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By: Bowie Style,
on 8/8/2012
ilona drew has been busy working on new cards ranges like this cute collection called 'AAW'. ilona is planning her designs and core ranges as she has first trade show stand booked for PG LIVE in 2013. see much more from ilona online here.
By: Bowie Style,
on 8/8/2012
this bright pattern on aprons, teatowels, mugs, etc caught my eye in the shop at the british museum in london. the print is based on the ceramics in the museum's chinese collection and makes for a colourful modern souvenir.
By: Jane Mack,
on 8/8/2012
Anna Rose is so fortunate and grateful to have received this Theatrical Scholarship award.
Posted on 8/8/2012
In The New Republic Martin Amis offers what's billed as An unfond farewell to England (and, especially, surely, the British media), in He's Leaving Home, as he whinges about discusses the relationship between the press/media and littérateurs such as himself (looking back also to the good old more innocent times (and those wonderful £250 advances)).
Apparently, also:
When I and my wife, who is a New Yorker, entrained the epic project of moving house, from Camden Town in London to Cobble Hill in Brooklyn, I took every public opportunity to make it clear that our reasons for doing so were exclusively personal and familial, and had nothing to do with any supposed dissatisfaction with England or the English people (whom, as I truthfully stressed, I have always admired for their tolerance, generosity, and wit). Backed up by lavish misquotes together with satirical impersonations ("cod" interviews and the like), the impression given was that I was leaving because of a vicious hatred of my native land and because I could no longer bear the well-aimed barbs of patriotic journalists.Granted, I only saw what was available on the Internet, but that certainly wasn't my impression; regardless, you'd think that by now he'd be experienced enough to know that misquotes are par for the course and that, where possible, journalists (and bloggers) invariably try to put the most outrageous spin on any and all of his statements (and, let's face it, few make it easier, what with the stuff he spouts). What always baffles me about this guy is not what he takes "every public opportunity" to do, but rather that he feels so perversely compelled to take "every public opportunity". I'm not a big fan of the author as public figure under any circumstances, but the author as this kind of public figure, elbowing his way onto every stage (and every magazines' pages ...), all the while posing like he's the one being put out by all this 'unwanted' attention ... well, it hardly can get more annoying.
Posted on 8/8/2012
At Tablet Zackary Sholem Berger reports on 'The writers and editors behind the astonishing rise of Orthodox magazines and fiction', in Haredi Women's Lit Explodes.
Not books I'm familiar with, and I have my doubts I'll get to any of them; still, pretty interesting.
Posted on 8/8/2012
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of A Gothic Novel of Prague by Miloš Urban, The Seven Churches.
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By: jules,
on 8/8/2012
This morning at Kirkus, I have a brief conversation with Brian McMullen, who created the McMullens children’s book imprint over at McSweeney’s, now in its second year. Brian serves as Art Director and imprint editor and is, you may have guessed, the namesake for the imprint. That link will be here.
Tomorrow at Kirkus, I’ll have some thoughts on Fall 2012 picture book titles I’m extra-eager to see. Actually, they’re titles I’ve already seen—books for which I got a sneak peek at some F&Gs—and whose releases I anticipate with downright glee. (I had fun writing this. I got crazy-inspired and wrote it a while back, but Kirkus wanted to post it now-ish, closer to Fall release dates.) That link will also be here on Friday morning.
Last week, I wrote about the utterly charming Bear in Love (to be released by Candlewick in mid-August), written by Daniel Pinkwater and illustrated by Will Hillenbrand. That is here, if you missed it last week and are so inclined to read more about it.
Here’s one more spread from the book. Enjoy. (more…)
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By: Cait,
on 8/8/2012
If you’re watching the London Olympics like it’s an IV line then you’ll notice some familiar runners lining up for the heats of the 5k after their 10k finals a few days prior. I won’t prattle off all of them but amongst the doublers were Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, and Sally Kipyego. Sally Kipyego won the Silver Medal for the 10k and came back two days later to clock 15:01.87 in her qualifying run of the 5k.
