It’s fair to say that the team at Booked Out are genuine book lovers. You can often spy us wandering down Brunswick st with a book in hand, trying to get as many chapters in as possible on our lunch break, or exchanging book recommendations over our morning coffee.

Our very own Georgia reviews Bri Lee’s memoir, Eggshell Skull – see below!

Bri Lee’s phenomenal new release, Eggshell Skull, is rapidly making its rounds around the Booked Out office. Intensely personal and perfectly timed, this powerful memoir asserts Bri as an important new Australian voice in the global #MeToo movement.

Eggshell Skull is devastatingly critical of the Australian legal system and how it disempowers complainants of sexual assault. The memoir follows Bri’s journey as a judge’s associate in Queensland, and concludes with Bri’s own battle for justice to hold her own assaulter accountable for an incident that occurred when she was a young girl.

Don’t be fooled by the soft-hued cover, Bri’s story is intensely and intimately told – revealing her continuing torment from her abuse, and covering her first-hand frustration with legal cases which consistently conclude with no convictions or minimal sentences for abusers.

Despite this, Eggshell Skull radiates a sense of power – the title referencing an inversion of a legal concept where assaulters are held accountable to the physical injury they cause to their victims, despite the victim’s weaknesses (being, if you punch a victim with an ‘eggshell’ thin skull and they die from their injuries, you cannot claim lesser fault as the victim was physically fragile).

Bri flips this concept on its head – creating the idea that her offender must take her as she is: an intelligent and well-educated legal professional, who has the guts, resources and support behind her to not back down when bringing her abuser to justice.

Already a confident and eloquent speaker, Bri is now available to be booked in the Brisbane region. Suitable for secondary schools and libraries, Bri is perfect for writing workshops, introducing students to feminism, and sharing her story of standing up for yourself in the face of tough adversity.

Booked Out acknowledges the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures; and to elders both past and present.

Saturday, the 26th of May was Australia’s National Sorry Day. We recognise the ongoing impacts of the trauma caused by the forced removal of Indigenous children from their culture, family, communities and Country. We hope that this day will be another step toward reconciliation, through understanding the ongoing dispossession and disadvantage Indigenous Australians have faced, and in turn be a call for justice and far better future.

#alwayswasalwayswillbe

Get reading – National Simultaneous Storytime is today at 11am!

Every year, a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops…or anywhere that you like to read! This event is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), and is celebrating it’s 18th year today.

This years’ simultaneous storytime picture book is the gorgeous Hickory Dickory Dash, written by Booked Out Speaker Tony Wilson, and illustrated by Laura Wood.

All you need to do to get involved is read Hickory Dickory Dash at 11am (AEST). Register your school, library or organisation here: alia.org.au/nss

Watch Tony’s invitation to storytime here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1nfxELQf0I

Happy storytime!

Delve into the magical world of Polly & Buster with best-selling author Sally Rippin…

Melbourne and Sydney Schools, listen up! To secure your place on Sally‘s exclusive book tour, keep reading…

The latest installment of Sally‘s Polly and Buster series is almost here. Polly and Buster and the Magic Stones is set to be released in June 2018, and to coincide with the release, Sally will be visiting Melbourne and Sydney schools to share her new title in June 2018.

This is an exclusive book tour, that will be filled up on a first-come, first-serve basis. Get in quick to secure a place for your school! Continue scrolling to get the who-what-when of this exclusive opportunity.

Exclusive Book Tour Competition!

Secure your school’s booking for Sally Rippin’s EXCLUSIVE tour and instantly go into the draw to win a complete set of Hardie Grant Egmont – Sally Rippin titles for your school library.

The winning school will also receive their author event free of charge!

The Details:

Melbourne: Tuesday 12th – Friday 15th June 2018

Sydney: Wednesday, 20th – Friday 22nd June 2018

Cost: $5 + GST per head, plus a $50 + GST booking fee.

Audience: Grades 1 – 4 (minimum audience size of 100, and the more the merrier)

Sally’s talk runs for 40 minutes, with time allocated for book sales & signings.

To book a Polly and Buster session with Sally at your school, please call Booked Out on 03 9824 0177 or email us today – this is an exclusive opportunity, so do get in quick!

Last Monday evening, the Booked Out team and around 100 students and teachers from all over Melbourne congregated at Library at the Dock to listen to award-winning author Maxine Beneba Clarke speak on her short story collection, Foreign Soil.

