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Back then, the competition was small. Run by the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre and Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, it attracted only a handful of teams, including Joan’s.
Twenty-one years later, Write a Book in a Day has grown into one of Australia’s most inspiring literacy and fundraising initiatives, with tens of thousands of students from hundreds of schools raising millions of dollars for childhood cancer research.
"In 2005, there was one school in NSW, and that was mine, with six teams," Joan recalls.
It was in a library journal right down the bottom for Book Week ideas. I’d tried everything else over the years, so I thought, ‘Well, I’ll try that.
What started as a simple decision quickly became a lifelong commitment.
“Reading the books has always been a passion of mine. It’s always been something I’ve just really loved. The kids get so much out of it,” she says.
As a teacher librarian and later a volunteer reader, Joan has witnessed the competition’s extraordinary evolution.
“The best thing that happened was having the involvement of the charity,” Joan says.
Today, thousands of students take part each year, forming teams to write, illustrate and edit an original story in just 12 hours while raising vital funds for childhood cancer research.
Raising funds for kids' cancer is a really important thing. It gives kids an opportunity to work as a team and to be able to write.
“When I first started running it, the next day the kids would come and say, ‘Miss, can I please go in again next year?’” she recalls.
Over two decades, Joan has seen the competition unite students from every corner of Australia. She remembers students from Christmas Island producing award-winning stories and a team from the School of the Air overcoming vast distances to collaborate on a winning entry.
Throughout her years with the competition, Joan has always made a point of helping students understand exactly where their fundraising goes.
“I think it’s really important that they know and understand that it’s all going back into research. It’s going to ways to find cures. The kids really get that when you sit down with them and explain it."
“I think that’s why they like doing it – they feel they’re contributing.”
The funds raised through Write a Book in a Day have helped support childhood cancer research across Australia, developing better treatments and improving outcomes for children diagnosed with cancer.
“There are kids alive today because of the treatments that have come through research,” she says.
"That's probably why I've come back year after year now as a reader."
As Write a Book in a Day enters its next chapter, Joan is encouraged by a new generation of volunteer readers, including university students studying literature and creative writing.
I've loved every minute of it, and I can’t wait to see what 2026 brings.
Will you be part of the next chapter? Sign up for Write a Book in a Day or donate today to help give children with cancer a brighter future.