Jaw-dropping times aside it brought to mind a topic that I wanted to discuss: running the days leading up to your own race. More specifically the day before race day. In a similar line of thinking to ‘saving their legs for the race’ and thus skipping a warm-up, newer (and not-so-new sometimes!) runners take a complete rest day the day before their race.
I can see their line of reasoning, but doing zilch the day before:
* Will actually leave you feeling a little stale the next day. If you’re consistent in your training, your legs are USED to doing something on a regular basis, and coming back off of nothing the next day will be a little ‘shock’ and your legs.
INSTEAD of doing nothing:
* 2 or 3 days out from race-day:
Make sure you do something with a little speed. Sometimes runners make the mistake of going over-board on the taper mode. Cut back your volume if the race is one you’ve been keying towards, but don’t go from 60 miles to 10 miles…you want to still keep your body attuned to the action of running. Similarly, don’t let an entire week prior to the race go by without doing something at, or faster than, race pace. You want to stay sharp so that come race day your legs will still ‘remember’ what if feels like to turn-over at the pace you want.* Day before: Do a light shake-out run. Depending on your regular mileage and race distance this could be anywhere from 20-35 minutes. Go easy and then end with a couple fast strides, drills and lots of stretching.
* Race day: If you’re running in the afternoon or night it can be beneficial to also do a quick run in the morning to ‘flush out’ the system. Here, think 10-15 minutes…just enough to break a sweat and then stretching.
If you want to take a day off (and days off can be integral parts of a training program, know your body and know your volumes people!) it can actually work better to take that day off TWO days before the race. Ironic, yes, but the body is a crazy beast all it’s own. 
In getting back to the amazing Olympians…doubling is tough business, don’t get me wrong. Of course they have trained enough and with the goal of doubling in mind so they have prepared their body, and then in their mind know that second race they’ll probably have a little less pop that usual. However it proves my point in that you CAN run plenty well in a race without going into extreme-t
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By: En-Szu,
on 8/8/2012
Military Working Dogs
Dogs are the most common pets in the United States, but did you know that they have also been fighting alongside the U.S. military forces since the Civil War? They officially became part of the military during World War II, and today are invaluable members of military groups stationed around the world.
Find out more about these amazing heroes, and how YOU can help them after they retire. . .
Dogs, like people, have to retire at some point when they get too old to work. After working so hard for the military, it must be nice to finally have a chance to be a normal dog! A law passed in 2000 made it possible for people like you and me to adopt retired military dogs!
If you are interested in adopting a retired Military Working Dog (MWD), have your parent or guardian contact your local MWD facility and ask for an application. Let’s help these brave soldiers find the forever homes they deserve!
— En-Szu, STACKS Intern (a.k.a. MidnightMagic5)
Image courtesy Scholastic News
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By: wako_bill@hotmail.com,
on 8/8/2012
‘Step inside the refreshingly simple world of Annabel Langbein in her home and learn how to cook delicious food from scratch’
— Australian Home Beautiful
Following the success of her 2010 cookbook Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook, which was recently named Best TV Cookbook at the 2012 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Annabel returns to her idyllic lakeside cabin to cook up an exciting new batch of recipes using seasonal ingredients fresh from her kitchen garden.
True to her philosophy that quality produce needs little in the way of fussy preparation, her new book is entitled Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures.
Inside, luscious photos of Annabel’s home-cooked food are interspersed with equally inspiring images of her verdant vegetable garden and orchard, and the gorgeous natural landscapes of New Zealand’s scenic South Island.
As well as more than 150 delicious recipes, all easily achievable by the home cook, the book features menu suggestions drawn from the accompanying TV series (which is likely to screen in Australia later this year), plus Annabel’s musings on living well in today’s fast-paced world.
It is interactive with Annabel’s website annabel-langbein.com, with QR codes on many recipes linking the reader to a video of Annabel making that recipe or sharing her tips for simplifying tricky techniques.
With 19 cookbooks under her belt, Annabel has earned a passionate following for her uncomplicated recipes that transform inexpensive, everyday ingredients into meals with the wow factor. She draws on a global palette of flavours and her trademark Fridge Fixings to create dishes that are big on flavour while, with a few indulgent exceptions, light on fat and sugar.
