Alafair Burke Quotes

Hoping to instill my love of learning in other children, I taught my first class at a local elementary school the year my first book, 'Flying Fingers,' debuted; since then, I have spoken at hundreds of schools, classrooms and conferences around the world.

I always love writing about children.

And if you don't live, you have nothing to write about.

We were living in Denver, Colorado, and I was teaching high school. I asked the kids to write a short story, so I thought I should write some myself.

They change. They're different. There are no two alike, that's the miracle of it. But if they have something to teach the students. You can see them writing during the show.

If I can only be known as one thing, then, well, I guess it would be poet and performer and teacher.

My passion has always been books and literature, and teaching.

Books are challenging and inspirational to me.

It's a wonderful thing to write for children.

A love of books has opened so many doors for me. Stories have inspired me and taught me to aspire.

I think that one of the things you have to do to become a storyteller is spend a lot of time reading stories.

I think teaching keeps me honest because if I'm up in front of a class talking about what I think is important about fiction while knowing I myself have just failed to do that hours earlier at my computer - it's a good and humbling reminder.

You've got to live life to write a book about it.

I do three things: speaking or teaching, which I enjoy the most, coaching is where I learn everything, and writing is where I reach people.

I've learned from the greatest people, and I've got wonderful things to pass on.

The best memories on tour are always of kids who tell me they are going to run back to their classrooms and start writing!

My passion for books has changed my life.

I think, being an actor, part of it is also being a teacher. I think that's one of the most rewarding things you can do - pass on the knowledge you've learned from other teachers.

It's lovely to write for the youngsters because through your story, you can teach them the lessons of life.

In Sydney, I gave what was billed as a masterclass to bright students of writing at the University of Sydney. But the term 'masterclass' was possibly over-egging the pudding. All I could do was pass on some lessons from my own life, and the most obvious is that if you want to be a writer, you must first have been a reader.

I've always kept a journal and brought storytelling into my teaching.

I needed time to stand back and go through a lot more experience in life. Then I have something to write about, joke or to animate.

When we are young, the words are scattered all around us. As they are assembled by experience, so also are we, sentence by sentence, until the story takes shape.

Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories.

Teaching and writing are separate, but serve/feed one another in so many ways. Writing travels the road inward, teaching, the road out - helping OTHERS move inward - it is an honor to be with others in the spirit of writing and encouragement.