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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 […]

It’s not enough to just want something and hope that it will be delivered  to you on a silver platter. Unfortunately for most of us, life isn’t that simple. What we try to teach our kids is that you absolutely can achieve your aspirations, your goals, your dreams, but it takes work, persistence and determination. […]

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 ... →

Susanne Gervay is an award-winning author, speaker, recipient of the Order of Australia and all-round dynamo. She rushed into my life last year at the Central Queensland Literary Festival. I had the pleasure of sharing an apartment, and lots of stories with Susanne during our week-long visit to schools in Rockhampton and Emerald. Her energy was […]

What a buzz – writers, illustrators, publishers – pitches, publishing panels, brilliant masterclasses, launches, the magnificent illustrator duet with Stephen Axelson and Bruce Whately …

Melina Marchetta’s outstanding keynote about the adaptation of On Jellico Road into a Hollywood feature film – watch out for it …

and wonderful food by Vincent at The Hughenden  …

the dinner dance party with the fabulous Beatnickers of Meredith Costain, James Foley, Scot Chambers and on drums Mark Greenwood – thankyou Wolfie for being a ring in – and the wild singing and hilarity

…. and more and more and more … best ever SCBWI Australia and new Zealand Conference at The Hughenden!!!!!

The post Exhilerating, Amazing Friendships Across the Kids’ Publishing Industry at Sydney SCBWI appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

On Saturday I went to Richmond Library for the launch of a rather amazing new picture book, Gracie and Josh. It was a launch that had everything — lots of people, a fabulous book, a chocolate cake and even Hazel Edwards. What more could you want?

Gracie and Josh is written by Susanne Gervay and illustrated by Serena Geddes. The book was ably launched by Hazel Edwards, no stranger to picture books herself, having written the classic There’s a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake. She paid tribute not only to the author and illustrator, but also to the publisher, Ford Street Publishing, for taking a risk on such book. Also speaking at the launch was a representative of Variety: The Children’s Charity, which has endorsed this book.

Gracie and Josh is about a little girl and her older brother. Josh has cancer and sometimes has to go to hospital and sometimes has bad weeks when he can’t get out of bed. Despite this, the book is not at all a downer. It is joyful and hopeful and fun and utterly delightful. It focusses on the relationship between Josh and Gracie rather than on Josh’s illness — in fact, the word ‘cancer’ is never actually used in the text.

The illustrations are beautiful. They complement the text and ‘say’ things that are not said with the words. Josh’s lack of hair makes his illness obvious without the need for using the word ‘cancer’. Gracie’s expression when Josh’s beanie falls off, says so much about her feelings for her brother without the need to specify them with words. This book is a perfect combination of words and pictures, each working with the other rather than just mirroring.

This book works on a couple of different levels, very aptly demonstrated by my daughters. While at the launch, my elder daughter read the book to her younger sister. Lexi is four years old, and although she understood that Josh was sick, she didn’t really understand the gravity of that situation. She just enjoyed the fun aspects of the story and the relationship between the siblings. Nykita is almost ten, and she did understand the implications of Josh’s illness. But still, the joy in the story is what she took away from it.

Gracie and Josh is a really lovely book. I heard much talk at the launch about how it would make a good gift for kids who have ill family members. And yes, that is true. But I think it has much wider appeal. As I wrote earlier, it is the love shared by siblings that is the focus of the story. And love is universal.

Catch ya later,  George

Catch ya later,  George

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Head on over to the PaperTigers website, where you will find hundreds of Cats and Dogs waiting to greet you.  I exaggerate only slightly for one of our new features is a Gallery of Korean artist Chinlun Lee‘s work, including illustrations from her delightful picture book The Very Kind Rich Lady and Her One Hundred Dogs.

Japanese illustrator Kae Nishimura also features in our Gallery; and we have new interviews with illustrator Meilo So from her home in the Scottish Shetland Islands and Australian Aboriginal elder and storyteller Gladys Milroy, co-author with her daughter Jill Milroy of our Book of the Month, Dingo’s Tree (Magabala Books, 2012).

Also from Australia, Susanne Gervay has written a Personal View about “The Images of Dogs in Ships in the Field” – Ships in the Field is her latest book and was a project close to her heart since it relates part of her childhood as the daughter of Hungarian refugees.

Our featured authors and illustrators all share stories and photographs of the dogs and cats in their lives.  In the early days of the PaperTigers Blog, Janet wrote a post about reading to her family’s huskies when she was a child.  In my own family, you will often find the dog curled up next to (or on top of) whoever is reading – and over the next couple of months we invite you to send us your photos and/or stories of reading time shared with a pet to be featured here on the Blog – please do email them to me, marjorieATpapertigersDOTorg – we’d love to hear from you.