With this exciting new book from Annabel Langbein, readers are invited to take time out from their busy schedules to savour life’s simple pleasures.
About Annabel Langbein
Annabel Langbein is New Zealand’s leading celebrity cook, food writer and publisher, and the star of her own international TV series, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook.
Annabel’s books have won numerous international awards, been translated into multiple languages and sold close to two million copies worldwide.
The first season of her TV series sold into 83 territories around the world. A second season, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures, has just finished filming and will have its international debut in spring 2012.
The book that accompanied the first season, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook, became a publishing phenomenon when it sold close to 150,000 copies in New Zealand alone in the eight months following its release in September 2010. In Australia it was one of the bestselling cookbooks in the lead up to Christmas 2010.
Annabel grows much of her family’s fresh produce in extensive organic vegetable gardens at her Auckland home and the rustic cabin
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By: Kathy Temean,
on 8/8/2012
Are you an advanced writer who would love the opportunity to have an editor or agent read your full manuscript, give you feedback and help you decide how to revise?
One of the things I never accomplished when I was Regional Advisor for New Jersey was trying to figure out how to get the middle and end of your manuscript critiqued. We had lots of opportunities for honing the first 30 pages of a novel, but after a while, those 30 pages get really good. What about the saggy middle and the climatic end? It is true that you need you first pages to sing, but we want our whole novel to belt out the story. Thus, this dilemma has been rolling around in my head for 10 years.
I think someone out in my blogosphere might be interested in joining a small critique group of children’s novel writers to spend some time with two industry professionals and receive a whole manuscript critique. We are renting a lovely house in Avalon, NJ – right on the ocean to house six writers, plus the editors or agents.
We have one spot available for an advanced writer. Sarah Barley, a very up a coming editor at Blazer and Brey has committed to joining us. I am waiting to see who will be our sixth person before deciding if I should invite an agent or another agent.
Besides meeting with the editor/agent, we will have two groups of three and the other two people in your group will read and critique your full manuscript, so when the group meets we can discuss our thoughts about what is working and what should be changed. There will be a pre-assignment for the whole group, so we can brainstorm with each writer to come up with a new plot idea and characters that will help move the plot along.
The check in date is Wednesday September 26th and check out is lunch time on Saturday September 29th. Anyone one in the group is welcome to arrive on Sunday September 23rd and stay for the week, but the actual program will not start until Wednesday. If you arrive early you will have time to relax, explore the island, and write. The location and the accommodations are perfect for creating that best selling book.
I will be there the whole week and I think there may be a few others. Once I find out, I will come up with appropriate activities to make the most out of your time.
The cost is $800, without food. Everyone is going to provide something to stock the house. We have three people who are going to cook a dinner. We’ll probably grill burgers, hotdogs, chicken, make salads, etc. for lunches. Everyone will have to cook what they want to breakfast.
In case you are saying $800 is a lot of money, you are right, but not for getting a full manuscript critique. Other places who are offering full manuscript critiques are twice as much money. If you are interested in taking the spot, please e-mail me and give me some idea about you and what you have written. (You don’t have to be from New Jersey.)
I thought Joe Capeda’s illustration at the top was perfect for this post. Hope it inspires you to think about joining us and working on your manuscript and characters. Joe was featured last year on Illustrator Saturday. Here is the link: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/illustrator-saturday-joe-cepeda/
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
By: wako_bill@hotmail.com,
on 8/8/2012
The shortlists for this year’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards have been announced.
The shortlisted titles are:
Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction ($25,000)
Nettie Palmer Prize for Nonfiction ($25,000)
Prize for Writing for Young Adults ($25,000)
CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry ($25,000)
Louis Esson Prize for Drama ($25,000)
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at a ceremony on 16 October.
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By: Holly Black,
on 8/8/2012
The details:
The signing will be on Saturday, August 11th, from 1-3pm, in the Southwest signing hall at the Hilton Chicago, 720 South Michigan Avenue.
