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  Queues, dodgy carols, aching legs, confusion over what size feet my nephew has. Not for me, this Christmas. This year I’m avoiding the festive-season shopping chaos and buying everyone a book and a pig (or maybe an orangutan). Here’s what my Christmas list looks like. For my Teen Son: Legacy by Tim Cahill Blurb: The […]

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Editor, publisher, author, and all round busy guy, Paul Collins describes his latest anthology as ‘a sumptuous literary feast’ in which ‘no one will go away hungry, as the collection is a literary banquet with something for everyone.’ If that doesn’t whet your appetite for the collection of Australian stories, poetry and artwork that is, […]

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There really is something for everyone in Ford Street Publishing’s latest collection of Australian stories, poetry and artwork for teens – Rich and Rare. With pieces from almost 50 fab authors and illustrators, including Shaun Tan, Judith Rossell, Susanne Gervay, Gary Crew, Justin D’Ath and Michael Gerard Bauer (to mention a few), the anthology delivers […]

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By now, the last of those cleverly crafted Book Week costumes are washed and tucked away. Authors and illustrators all over Australia are reaching for mugs of hot lemon and honey tea to soothe raw throats, and children are undoubtedly curling up with pen and paper or else reading a brand new story, inspired by […]

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Australian publishers Ford Street Publishing are running an international competition to mark the publication of the first three books in the new fantasy Warlock’s Child series (The Burning Sea, Dragonfall Mountain and The Iron Claw) written by Paul Collins and Continue reading ... →

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  A couple of days ago I blogged about The Warlock’s Child, a great new kids’ fantasy series from authors Paul Collins and Sean McMullen (read post). Now I’m giving you the chance to win a copy of one of the books. Interested? Read on… The Iron Claw is book 3 in The Warlock’s Child […]

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The Warlock’s Child is a new series of six children’s fantasy books co-authored by Paul Collins and Sean McMullen. Each of these authors has a sterling reputation in children’s and genre literature. But the two of them together… well… was there any doubt that these books would be anything short of brilliant? I went along to […]

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Landing in Melbourne, I zoomed into launching the scary, creepy, cult driven  ’The Beckoning’ published by no-less a press than DAMNATION Press  and the science fiction last book of the Paul Collins’ Maximus Black series.

Packed with authors & illustrators and good cheer.

There such a beautiful speech by her son in law Dave and the video clip by her beautiful daughter Kim. And so much great food at the RACV too.

Got to hang out with the cool kids at the local pool den in Clifton Hills with the Ford Street Publishing team – special hi to Gemma!!!!!

Also got to see Anna Pignataro’s original artwork for our new picture book to be published by Ford Street

- Elephants Have Wings

We had an editorial meeting with Paul Collins and Meredith Costain and …. it’s sooooo beautiful. Anna Pignataro’s art is amazing! The STAR of course is the huge white strong elephants with wings~~~~~~~ sneak preview

 

The post Flying into the Melbourne Festive Season with elepahnts & books! appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

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Parramatta High School’s hall was filled with students, teachers and kids from other schools, authors – Paul Collins, Meredith Costain, Oliver Phommavanh, Toni Brisland, Wendy Fitzgerald, Lindy Batchelor, Wendy Orr.

Judith Ridge, recognised as one of Australia’s leading authorities on youth literature, wrote the foreward for ‘Trust me Too’ – 58 reasons to celebrate reading by some of Australia’s best loved authors and illustrators.

Wendy Orr read from her moving story ‘The Snake Singer’

Meredith Costain read her wonderful poem ‘Shoefitti’ illustrated by Grant Gittus.

It includes an Obernewtyn novelette by the interntaional best selling fantasy author Isobelle Carmody.

Everyone can dip into this anthology and discover laughs, tears, meaning, fantasy, imagination and more.

A National Year of Reading 2012 event.

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My friends piled into Readings Bookstore for the launch of ALIEN SHORES  - authors Jen McVeity, Hazel Edwards, Meredith Costain, Paul Collins, Rose Inserra, illustrator Marjory Gardner. Love them.