Susanne Gervay, illustrated by Anna Pignataro,
Ships in the Field
Ford Street Publishing, 2012.

Ages: 8+

“Every night Brownie and I wait for Papa to come home.” – and when he arrives, “Round and round we whirl.”  This joyous ritual provides the opening sequence of Ships in the Field, a story whose essence is perhaps distilled into the notion of the transcendental power of love.  Acclaimed Australian author Susanne Gervay (I Am Jack, That’s Why I Wrote This Song) has based the story on her own childhood as the daughter of Hungarian refugees.  Told through the eyes, perception and narrative voice of a likeable, effervescent little girl, we learn that her beloved, funny Papa works in a car factory but used to be a farmer “in the old country, before it was broken”; and quiet, withdrawn Ma, who seems to have forgotten how to smile, was a teacher and now “sews dresses all day long”.  The girl’s confidante is her soft toy dog Brownie but she also longs for a real dog.

Every Sunday the family goes into the countryside and Papa says, “Look at the ships in the field.”  This makes the little girl giggle, for it conjures up a funny image, but it makes her sad too, because other people laugh at the way her father speaks – and so she staunchly joins him in his pronunciation of the word “sheep”.  One Sunday, near the “woolly ships”, she finds something very precious that signals a new chapter for all the family.

The undercurrents in the story are felt in the girl’s awareness of aspects of her family’s past.  It is never mentioned in her presence but it weighs on her nevertheless, and she confides in Brownie, “I don’t like war.”  Anna Pignataro’s beautiful watercolour illustrations perfectly capture the emotions – love, pain, joy – that emanate from the story.  As well as the ever-faithful Brownie, vignettes of a real dog appear throughout the story; and two notable sequences merge events from the past, depicting war and flight through the second-hand filter of the little girl’s knowledge and imagination.  The rough pencil outlines underlying the watercolours imbue the illustrations with energy and a sense of movement that is further emphasised in the variety of page layouts: the use of continuous narrative is particularly effective.

Ships in the Field is itself a multi-layered term, from straightforward mispronunciation to providing scope for metaphorical and poetic interpretation – or simply delight in its nonsense.  While offering a warm reading experience for young children, the book also poses questions for older readers and adults about how much young children can or should know about painful elements in a family’s past; and about the damage that can be caused by not bringing the past into the open, when children have already absorbed more than adults give them credit for.  Each rereading of this perfect synthesis between spoken and visual narrative offers something new, through the nuance of the writing or a dawning awareness of a visual motif.  Above all, Ships in the Field is a very special picture book of extraordinary depth, that carries a message of hope and reassurance that time does and will heal.

Marjorie Coughlan
October 2012

I’m thinking I may be a country person after all.  My father was a farmer.

I just love the bush, the villages, the ‘ships in the field’ and cows.

Also love the beautiful birds and our kangaroos.

The kids of Cundletown Public School live in beautiful countryside.

It was great talking as an ambassador for the National Year of Reading to the kids.

Also shared NO to School Bullying with I AM JACK.

We’ve all just got to keep schools safe – so that kids can be all they can be.

They LOVE Jack.

Bamboozled, bemused, befuddled – not all the authors were as muddled as I was, despite the excellent presentation by James Simango CPA.

Published, unpublished, e-book writers and traditional writers taking our books to the USA and trying to navigate Amazon and  the tax system.

It was great to catch up with Lachlan Jobbins editor and writer, and former programme manager at the NSW Writers Centre. More importantly Lachlan is a home dad – looking after his cute 18 month son – many Mum’s ideal dad.

Author Felicity Pulman who has both a traditional publisher and has published her e-books – the last 2 of the  historical medieval young adult Janna Mysteries.

The GM Steve Wimmer was a great MC.

Congratulations to the ASA for working towards authors understanding the US market.

I’m grateful to teh ASA for the evening, as my Butterflies and I AM JACK have just been published USA and I know a bit more now.

Duncan Ball was a fabulous MC with hundreds of kids, 40 schools, the best of Australian kids and young adult authors and illustrators at the annual Bookfeast in Sydney’s West.

The Q & A Session was fun with witty comments by:-

Andy Griffiths author of ‘The Day My Bum Went Psycho’

John Heffernan author of “Charlie Carter” series

Deborah Abela,of Max Remy Super Spy fame

Richard Newsome, journalist and author of ‘the Billionaire’s Curse’

John Flanagan of Ranger’s Apprentice series.

It was a feast of authors and illustrators – Oliver Phommavanh, Moya Simons, Anna Feinberg, Belinda Murrell, William Kostakis, Sadami konchi, Jacqueline Harvey, Gabrielle Lord of Conspiracy 365 success and more, more, more …..

With more than 30 schools  Villawood North to Haberfield – and the kids were fantastic.