Upon entry to the hotel lobby, you will see someone in a LEAKYCON shirt. This person you will be given a wristband that signifies you can go into the signing room and the conference’s vendor room, which are next to each other. For more specific information go to the LeakyCon site.
And here’s who’s going to be signing:
Laini Taylor
Holly Black (me!)
Stephanie Perkins
Lev Grossman
Megan Whalen Turner
Dan Ehrenhaft
Robin Wasserman
Maureen Johnson
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By: wako_bill@hotmail.com,
on 8/8/2012
‘The Silver Brumby lingers in me like a memory of a best childhood holiday… the writing so lovingly drawn it was as if I could hear the trumpet call of the wild horses, and breathe in their joy to be free’
– GILLIAN MEARS
Critically acclaimed novelist and winner of the 2012 Prime Minister’s Literary Award
‘I remember loving The Silver Brumby books as a child. Like every girl in her early teens, I had a thing for horses and these books were particularly special because they were written from the horses’ perspective’
– MEM FOX, AM
Legendary children’s writer and author of Possum Magic
‘The Silver Brumby books were a magical part of my most formative years. I lost myself in them, adored the stories, sobbed my heart out and will never forget the magic and sheer wonderful storytelling of Elyne Mitchell. In a way, I knew Australia long before I ever came here through the wild countryside described so gloriously by Elyne.’
– CATHY KELLY
Bestselling Irish women’s fiction author
HarperCollinsPublishers is proud to announce that 2013 marks 100 years since The Silver Brumby creator Elyne Mitchell’s birth. Elyne’s books captured the hearts and imaginations of generations of young people around the world, and the centenary is an opportunity to celebrate their contribution to Australia’s literary and cultural heritage and the nostalgia that endures around the land of Thowra and his mother Bel Bel.
Celebrations will begin in October 2012 with the simultaneous release of three very special commemorative books:
On the Trail of the Silver Brumby
A beautifully illustrated and stunningly photographed anthology of the best of Elyne Mitchell’s writing about the Australian high country: the Silver Brumby heartland.
Elyne Mitchell: A Daughter Remembers
Elyne Mitchell’s daughter Honor Auchinleck tells what it was like to grow up with a famous and highly creative mother who created the classic Australian children’s books, the Silver Brumby series.
The Silver Brumby Centenary Edition
This special edition contains the first four titles in the Silver Brumby series plus a specially commissioned biography of Elyne and family photographs.
About the authors
Honor Auchinleck is the daughter of Elyne Mitchell. Inspired from the outset by her parents, who were prolific travellers and keen storytellers, Honor has led a peripatetic life, having have moved home nineteen times; living, working and travelling in five different countries on three continents. In thirty-four years overseas, Honor never lost touch with her roots, returning increasingly frequently in recent years to assemble Elyne’s archive.
Honor has worked as a freelance features writer and photographer on expatriate newspapers and for two years was a member of a panel of judges for the Commonwealth Essay competition in London. She is now living in Melbourne.
Elyne Mitchell OAM (1913 – 2002) is an Aust
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By: Sue Purkiss,
on 8/8/2012
Landscape is very important to me, both generally, and in my writing. Different landscapes reflect and inspire different moods, different thoughts - in fact, the same landscape can occasion different moods. I was in France recently, in La Rochelle, a seaport on the Atlantic coast. It has a small artificial beach. One day, the sea was a dull greenish grey, the sky a mass of bright blue-grey cloud. The sand was pale, almost white, and there were were one or two white sails out on the water. There were two vivid spots of colour: a coat, and a buoy, both bright scarlet. There was something striking about the limited range of colours: something ominous and strange.
The next day, I saw the same spot in sunshine. The sky was mostly blue, with innocent puffball clouds. The sea was a much darker blue, and it looked calm and inviting; there was no hint of threat. You can imagine the different types of story - or different points in the same story - in which those two variations of the same scene could feature - could, in fact, become central to the narrative. I don't have a picture of the beach, but here's one of the towers of La Rochelle in that very special evening light you sometimes get. (They are beautiful, the towers of La Rochelle beautiful, but one of them was a prison in Napoleonic times and earlier - the walls are scratched with graffiti, carved painstakingly with images of the ships from which the prisoners had been captured.)
