Writing studio helps kids’ life stories

Kids involved at Story Studios Australia are learning much more than just technical skill, its creative director says, with the programs helping them to find a voice and a community as well as see their work in print.

“We do get a lot of people sort of peering through the window with inquisitive looks,” Story Studios Australia’s creative director Bonnie McRae told Inner City News.

The studio’s large, light, timber-bookshelf-lined premises on the corner of Elgin and Drummond streets in Carlton can be something of an enigma to the uninitiated, she acknowledged.

“There's not too much else like it out there. We wanted to create a place for writers and to really nurture, I guess, that next generation of storytellers coming through.”

On Wednesday nights an ad hoc group of adults, mainly from around Carlton, turns up for a weekly, drop-in “Write Night”.

The sessions enable people to “get some writing done in a lovely space, have a chit chat with some other writers” and seek inspiration from the host.

But the events are run “for the love”.

The bread and butter of the business, and also its heart, are the activities it runs for kids.

“Now, at the beginning of the year, we've got about 330 kids in our weekly groups and that usually picks up. I think we ended last year with just over 500,” Bonnie said.

When speaking to Inner City News she has just dropped stocks of anthologies of their work – which the studios publish – off at Readings Kids around the corner.

The main anthology, House of Stories, features writing by more than 300 contributors in four volumes, while Dora 503 contains the apocalyptic-techno-crash-themed work of a smaller, advanced teen writers’ group.

According to Bonnie, having their stories appear in print means a lot to the kids, who turn up in their hundreds to an end-of-year launch event at Federation Square’s The Edge.

“We had, I think 650 people there last year, and we had all these young authors come up and do a panel, and they were so eloquent and funny and incredibly brave to get up there and just be themselves in front of such a huge audience,” she said.

The business, which moved to Carlton from North Fitzroy around three years ago, has existed in one form or another for a decade this year and was previously called Melbourne Young Writers' Studio.

It came about after Bonnie, a former journalist, and founder Dan Nixon, a screenwriter, met while working at a performing arts school.

As Dan recently described it, the initiative was “from the first … an absolute labour of love driven by a deep belief in the power of creative community, the power of sharing stories and a passion for helping young people unearth their imaginations and find their voice.”

As 2026 unfolds, Story Studios staff are readying for their first school holiday programs.

The programs, which are “super-duper popular” and tend to sell out, will this time focus on secrets and spies, mystery, magic and fantasy.

“We really want to bring the magic, bring the fun,” Bonnie said.

“There's typically always a way in for us to help kids engage with whatever it is that gets them excited and inspired.”

The philosophy includes an immersive approach, with tutoring and mentorship from working writers, such as kids TV writer Adam Bigum, comedy writer Miso Bell and songwriter Lachlan Rose from the band Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird.

There is also a focus on building creative community and confidence.

“To be able to help those more introverted, quirky kids, as well as the more outgoing types, to find one another and make those connections is really just a joy,” Bonnie said. •