I’m still gathering my thoughts from the wonderful experience that was the IBBY Congress in London Thursday to Sunday 23-26 August.  Four days of inspirational speakers and meeting kindred spirits from all over the world.  I’ve now added a selection of photographs to our Flickr – you can see them here.  I haven’t quite finished tagging and describing yet, but I’m getting there… and here is a smaller selection for you to enjoy on the blog – again, I’ve numbered them so that I can come back and label them!

A London children’s theatre company Theatre Peckham helped the Opening Ceremony go with a swing with their delightful performance of an extract from the theatre adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  Then fuelled with a piece of Wally’s delicious 25th birthday cake (but where was he?  Answer: everywhere, in the guise of the very game Imperial College staff!), we headed back to the auditorium for our first plenary session – and what a line up!  Three UK Children’s Laureates – the current reigning Julia Donaldson and two of her predeceesors, Michael Morpurgo and Anthony Browne.

Each spoke about what particular passions they had brought to their role as laureate: Michael  described how he and poet Ted Hughes had first come up with the idea, and how Hughes had been instrumental in making it all happen; Anthony played the ‘shape game’ and showed how it appears everywhere in his work and outside it; and Julia talked of the three areas close to her heart: enhancing children’s experience of reading through drama; keeping libraries open (a big issue in the UK); and promoting stories for and about deaf children.

Julia and her husband Malcolm, on guitar, then showcased some examples of what theatre can do to enhance literacy, from the chorus of a very fast Italian pasta song written while on holiday in Siena, Italy, to a virtuoso performance of The Gruffalo in French, German and (its most recent language) Scots.  In between, we were treated to the song that inspired Julia’s book A Squash and a Squeeze with audience participation… and I say treated, well, it was a real treat for me as I got to be the hen!  Thanks to Australian author Susanne Gervay (yes, that was one of my top thrills of IBBY, meeting Susanne in person…), you will shortly be able to see it on Flickr too – don’t laugh too much!!

Well, that was just the first few hours of the Congress – I will certainly be writing more about it over the coming weeks.  In the meantime, hello to all those PaperTigers friends I got to meet for the first time in real life – Shirin Adl, Candy Gourlay, Dashdondog Jamba; and to old friends and new.  I’ll now be dreaming of IBBY Mexico 2014…  In the meantime, head on over to Flickr and enjoy my photos – and much better ones on the official IBBY Congress 2012′s photostream.

Love being part of the Australian contingent.

Shaun Tan inspired a packed auditorium at Imperial College London.

Shan Tan is such a deep thinker but with lots of humour and self deprecation too. He accepts the frailties of life, observes, is in the malstrom of lifes he illustrates the human condition – its quirkiness, challenges, and that endless curiosity that drives us all.

Robin Morrow presenting on Bob Graham’s work which was great.

Loved Frane Lessac’s session with her colourful, celebratory picture books embracing all cultures.

Loved Mark Greenwood’s earthy, real work with indigenous communities in the West which he translates into significant historical picture books many illustrated by Frane Lessac.

In my own session on Ships in the Field,I explored how my personal story that translates to the universal story of an immigrant world seeking family, love and home.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS were but British academics Marjorie Couglan Editor of Paper Tigers respected e-journal and

Janet Evans Lecturer in Education Liverpool Hope University

both presented Australian Picture books including Arim Greder’s ‘Island; John Marsden’s and Matt Ottely’s ‘Home and Away’.

It  was a special day.

There are bookseller consultants from all over USA from Missouri, Texas, Utah, Oklahoma ….. and they love their books, their work and their authors.

We’re all in Tulsa for their big convention.

Randall White President and CEO of EDC is the publisher of Kane Miller Books and distributer of Usbourne Books is welcoming and enthusiastic. He’s also got a great sense of humour.

Peter Usborne publisher for Usbourne Books spoke about his company – Publisher of the Year 2012 which EDC distributes. He says his books are good enough to eat. They are wonderful and distributed in Australia by my Aussie publisher HarperCollins.

Kane Miller is EDC’s children’s trade list with the brilliant Kira Lyn who I’ve caught up with.

There’s a lovefest for ‘Butterflies’ by the Kane Miller consultants which is very special.

Last week was Anti-Bullying Week in Canada and in the UK, where there is currently a move to make the focus on this important issue last for the whole of November.   But of course, the issues highlighted don’t disappear when you’re not looking at them – in fact, bullies are usually very clever at keeping their actions hidden.  The message still needs to be got across at all times that bullying is not acceptable.  We adults have a responibility for teaching respect for others and ourselves, both through formal education and in the example we set in our own behavior.

I have recently been reading two books in which young people tell of their experiences of bullying in their own words, accompanied with photographs and names in most cases.

