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Meet James Moloney, author of The Beauty is in the Walking (Angus&Robertson, HarperCollins) James Moloney is a statesman in the world of Australian YA and children’s books.  The hilarious Black Taxi and Kill the Possum for YA and Dougy, Swashbuckler and Buzzard Breath and Brains  for children are among my favourites of his books. I store his […]

Meet Sue Lawson, author of Freedom Ride Thanks for talking to Boomerang Books, Sue. It’s a pleasure, Joy, thanks so much for asking me. Where are you based and how involved are you in the world of children’s and YA lit? We moved to Geelong two years ago from a smaller regional town. Though we […]

Thanks for talking to Boomerang Books about The Peony Lantern, Frances. It’s my pleasure. Where are you based and how involved are you in the world of children’s and YA lit? I’m based in Sydney. I’ve been involved in the children’s lit world for many years now, through membership of the Children’s Book Council of […]

  Thanks for talking to Boomerang Books, Trinity. My pleasure! Pieces of Sky (Allen & Unwin) is your first published YA novel. How did you get published – an agent or through the slush pile? I got my deal through my agent. What is the significance of your title, Pieces of Sky? In the novel the […]

In an unprecedented achievement, illustrator Freya Blackwood has won three of the five categories in the 2015 Children’s Book Council of Australia awards. In the past few years Freya has generally been shortlisted two or three times but this year all of her shortlisted books are winners. Her partnership with incomparable children’s writer, Libby Gleeson […]

Some of the most beguiling writing for adults features young characters. I touched on this when I reviewed Joan London’s The Golden Age in January. http://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/the-golden-age-where-children-are-gold/2015/01 This book has recently been awarded the 2015 Kibble Award. Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi also has a young adult protagonist, as does Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and Eimear […]

This year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Eve Pownall Award for Information Books forms an impressive list. Four of the six titles focus on an aspect of Australian history. Emu (one of the ‘Nature Storybooks’ series from Walker Books) is natural history, however, and upholds the quality of last year’s Crichton and Queensland Literary […]

The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, held at the Mitchell Library last night, was an opportunity to recognise some of our literary greats, as well as newcomers to the winners’ stage. Eminent author/poet, David Malouf, won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry for Earth Hour (UQP), another award to honour the exquisite writing of this distinguished, […]

The recent CBCA shortlisted Book of the Year for Younger Readers is an impressive list, not least because of the strength of the books that are Notables but didn’t make the shortlist. Younger Readers is traditionally a category of the awards that receives an enormous number of entries and it is thrilling that the quality […]

Thanks for talking to Boomerang Books, Elizabeth Fensham.  My Dog Doesn’t Like Me (University of Qld Press) resonated with me because I also have a puppy, Floyd (whose middle name is Pink)– a spoodle who is easier to train than Eric’s dog, Ugly, but I have used one of the dog-training tips described in the novel. […]

Zac the YAK from  Room to Read romps in for CBCA’s BIG BOOK DAY OUT with so many wonderful authors, illustrators, storytelling, SCBWI, jumping castle, barbecue and more … what a brilliant day!

The SCBWI stand was buzzing with Ben Johnston’s hands-on workshop Engibear Series

Margaret Roc’s BIG JELLYBEAN competition.

Lesley Gibbs launch to the very scary very funny picture book SCARY NIGHT.

The hilarious Mike Lefroy entertaining kids with talented illustrator Liz Anelli – HOWZAT!

Wilderness Fairies flapping through the Fair – Jodie Wells-Slowgrove!

Sue Whiting’s Firefighters with kids in firemen raincoats!  Kids loved it.

Marjorie Crosby-Fairall’s workshop with The Croc and The Platypus – so creative!

Wendy Blaxland brilliant play about Blaxland’s Crossing” …. and much more … authors  Sandy Fussell, Deborah Abela, Kate Forsyth, Belinda Murrell, Oliver

Phommavanh ….. a feast of creators.

Even more fun with the CBCA Newcastle and Sydney West regions with Jennifer Trad Reid and Katrina McKelvey.

What a day!

The post ZAC the YAK at SCBWI at CBCA BIG BOOK DAY OUT appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

It is the time to celebrate the CBCA Books of the Year: a plethora of excellent books. No one will be be surprised that Shaun Tan’s inimitable Rules of Summer has won Picture Book of the Year. From a visual literacy perspective, it excels in composition – what is put where and how distance and […]

Today officially heralds the start of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book Week 2014. This year’s theme: Connect to Reading – Reading to Connect can be interpreted in many ways just as ones connection with art can take place on several levels. I have long purported that the humble picture book is one […]

August is an important month for Australian children’s books because the CBCA Book of the Year is announced on 15^th and National Literacy and Numeracy Week is held from 25-31 August.