An exhibition at the British Library explores the way in which the British landscape has inspired writers for the last thousand years. It shows how authors not only record what they see, but their ' novels, poetry and plays can shape our perceptions and transform our places through imagination.'
Of course, if there's one thing the British Library has plenty of, it's books. But how do you go about creating an exhibition out of them? Well, first you decide on different types of landscape: Rural Dreams, Dark Satanic Mills, Wild Places, Beyond the City, Cockney Visions, and Waterlands. Then, you sift through the extraordinary range of manuscripts and printed books you have at your disposal - and you realise that for each category, you can display a fantastically eclectic mix of writers. So, for instance, with Beyond the City, which explores the suburbs (are they an idyll? A threat? A refuge?), next to a gorgeously illuminated centuries-old volume of the Canterbury Tales (click here to see this), you may find an excerpt from one of J G Ballard's books about the 'edge-lands', or something from Betjeman. Rural Dreams has examples from Hardy, a manuscript of Edward Thomas's poem Adlestrop, and the manuscript of Alan Garner's The Owl Service, along with a recording of Stella Gibbons talking about how she came to write one of the funniest books I've ever read, Cold Comfort Farm. Dark Satanic Mills includes a fascinating display about Ted Hughes' book, Remains of Elmet, which was inspired not only by the industrial remains in the Calder Valley, but also by Fay Godwin's wonderful, atmospheric photos of this landscape: recordings and letters offer a fascinating insight into how each of them fed off the other's vision.
There are videos, too, with writers such as Simon Armitage and Robert MacFarlane discussing the part landscape plays in inspiring their writing, and images and soundscapes - the ones which illustrate Waterworld are particularly atmospheric and imaginative.
The exhibition is called Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands. If you can make it to the exhibition, be sure to go to the cafe to restore yourself afterwards - it has its very own collection of treasures, including a pear and chocolate tart which I recall with deep affection and not a little longing!
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By: Heather Dixon,
on 8/8/2012
By: Kathy Weller,
on 8/8/2012
By: Paul Schmid,
on 8/8/2012
By: angelaNS,
on 8/8/2012
Recently I held a Library Survivor Lock-in in partnership with the local RCMP detachment. The participants were aged 7-12, and we gave them several library, craft, and first-aid tasks for their teams. Building a newspaper survival hut was no problem, nor was creating a paper, tape, and pipe cleaner hat.
RCMP officer locks the doors
I am holding out some hope for these kids. I won’t even begin to lament their reading comprehension skills, or their ability to follow directions. But I sure am glad that they will survive the zombie apocalypse, armed with newspaper, iPods, and chocolate bars.
Even though Summer isn't officially over until school starts on the 27th, my family's summer vacation is. My husband is a teacher and today he attends the first (of many) Back to School meetings. Which means that it is officially time to start getting my husband and daughter ready for the upcoming school year. I need to schedule last minute hair and dentist appointments, reteach my daughter everything she may have "forgotten" during the school year, and my favorite SHOPPING!
To make shopping easier, General Mills, Crayola, and Target have teamed up to help parents meet all of their back to school needs.
Saturday August the 11th is National Bookshop Day in Australia. This is an annual event to celebrate bookshops and their role in our communities.
National Bookshop Day has a Facebook page and just looking at all the wonderful events planned around the country makes me smile.
I have worked for numerous bookshops in my career, all of which I have absolutely loved and been passionate about. Katie and I met working in a bookshop – Borders in 1998, when we set up and worked in their first store in Australia at South Yarra.
Book Bonding, Keilor Road, Niddrie
When we go on family holidays one of the things I need to do is find the local bookshop – just to have a look. My partner always says to me – “But, you work in a bookshop! Why do you want to visit others?” But why would I not? I love the product passionately, I might see something I didn’t know existed and I can have a chat with the store owners about lovely books new and old.