The first, We Want You to Know: Kids Talk About Bullying is by Deborah Ellis (Coteau Books, 2010), who is well-known for drawing attention to the plight of children around the world caught up in mess caused by adults, both in her fiction (The Breadwinner Trilogy, set in Afghanistan; and the Cocalero novels, set in Bolivia), and in her non-fiction (Off To War: Voices of Soldiers’ Children; Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees).  We Want You to Know brings together the stories of young people aged 9-19 who have been bullied, who have bullied others, and who “have found strength within themselves to rise above their situations and to endure.”  They are all from Ellis’ “little corner of Southern Ontario” in Canada, following her involvement in a local Name It 2 Change It Community Campaign Against Bullying (and, indeed, royalties from the sale of this book go to the organization).  At the same time, interspersed with the longer accounts from the Canadian children are shorter highlighted statements from children across the world – Angola, Japan, Madagascar, South Korea, Uganda, the US.  Yes, bullying happens everywhere.

The book is divided into five main sections, You’re Not Good Enough, You’re Too Different, You’re It—Just Because, We Want to Crush You, and Redemption.  Each account has a couple of follow-up questions, asking “What Do You Think?”, and then there are discussion questions at the end of the sections.

The other book is Bullying and Me: Schoolyard Stories by Ouisie Shapiro with photographs by Steven Vote (Albert Whitman, 2010).  Again, it features first-hand accounts of young people who the introduction reminds us, “had a hard time reliving their experiences”, while recognising the importance of not remaining silent, to remind others who are bullied that “you’re not alone.  And it’s not your fault.”  Each account is followed by useful summarising statements from Dr Dorothy Espelage, a psychologist specializing in adolescent bullying.

Both these titles are aimed at young readers – but make no mistake, they are hard-hitting books that deliver a punc

The night is balmy. There’s excitement at new books. Talented illustrators and authors gather over dinner at The Hughenden Hotel, Woollahra. It’s the first planning meeting for the Inetrnational SCBWI Conference next year.

Illustrators there included Andrea Edmunds, Jill Carter-Hansen, Lesley Vamos, Sarah Davis, authors Chris Cheng, Susanne Gervay, Margaret Roc, Deborah Abela, Oliver Phommavanh …… and the singing librarian Claire Stuckey from Gosford Library.

Plans include:-

Illustrator’s exhibition

Australian publishers

USA literary agent

the Book Ends – the fabulous band of Meredith Costain, Chris Cheng and Mark Wilson

and much more. 

My daughter Tory and I peer into Don Bosco House in inner city Marrickville.

The youth officer opens the locked front door, hands me a large knife and Tory a lighter for the gas stove and we head down the corridor.

We pass bedrooms, graffitti,  a billiard table, mix-match gym machines, a well worn mega lounge with a girl watching the TV, EminEm belting through the house, the dining room -

‘Here’s the pantry.  Up to you, what to cook.’

Tory & I look at each other. ‘For how many people?”

Around 10 and then the youth officer is gone and we’re in the kitchen.

It’s a search and discover expedition – our menu:-

Wholemeal pasta, tomatoes, onions, capiscum, bacon pieces, carrots, pesto sauce……and more. We start.

The knife is the bluntest knife possible. I cut the onions with big strokes. Tory’s into the chopping the tomatoes.

 Really liked meeting the kids. 

They chatted, talked about sharing Don Bosco House with 10 other kids. Don Bosco House was giving them a chance to work out their lives.

One girl was starting at TAFE. One young guy with plenty of studs in his face was starting work at a tattoo parlour doing piercings.

Some of the kids spoke to us, others didn’t. The staff were cool and everyone liked our mega pasta. 

What wasn’t eaten will be taken on the on the Youth off The Streets bus to feed homeless.

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www.nambook.org

‘Remember East Timor’  – I wrote the story and Frane Lessac illustrated it for ‘PEACE STORY’ – part of the Peace Children’s Festival on NAMI Island SouthKorea – where 22 authors, 22 illustrators, 22 countries participated in a unique anthology for Peace supported by IBBY Korea, UNICEF, YMCA … and the foreign embassies in Korea.

The anthology will be a beautiful book of art and story that is part of this festival that draws more than 400,000 visitors.

Frane Lessac just flew over from Western Australia to Sydney. We had a great breakfast at The Hughenden talking about this amazing experience. We’re featured on the programme – Frane is doing a special workshop – ‘Your own picture book’ and I am doing one called ‘Stop bullying’ – on my book I AM JACK that is translated into Korean as well as English.

Tom Neal Tacker who’s a fantastic travel writer. Check out his travel magazine – www.nakedhungrytraveller.com – The Naked Hungry Traveller.

He joined us as he often stays at the Hughenden, so it was fun to catch up. He’s going to Korea next week and plans to go to Nami Island and hopefully write about it.

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