The aim of NLNW website, as stated on their website is:

National Literacy and Numeracy Week represents a collaborative approach by the Australian Government and school communities to highlight the importance of literacy and numeracy skills for all children and young people, with a specific focus on school-aged children.

The Week gives schools the opportunity to be involved in a range of literacy and numeracy activities. The Week aims to recognise locally the achievements of students and the work of teachers, parents and members of the community who support young people to develop stronger literacy and numeracy skills.

One of the literacy activities is Read for Australia. This is a simultaneous read where groups from around Australia read the same book on Friday 29^th August at 2pm EST. A video of the book with Auslan for the hearing impaired, captions and a transcript will be released a week before the read.

The book selected for 2014 is Sunday Chutney, a picture book by Aaron Blabey. This book looks at friendship and what it’s like to be different. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Australian Book Industry Awards as well as the CBCA Picture Book of the Year. I was Queensland CBCA judge at that time – and thrilled that it was shortlisted.

Teacher Notes for a range of ages is available on the NLNW website.

I’ve written notes for Years 5-6, which include a focus on the ‘panelling’ (a feature of graphic novels and some picture books) in the illustrations.

The author of Sunday Chutney, Aaron Blabey is a talented man. Some may remember him as the award-winning TV star of the political satire The Damnation of Harvey McHugh. He is a visual artist (much of his work is strictly for adults not children, though!) as well as a respected and popular writer and illustrator of a plethora of children’s picture books.

His most recent release (July 2014)  Pig the Pug is published by Scholastic Press. This is a very funny rhyming story about a selfish pug called Pig who won’t share his toys with his flatmate Trevor the sausage dog. This leads to a dire but hilarious comeuppance. Blabey’s illustrations have a distinctive style. His characters frequently have wide, puppet-like faces with popping eyes. He often uses a predominately brown palette, which sets his books apart from the pack – and works! He is a fitting ambassador for NLNW.

The CBCA (Children’s Book Council of Australia) shortlist is Australia’s most important award for children’s and YA literature. These books are celebrated in Book Week.

The CBCA shortlist generates most sales of awarded books – for children’s books, although perhaps not for YA books – in Australia. The shortlist is used as a buying guide for parents, grandparents and community members. Schools (especially primary schools) use it extensively for the build-up and culmination of Book Week.

These awards are unusual because there is such a long lead-time between the announcement of the 30 shortlisted books (around April) and the announcement of the winning and honour books in Book Week in August – this year on August 15^th. The shortlist is possibly even more important than the winners. http://cbca.org.au/ShortList-2014.htm

There are five categories of shortlisted books, each with six books. Four of the categories are fiction and judged by a panel of 8 judges, 1 from each state and territory, who have a two-year judging term. The fiction books are judged on literary merit.

So, what is the Eve Pownall Award? This is not the place to look into the background of the award but its purpose is to judge non-fiction – Information Books. A panel of judges from the one state, as distinct from the fiction judging panel, selects the Eve Pownall shortlist.

The 2014 shortlist is generally aimed at primary age children and has a focus on our Indigenous people:

Jandamarra is in picture book form. It is written by Mark Greenwood and illustrated by Terry Denton ((Allen & Unwin) and looks at the conflicted Aboriginal hero or villain, Jandamarra. Welcome to My Country is written by Laklak Burrarrwanga and family (A&U) and is aimed at upper primary and secondary students. We are given an insight into NE Arnhem Land, particularly into ‘Yothu Yindi’ – the relationship between mother and child, people and land, land and land… Meet … Captain Cook by Rae Murdie, illustrated by Chris Nixon (Random House) naturally touches on Australia’s first people. It is an outstanding book in this series for younger readers. The design and stylised illustrations are excellent and the writing is understated and enhanced with humour.

Jeremy, written by Christopher Faille, illustrated by Danny Snell (Working Title Press) is for the youngest readers here. In picture book format it shows what could happen to a baby kookaburra. Ice, Wind, Rock by Peter Gouldthorpe (Lothian) is an evocative picture book about our Antarctica hero, Douglas Mawson. And finally, Yoko’s Diary: The Life of a Young Girl in Hiroshima, edited by Paul Ham (ABC Books) is a heart-breaking first-hand account of Japan in WWII by a twelve-year-old girl.

