NEW! Mentor Program
Private weekly coaching sessions in our Maitland Studio or on Zoom with Kalika Magic author Karen Hughes. Improve your writing, polish your manuscript, and become a published author!
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Breaking News
- We have a brand new studio in High Street, Maitland! Join the fun and become a published author. Enrol now in our Talented Kids weekly after-school program.
- Adventure Unlocked is here! Over 300 pages of stories by our talented kids. Woo hoo! Order your copy now.
Check out our online Zoom Club: self-paced, start any time! Or join our new Talented Kids Weekly Zoom sessions.


Happy Publication Day!
Our new anthology is here. Woo hoo! Congratulations to all the young writers who worked so hard to make this possible. Nice work, gang!
Adventure Unlocked
Unlock a world of adventure with this wild and wonderful collection of stories written and edited by our talented kids – with a little help from author Karen Hughes. From time travel to space diaries, dragon quests to friendly zombies, there’s something in here for everyone!
‘I wish I had an imagination like this.’ – Lewis Carroll
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Read Our Stories

The Green Amulet
By Marley Krishnan I’ve always marvelled at my pet. But my pet is not a cat or a dog, it’s…

The Three Little Pigs (but the big bad wolf is polite and playful)
By Edru Smit Long, long ago, around the time when people believed that the earth was in the middle of…

Once there were dragons
By Isla Connolly PAGE 1/3 I hobbled up the hill, scraping my hands as I hoisted myself onwards. I had…

On the Run
By Erika Chhabra Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Goes the ice as me walk across it. Me and other me walk across…

The Sea Ruby
By Keira Gurney PAGE1/16 The ocean thundered in my ears, like a monster growling in agony. Waves crashed into our ship,…

Haiku 俳句 in Lockdown
Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases containing a…
Sharing the magic of words
Karen Hughes is the author of the popular Kalika Magic series for kids 9+, exploring themes of courage, adventure, and the power of the imagination. Karen grew up on a cattle station on the Liverpool Plains, where she spent her childhood climbing trees, riding horses, and reading Narnia books. She attended a primary school with only six pupils, before being packed off to boarding school at age twelve. Karen has been a lawyer, a herbalist and a web designer, but being an author is her favourite job. She is currently writing her fifth book and completing her PhD in English.

