BA(Hons)(Curtin)

This is his first year at Christ Church and first year working in a library, following four years working as a project manager for Artrage.

He’s new to libraries but he’s certainly not new to the broader world of literature. Just this month, Luke was on a panel of playwrights as part of the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival Words Uncorked.

Prior to working for Artrage, Luke spent three years as a freelance writer. Outside his role at Christ Church, he continues to write and direct theatre and is currently writing, directing and designing a one-woman production which will show at the Blue Room Theatre in October.

At Christ Church, Luke’s role in the Library involves looking after the circulations desk, processing new material, helping the boys, running voluntary programmes with some of the mothers and giving input into sourcing resources for the Library. He is also starting to take some classes.

Aside from theatre, Luke has a strong interest in comics. He has written comics in the past and is writing some new work at the moment. At Christ Church, he is starting to share these skills and passion with the boys during some of their library classes.

“It’s great,” Luke said. “I’m able to do some peripheral activities with the boys about some of the things I’m passionate about.

“I’m really interested in comics as a medium. Any type of story can be told using comics. However, people have a very narrow view of comics and are surprised when they realise the diversity. We’ve got autobiographical comics here about people being abused, falling in love, dealing with loss of faith. It’s extremely broad.”

Luke said the boys were responding well to his classes and engaging with new material. “It all boils down to the same thing,” he said. “It’s about interpreting images and looking at how graphic storytelling works in terms of characters, characterisation and how style determines how we interpret it.

“It’s been great working with the boys. It’s rewarding when I recommend something for them to read and they come back and tell me it was great. And they also tell me things and introduce me to new material, so it’s a nice back-and-forth relationship.”

Luke said the staff were also fantastic to work with. “The staff are really well read and everyone has their strengths and are willing to give a huge amount of time to the boys. It’s a really great environment.”

Outside the Library, Luke helps with the School’s comic exchange, which is held every couple of months. And outside the School, on top of his writing, directing and designing, Luke often sits on the assessment panel for the Blue Room Theatre and is on the advisory panel for the Melbourne Emerging Young Writers Festival. He has also been on the panel for the Equity Guild Awards, judging the annual award for best new Western Australia play script.