Julian Burnside QC gave a moving speech to launch ‘Alien Shores’ edited by Sharon Rundle and Meenakshi Bharat.  I felt overwhelmed by Julian’s description of a refugee who converted to Christianity and would have been stoned brutally if forced back to Iran.

Arnold Zable read a segment from his story in ‘Alien Shores’.

Sharon Rundle and I spoke on ABC Radio National with the insightful Michael Cathcart about ‘Alien Shores’.

Michael Cathcart also talked about my personal story in ‘Ships in the Field’ illustrated by Anna Pigantaro and how that related to ‘Alien Shores’.

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It’s going to be a fabulous day with authors, from award winning to best sellers author – everything from books for boys to No to bullying to fantasy to reading for the future.

Keeping Books Alive day is supporting Young Australian Art & Writers as well with awards at the dinner.

There’re books signings, prizes, meet and greet with authors, storytelling and dinner with some of Australia’s loved authors – Gabrielle Wang, Dianne Bates, Michael Salmon, Phil Kettle, Meredith Costain, Paul Collins, Michael Panckridge …. and it’s intimate and fabulous.

It’s subsidized for the day at $110 which includes dinner, talks, cocktails and canapes in the beautiful RACV Melbourne. Near the railway station.

I’m in Melbourne to receive the Australian Family Therapists Award for ‘Always Jack’ and will be speaking on a panel at 10.45 at the Keeping Books ALIVE Conference.

Presented by the Australian Children’s Literary Board.

Booking: Rob Leonard [email protected]

ph: 03 5282 8950

Say hello to me if you can make it.

Love to see you there. 

Susanne

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Welcome to the world of Paul Collins, author and publisher. This post is a great insight into the life of a small independent publisher. Just look at that floor (yes this blog is about desks but the floor has cropped in here!)

These are Paul's words about bis Creating Space - including his floor!

Everything I publish at Ford Street basically evolves here in the study. Yep, that's the unsolicited pile on the floor -- but at least it's always in my view, so gets its due attention. During the past four years the study has housed over thirty titles from authors and illustrators such as Susanne Gervay, Anna Pignataro, James Roy, Alyssa Brugman, Gary Crew and David Miller. I've also written many books from here -- possibly forty over the past eleven years. These include Wardragon, the fourth book in The Jelindel Chronicles, The Hiveborn, book three in The Earthborn Wars, the entire Grrym trilogy (in collaboration with Danny Willis) and the first book, The Spell of Undoing, in the new Quentaris series. The speakers agency side of Ford Street, Creative Net, also gets organised from here.


On the desk is mostly flotsam, such as receipts (I really should file them the moment I get them, but don't), unread manuscripts, publishing schedules (on the stand), Ford Street titles, and the usual lamp, phone, computer, printer, etc.

I love huge surface areas from which to work. I can guillotine paper on my desk, do mail outs -- you name it. I just shove stuff aside and away I go. I bought the desk from an import shop that was closing down. Most of their stock came from Indonesia. It's a solid table. Don't ask me how much it weighs but it's a mongrel to shift. And it doesn't come apart for easy removal.

My study also houses every book and short story I've written. That shelf on the right has over 140 magazines, journals and anthologies that contain my fiction and articles. Opposite, out of the shot, is a shelf full of books I've either published or written.

Paul's latest books are:
The Glasshouse (illustrated by Jo Thompson) 2010
Mole Hunt, book #1 in The Maximus Black Files (2011).

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I've been reading (and loving) the latest Paul Collins,  The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World, and was intrigued by his mention of a Japanese tourist attraction called Canadian World.

I immediately went to google it and found an article from Canadian Business which contains the following intelligence:

A thousand kilometres north of Tokyo, along a lonely country highway cutting through blue foothills and red pine, stands a sign that makes locals cringe: "Welcome to Canadian World." Here, in the remote heart of volcanic, sparsely populated Hokkaido island, is a perfect reproduction of Prince Edward Island's 19th-century Green Gables homestead, right down to the bedpans. It should be an idyllic place, a celebration of Japan's unlikely yet enduring love affair with Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables novels. But the paint is peeling and the house is silent, surrounded by acres of weeds. Gone are the fields of lavender and the tourists who came to live out their fantasies from the Anne stories. Canadian World is a ghost town.