Maxine took the us through her writing process and the themes of the text, as well as giving students some creative writing tips for their upcoming SACS. A highlight of the evening was Maxine’s reading of her story Hope, which really brought the text alive for us.

Maxine’s presentation was followed by a Q&A session. It was fantastic to see so many students asking such insightful questions – we found ourselves wishing that the session could last several hours longer in order to get to everyone’s comments!

Thank you to all the students and teachers who attended, and if you missed out, watch this space – Booked Out will be announcing more Twilight Seminar events soon.

Booked Out’s April Twilight Seminar with Maxine Beneba Clarke is now at capacity.

If you missed out this time, don’t despair – watch this space, as we will be announcing more VCE events in the future. Give us a call or send us an email at bookings@bookedout.com.au to be added to the waitlist, and we can notify you of future events.

If you have secured a spot for your school, we look forward to seeing you and your students at the Library at the Dock on April 30.

Welcome to Term 2, teachers and librarians from Victoria and Queensland!

We hope you are feeling rested, relaxed and refreshed after your two-week break, and that you had the chance to curl up with a good book in between marking and preparation sessions. It is a suitably autumnal rainy day in Melbourne today, which has all of us at Booked Out HQ wishing we could hibernate under our doonas just a little longer….

But the show must go on! It’s not too late to get in for Book Week 2018 – there are still plenty of wonderful local authors, illustrators and storytellers available for August and beyond.

Before you get caught up in the whirlwind of the school term, feel free to get in touch and we can help you get the ball rolling on your speaker visits, provide recommendations, or chat about the best person to send your way in 2018.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Attention all VCE English and Literature Teachers!

Booked Out is excited to announce that we will be hosting a Twilight Seminar with Maxine Beneba Clarke, who will be speaking on her short story collection Foreign Soil.

This unique event will allow VCE students to deepen their understanding of Foreign Soil. Maxine’s comprehensive sixty-minute talk will cover the writing process, and discuss the works’ themes of race, resilience and diversity. This will be followed by a Q&A session.

With limited availability, this talk will be a ‘first-in, best-dressed’ event. Located at the Library at the Dock, this event is accessible via the Number 11 or 48 tram, or a 20 minute walk from Southern Cross station.

All the details are below:

Date: Monday, 30th April 2018
Time: 4.30pm – 6.30pm, with a 5.00pm start
Venue: Library at the Dock, 107 Victoria Harbour Promenade, Docklands 3008
Cost: $15.00 pp, incl. GST
RSVP: Friday, 20th April 2018

For further enquiries, please call Georgia Atkinson or Christina Cox on 03 9824 0177.

To secure your place at this event, please download and fill out the booking form, and email it to bookings@bookedout.com.au.

We look forward to seeing you and your VCE students there!

Today is International Women’s Day, so of course, let’s shout it out!

This year’s theme, #PressforProgress, demonstrates that across the world women are making positive gains day by day. From moving towards equality in sport, to championing the brilliant work of women in literature, we are thrilled to add the Booked Out voice in supporting all women to live freely and wholly.

Today we would also like to especially shout out to our friends at #codelikeagirl  who are working with Vodafone to help girls advance in STEM.

We would also like to acknowledge the efforts of women past to #PressforProgress. We can never forget the efforts of our forebears (including the Suffragettes pictured) in bringing us to the point we are at now.

So, to all our speakers, schools and friends who are championing International Women’s Day today, we salute you!

Last week, three Booked Out agents were thrilled to attend the CBCA Night of Notables, to get in on the latest action from the Children’s Book Council of Australia (VIC).

The evening was kicked off by Sarah Mayer Cox, primary school teacher and Lecturer in Education at LaTrobe University, who took us through the evolution of Book Week in Victoria, with some hilarious Book Week stories from her time as a primary teacher. We then heard from passionate creatives Demet Divaroren and Adam Wallace, who gave us some insight into the artists’ perspective and how they keep inspired.

The most exciting moment of the evening was, of course, the announcement of the CBCA Notable Titles for 2018 – and we were so excited to see so many Booked Out speakers on the list. Click through to see this year’s selection – the judges have some tough choices ahead of them!

Thank you to the CBCA for a wonderful evening celebrating the importance of Australian children’s and YA literature.

The image is of the wonderful Demet Divaroren, Winner of the Premier’s Literary Award for 2018 (and Booked Out Speaker!)