.

Creating Awesome Stories

How can science and history help your imagination thrive and your story worlds buzz? Learn some of the basics of plotting and world-building from author HM Waugh. Design your own story world, identify where you might need to learn more to make it stronger, and think about how science can help you find the answers.

World-building and Wildlife

World-building is so important in books! Some books include amazing plants and animals, but did you know it’s sometimes best to base imagination in reality? Explore key elements of worldbuilding using examples from HM Waugh’s books as well as others. Then learn about some of the world’s weirdest wildlife, and check your knowledge of our wonderful local native animals. Invent your own mythical beings. Plus, go home with real ideas for how you can help save wildlife.