Hill of Content – Bourke Street, Melbourne
I have used the Book Depository, I have used Amazon and I have used Australian book websites too – they all have their place of course. But none of those sites can replace the beauty of browsing a bookshop or picking up a gorgeously designed hardcover or asking incredibly knowledgeable and well read staff for recommendations.
Coventry Bookstore – South Melbourne
That is the thing about our Australian bookstores; we have amazing staff who are so totally passionate about what they do. Bookselling is a retail like no other. You don’t just hand someone a dress and say try this on for size, bookselling is about getting the right book into the right hands. Children’s bookselling in particular is an art and of such great importance for the future of reading in our country.
The Little Bookroom – Degraves Street, Melbourne
Over the past couple of years there has been a huge resurgence in people buying handmade and artisan in craft and clothing and food – let’s support our local bookshops like we do those other products.
Are you visiting a bookshop this Saturday? What are your favourite bookshops? We’d love you to share your thoughts and loves with us.
* Katie did a series of posts about children’s bookshops around the world that you can re-read here *
By: ADK,
on 8/8/2012
Thanks for visiting my site. I appreciate your interest in my work. If you have questions regarding my books or stories, please feel free to send me a message. I enjoy hearing from you, and I’ll respond as soon as possible.
Happy reading!
Artie
Latest News
Artie’s children’s book Living Green: A Turtle’s Quest for a Cleaner Planet is now available as a free video for kids through StoryCub. A shortlist finalist for the national 2012 Green Earth Book Award, Thurman the turtle is tired of seeing the land he loves cluttered with trash and decides to take action.
To watch the Living Green video and many other books on StoryCub.org, please click on the cover below. StoryCub videos are one of the most watched programs on Apple’s iTunes Kids & Family section.
COPYRIGHT © 2012 ARTIE KNAPP
Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law
| 50 Book Pledge | Book #40: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen |
One of my favourite poems by Shel Silverstein is “Invitation.” Take a look:
If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!
Like Silverstein, Summer has an invitation all its own: To read our fantastical tales in the great outdoors. Take a page out of the Nature Conservancy of Canada‘s book and Take Time for Nature. And, why not? You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
By: Chuck Sambuchino,
on 8/8/2012
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are some of the best options writers have to market themselves and their books. No matter if you’re trying to find a publisher, or your work is self-published/e-published, you need to gain attention for your work to sell books and make yourself a more valuable author. It’s with this in mind that we enlisted eMedia guru Jane Friedman to teach an intensive, all-new webinar on Aug. 16, 2012 called “How to Market and Promote Your Books Using Facebook and Twitter.”
DETAILS
The whole thing goes down at 1 p.m., EST, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012. It lasts 120 minutes (2 hours). Each registration comes with access to the archived version of the program and the materials for one year. You do not have to attend the live event to get a recording of the presentation. In all WD webinars, no question goes unanswered. Attendees have the ability to chat with the instructor during the live event and ask questions. You will receive a copy of the webinar presentation in an e-mail that goes out one week after the live event. The answers to questions not covered in the live presentation will be included in this e-mail as well. Sign up here.
ABOUT THE WEBINAR
It’s essential for today’s authors to market and promote their work, and Facebook and Twitter are often considered critical to any marketing effort because of the sheer volume of their traffic and membership, plus the known impact on word-of-mouth marketing.
But how do you use either network without wasting your time and annoying all your friends and readers? How do you meaningfully impact sales without being unfriended, unfollowed, and tuned out?
The truth is that no two authors can use Facebook and Twitter in exactly the same way. You have to customize your approach. This all-new, two-hour intensive webinar offers professional principles, strategies, and insights that will help you develop a personalized action plan for using Facebook and Twitter as part of a meaningful marketing campaign, as well as part of your long-term platform growth.
Besides receiving instruction, all attendees are invited to ask as many personalized questions as they want of instructor Jane Friedman (155,000 followers on Twitter), all of which are guaranteed an answer. Sign up here.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
For anyone who has the money and time to spend, I can’t think of a better way to spend a week! It’s actually a great deal, when you think about it: beach, writing, writers, agent, editor and being away from the mundane! Irresistible 
Like this, thanks for sharing.