Which Information Book do you think will win the Eve Pownall award on 15^th August?

In a week that continues to be unreal, Life in Outer Space has been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year 2014, Older Readers. In the children’s publishing departments where I have worked, there’s a bit of a tradition on shortlist day, of poring over the CBCA website while undertaking multiple refreshes as the announcements roll out. As an editor, it is always exciting to see a book you’ve been involved with being recognized; I can’t describe how cool, and wonderfully overwhelming it is to see my book up there too.

Giant thanks to the CBCA judges, and to my amazing Ampersand publishers at Hardie Grant Egmont. And, a heartfelt congratulations to all the other notable and shortlisted authors! Looking forward to catching up on some reading between now and the August Book Week announcement…

This morning the Children’s Book Council of Australia announced the 2014 shortlists and notables in each of the categories.

• Early Childhood
• Eve Pownall
• Younger Reader
• Older Reader
• Picture Book

Titles from the 2013 calendar year are nominated by their publishing houses and each of the state judges are whisked away for days until they decide each of the winners, honours, shortlists and notable lists.

The Older Reader category (aka Young adult) notable list features thirteen Australian authors of YA fiction.

Congratulations to the six talented authors gracing the 2014 CBCA Book of the Year Award (Older Readers):

• The Incredible Here and Now  – Felicity Castagna (Giramondo)
• Life in Outer Space  – Melissa Keil (Hardie Grant Egmont)
• The First Third  – Will Kostakis (Penguin)
• Fairytales for Wilde Girls - Allyse Near (Random House)
• Wildlife - Fiona Wood (Pan Macmillan)
• The Sky so Heavy -  Claire Zorn (UQP)

The winner will be announced during Book Week, 16 – 22 August 2014.

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (Victorian branch) held their 2014 Claytons Dinner on Tuesday evening at Trinity College, Kew.  For those unaware, the Claytons are the predictions from local experts on the CBCA Book of the Year Award Categories.  The event takes its name from a non-alcoholic beverage and advertising campaign (1970s-80s)  as it is not quite the real thing.

The Older Readers category (Young Adult Fiction), as predicted by our very own Anna Burkey, were as follows:

• Wildlife by Fiona Wood (Pan Macmillan)
• Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near (Random House)
• The Sultan’s Eyes by Kelly Gardiner (Harper Collins)
• The Tribe: The Disappearance of Ember Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Walker Books)
• The Whole of My World by Nicole Hayes (Random House)
• Cry Blue Murder by Kim Kane and Marion Roberts (UQP)

Honorable mentions:

• The First Third by Will Kostakis (Penguin)
• Run by Tim Sinclair (Penguin)
• Jump by Sean Williams (Allen and Unwin)

You can find the picks for Younger Readers (Middle Grade), Picture Books and Early Childhood on this Storify of the event.

Upcoming Events:

There are many more of these events across Australia should you like to hear about other knowledgeable bookish types on the best titles of 2013.

• Shortlist Showcase in Canberra took place on 12 March.
• Claytons Evening: Ballarat 19 March
• The Night of the Four Judges in Brisbane: 26 March
• Anticipate, Appreciate, Applaud in Sydney:  8 April
• And the Winner is… in Adelaide: 7 April
• There are no equivalent events we could identify in Tasmania, Western Australia or Northern Territory.

Make sure you check out these events!

 Alison Lester Children’s Laureate and Sarah Davies award winning illustrator and friend were the keynotes at the Children’s Book Council Christmas dinner. Heaps of authors and illustrators celebrated with the community of book lovers.

Society of Women Writers (SWW)  in the Mitchell Library – with its heritage sandstone columns and magnificent rooms – addressed by Professor Yerbury – introduced by historian and author Maria Hill, who’s the President of the Society of Women Writers.

Wonderful event.

Unleased Festival with festival convenor Jodie Wells Slowgrove – who organised a weekend festival of authors and publishers. it was a buzz!  Linda Jaivin gave insight into her travels and life in  China – she was so entertaining. Read her books!

Tim ferguson comedian author who manages his MS with style and humour.  Publishers including Paul Collins Ford Street Publishing, Zoe Walton RandomHouse, Heather Curdie Penguin.

But BEST fun was being won by Maureen Johnson (author of Boofheads and many other books)  to give her a mini mentorship. Love doing it and watch out for her new series!

The post The start of the festive season with Children’s laureate Alison Lester! appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

Family holidays are the stuff many childhood memories are forged from. With just a couple more weeks of summer holidays left, I revisited an old favourite and evoked some happy would-be memories (if mine had been the type of family to embark on seaside camping trips).

