The Inkys are the award in Australia that reflects what teenagers want to read. Voted for online by the readers of Insideadog (a project of the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria), there are three awards: the Golden Inky for an Australian book, the Silver Inky for an international book, and the Creative Reading Prize, won by a young person for a creative response to a book they love, in any format they choose.
Today, August 20, the 2009 Inky Awards have been launched online with the announcement of the award longlist by two of this year’s judges, Steph Bowe and Adele Walsh. Australian youth, their teachers and anyone else interested in Australian youth literature were encouraged to join in the free, interactive on-line launch - but if you missed it, you can still watch it by following the link at the end of Insideadog’s announcement here. It’s great to see The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki up for a Silver Inky!
On October 9 the shortlist will be announced and on-line voting begins. The winners will be announced on Thursday, November 26 at the State Library of Victoria. Everyone is invited to join in this free event, meet the winners, talk books and enjoy some special surprises!
The Centre for Youth Literature promotes reading as an active, pleasurable and essential activity for all young people. It also offers exciting and affordable book events for young people and professionals. Teenagers and children meet great writers and talented young actors - bringing reading to life. Professional learning programs and the biennial Reading Matters conference keep adults in touch with crucial issues and ideas in youth literature - read about events at this year’s conference in May here, here and here.
The Insideadog website is Australia’s number one website for teenagers about books. It’s chock full of features including news, book reviews, a writer-in-residence blog, author interviews, links, competitions and lots of opportunity for contributions from young readers! For anyone interested in youth literature, teens or otherwise, I highly recommend taking some time to browse this amazing site!
That's an interesting perspective. Food for thought.
Oh, I like that. It makes sense. Wear the skin instead of see the skin.
What a neat concept. Intimate. I like it.
Beth,
My Narrative Theory/Experimental Fiction professor would eat this up. We recently read Robbe-Grillet's novel Jealousy where the protagonist isn't mentioned at all, only inferred. Fascinating :)
Take care!
Kelsey
Oooh, I like that. I hate describing my main characters physical attributes. It always feels false to me. I'll hang on to this advice :^)
My c(b)p is in first person, and I'm not even sure what my narrator looks like. I only have a few vague ideas.
I am SO glad I'm not on this journey alone.
What an interesting way to look at it. I'll be mulling that over tonight...
...A.
Brilliant interview from Steph!
Fascinating perspective - I cetainly agree. I'm not mad keen on being told what a particular protagonist looks like down to the last detail.
Hmm, this is making me think back on some of my favorite books and whether or not the hero/heroine was described. I think it's a mix of both.