And you can find a picture of the Hokkaido Green Gables here.

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When talented author Meredith Costain, said that she and Paul Collins publisher for the dynamic new publishing company Ford Street were coming to Sydney and wanted to catch up with some of the creative community at The Hughenden - it took only a couple of emails and everyone showed up.

Ford Street Publishing is dynamic, innovative and has some of Australia’s best authors - Alyssa Brugman, James Roy, David Miller, Dianne Bates and of course Paul who is a best selling fantasy author.

www.fordstreetpublishing.com

I’m off to the LA SCBWI Conference in a few days and have to say good bye for August to my Oz mates, but I’ll be home soon.

Blond bombshells authors Meredith Costain, Felicity Pulman, Jeni Mawter, Vashti Farrer

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Today we have the privilege of speaking with Courtney Summers, author of the upcoming YA novel CRACKED UP TO BE and blogger extraordinaire. Courtney’s debut novel takes a familiar concept and turns it upside down. Here’s the blurb from Publishers Marketplace:

Courtney Summers's CRACKED UP TO BE, in which the popular girl decides to quit being popular and find herself but her friends work hard to stop her making "a big mistake," to Sara Goodman at St. Martin's, by Amy Tipton at FinePrint Literary Management (World English)

DH: Welcome to the blog, Courtney, and big-time congratulations with balloons and chocolate cake! Your blog post on the sale was full of excitement and humility (and I love your grandma!). But there’s so much more we want to know. Let’s get started!

How did you get the idea for CRACKED UP TO BE?

Courtney: Thank you so much! I'm really excited about all of this, but I have to disclaimer my answers by letting your readers know I've never been interviewed before. :)

I got the idea for CRACKED UP TO BE by asking myself a lot of questions about identity and perceptions. I was really interested in writing a character that struggled with and bucked the expectations projected on her based on where she fell on the social ladder. After that came all the fun of figuring out why she was struggling and why she wanted to buck them . . . so that's how it all started!

DH: I love your spin on the popularity issue. Your main character is intriguing. What’s her name and how did you come up with it?

Courtney: Her name is Parker. It came to me like snap, which was really lucky as it doesn't usually happen for me that way--and it probably never will again! I'm used to searching through name after name after name, waiting to feel a “click.” That can sometimes take hours. Or days.

DH: Yes, and when you’ve hit upon the right element, you just know it. Speaking of elements, you live in Canada; where is your story set and how did you choose that setting?

Courtney: The story is set in a fictional town in America--it just seemed to fit. I must admit that settings are usually pretty static in my novels anyway, as opposed to novels where they play a larger role. Once I've established where everything's happening, it's like, "Okay! Moving on..."

DH: How much of yourself is in your characters?

Courtney: Very little, I think. I hope! I have fun trying to shape characters that are as far removed from me as possible for a variety of reasons, the most important being that I'm tragically boring. I also love trying to understand the motivations of a person that, in real life, I might not understand (or want to).

DH: I like that concept. It reminds me of watching people in the mall or on the street and making up histories for them. You must get ideas all the time. How do you latch onto an executable story?

Courtney: I wish I knew! Every idea that turns into a novel is sometimes preceded by several that . . . don't. It drives me crazy! I'll get 50 pages into something that'll fall to pieces spectacularly and I'll be like, cries. I never see it coming until it happens, either. So I spend a lot of time writing with one hand and crossing my fingers with the other. Sometimes I write desperate letters to my ideas:
Dear idea,
PLEASE become a fully realized novel.
Love, Courtney

DH: It’s so hard when an idea or a full-fledged story doesn’t work out! But once you have locked onto an idea, what is your writing process?

To view this interview in its entirety, click here.

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