The excitement is palpable as Susie’s family head to the beach, car packed to the roof racks. They soon set up camp and immediately immerse themselves into all things seaside: hunting in rock pools, feeding seagulls, swimming the surf, and of course, fishing.

Led by over enthusiastic Dad, Susie, her brothers and cousins begin each day with great expectations, but for Susie, catching fish proves as elusive as keeping waves upon the sand. Her determination however never wanes, not even when her brother Alex taunts and teases her with fake-fish-hope. It’s not until the last day of their holiday that Susie glumly concedes defeat. Not everyone is lucky with fishing. She appears to be that luckless somebody.

Incredibly, Susie’s luck changes. She catches a glimpse of two Southern Right whales off the jetty much to the disbelief and delight of the surrounding crowd. She, her Dad and a dozen fascinated on-lookers, unite as they share a few special moments together watching mother and calf frolic in the waters before them. It’s a holiday memory bigger than any fish her family have caught before and one Susie won’t easily let get away.

Elizabeth Honey’s entrancing sojourn to the beach captures precious familiarity and the exuberance of youth with playful grace. It is a story we can cherish for years to come much like a treasured cowrie shell. Honey’s spirited prose makes me want to kick off my sandals and grab a rod and bucket of bait. Susie’s Dad’s regular morning wake-up calls, addressing his kids as various species of marine-life, caused me to smile often. And who doesn’t delight in a big frothy milk shake from the local beach town café?

Each page drips with Honey’s sparkling watercolour illustrations, capturing the very essence and light of the seaside. Vintage Honey and deserved CBCA Picture Book of the Year.

Ideal to share with primary-aged readers.

Published by Allen and Unwin 1997

Balloons, partying, Glen Street Theatre, authors, illustrators, librarians, kids’ literature enthusiasts – the Christmas party by Children’s Book Council, Northern Beaches was a buzz!

Michael Stephen-King had us moved to tears with his stories of the heart:

- illustration as his place to escape, explore, create in a confusing world where his deafness separated him

His joyous lines capture the curiosity of childhood and we love him.

Glenda Millard also brought tears and laughs with her stories of family and relationships.

She invites us all into the safety of being different and celebrating it. Love her too.

It was a night of friendship and celebration of the children’s literature community-

authors Kate Forsyth, Belinda Murrell, Wendy Blaxland, Margaret Roc, Aleesah Darlison, Laurine Croasdal, Jill Bruce, Anna Feinberg, Kim Gamble

… the iconic Maurice Saxby father of Australian children’s literature

and Margaret Hamilton publisher, writer, and Director of the illustrator’s house Pinerolo in the Blue Mountains.and so many more.

Thankyou to Wendy Fitzgerald, president of the CBCA Northern Beaches and all the fabulous people who supported this night.

FABULOUS NIGHT!

The CBCA NSW had the BEST AGM ever – exciting, enthused, networking with publishers, writers, authors, teachers, librarians, readers and so many organisations including Society of Women Writers, Stephen Wilson PETA,  branch Presidents from Wollongong to Northern beaches Sydney, NSW CBCA judge Jill Bruce …. and of course Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

SCBWI was thrilled to support the CBCA and our brilliant authors and illustrators who presented about the exciting projects they are doing:-

Nathan Luff – watch out for his new series published by Walker Books

Sue Whiting – fabulous author of books from her best selling picture book Firefighters to award winning YA novel Cooper Jones

Sarah Davies -   extraordinary illustrators of the fabulous FEARLESS among so many other works

Serena Geddes – so talented and who will be illustrating the joyous Gracie and Josh – our picture book. celebrating kids and endorsed by VARIETY

Patron: Professor Marie Bashir, CV AVO Governor of NSW

The President and Committee of The Children’s Book Council (CBCA) NSW Branch cordially invite

EVERYONE who loves Reading to

The unveiling of the exciting new look CBCA NSW, with

A SCBWI Author-Illustrator Showcase

with Serena Geddes, Nathan Luff, Susanne Gervay, Sue Whiting and Sarah Davis

followed by the AGM  & Gourmet Afternoon Tea Celebration.

Date: Saturday 22^nd September 2012

Time: 2pm for 2:15pm sharp start

Where: NSW Writers’ Centre

Callan Park, Balmain Road, Rozelle NSW 2040

2  for 2.15 p.m. Saturday 12^th September

(ACCEPTANCES ONLY PLEASE)

Email: [email protected]

please place ‘AGM’ in the subject line