Today is Indigenous Literacy Day! ❤️💛🖤⁣
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The Indigenous Literacy Foundation are focussed on improving literacy levels in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and closing the literacy gap.⁣
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Today at 12.30pm, they will be presenting an online event designed for children 3-11 years of age. Primary schools, libraries and early education centres are invited to join this special online session, (today is the premiere but it will be available on their YouTube channel after today). ⁣
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Viewers are encouraged to donate a gold coin on the day of viewing and engage in the value of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ first languages. Funds go towards the purchase of books and learning resources for children in remote communities.⁣
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Follow @IndigenousLiteracyFoundation to find out more about their important work and check out the event on the YouTube page. ⁣

Last Friday was Wear It Purple Day! 💜🏳️‍🌈✨⁣
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We work with some incredible speakers who are tireless advocates for LGBTQIA+ rights.⁣
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To our speakers Nevo Zisin, Daniel Witthaus, Jessica Walton, and projectrockit cofounders Lucy Thomas and Rosie Thomas: we are so grateful for the work you do each day to combat bullying and encourage equality and resilience, especially amongst young people. Today we want to recognise your dedication and say a special thank you. 💜⁣
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#WeAreTheChange #WearItPurpleDay2020

Happy (what would have been) Book Week! 🎉🎉🎉

Though the official 2020 Book Week dates are now October 17-23, we know that many schools and libraries across the country are still celebrating this week. (Or if you’re like us you celebrate books all year round!) So, we just wanted to say happy reading and wish you all the best with your festivities.

If you’re celebrating in October, and you’re as excited as we are, add some literary magic to your plans with a special author or illustrator visit! We have a diverse range of speakers available for bookings in October and throughout the year, online and in-person*.

Whether you’re after a writing seminar, illustration workshop, story-time reading or an entertaining performance – we’ve got the speaker for you.

Get in touch today to discuss your Book Week activities, we’re always happy to chat all things literary!

*Depending on your state’s and the speaker’s restrictions.

Also check out Lia Hills’ Still Life Haiku Project!

Poet and novelist, Lia Hills, has created an instructional video about how to capture your experience of this time through haiku. The video makes for a readymade lesson for remote learning, complete with a teacher worksheet.

You can view the video here: https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Experience/The-Arts/Still-Life/Still-Life-Haiku

It would be an understatement to call the Booked Out-ers word nerds. We don’t just read books, we eat them up for breakfast!  That’s why we’re super excited to see the shortlisted titles for the 2020 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. If only our local libraries were open – we’d be knocking down the doors to borrow them all!

To read the full blog post about the 2020 prize, and view the shortlisted titles and authors, click here for the Readings post.

If you’re based in Melbourne and desperate for a new book to read, the fantastic workers at Penguin have compiled a list of Bookshops in Victoria that are offering online and phone orders. Click here to find your local bookseller and maybe order a book or two (the Readings shortlist beckons!)

The wonderful Nat Amoore is running a little competition on social media for all the Victorian schools in lockdown. Go in the draw to win:

💰 3 x copies of SECRETS OF A SCHOOLYARD MILLIONAIRE

🌎 3 x copies of THE POWER OF POSITIVE PRANKING

🦆 1 x copy of TOTAL QUACK UP AGAIN

📚 $100 voucher for more books at The Little Bookroom

‍💻a 30 minute Q&A Zoom session with Nat Amoore!

To enter, just post a photo of an Australian kid’s book you love on Twitter or Instagram, tag and follow @nat_amoore and #natsbrain so she can find you.

Anyone can enter, but the prize must go to a Victorian school in lockdown.

Good luck!

There’s nothing better than a new book to keep you company during lockdown (or semi lockdown!) and there’s none better than one that’s only just hit the shelf!

Our authors and illustrators are constantly releasing new works that take our breath away, and this week we are excited to shine a spotlight on the following talented creators.

These authors and many others can be booked to speak to your students or library patrons – to contact us, email bookings@bookedout.com.au, or call 03 9824 0177.

Maxine Beneba Clarke – When We Say Black Lives Matter

A vital and timely picture book from the prize-winning and bestselling Australian author Maxine Beneba Clarke

Little one, when we say Black Lives Matter,
we’re saying black people are wonderful-strong.
That we deserve to be treated with basic respect,
and that history’s done us wrong.

From birth to the end of school, in joy and in sorrow, on the trumpet and the djembe, at home and in the community, a black child’s parents remind him why Black Lives Matter.

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Kate Mildenhall – The Mother Fault

You will not recognise me, she thinks, when I find you . . .

Mim’s husband is missing. No one knows where Ben is, but everyone wants to find him – especially The Department. And they should know, the all-seeing government body has fitted the entire population with a universal tracking chip to keep them ‘safe’.

But suddenly Ben can’t be tracked. And Mim is questioned, made to surrender her passport and threatened with the unthinkable – her two children being taken into care at the notorious BestLife.

Cornered, Mim risks everything to go on the run to find her husband – and a part of herself, long gone, that is brave enough to tackle the journey ahead.

From the stark backroads of the Australian outback to a terrifying sea voyage, Mim is forced to shuck off who she was – mother, daughter, wife, sister – and become the woman she needs to be to save her family and herself.

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We are so proud of the way our speakers have adapted to these difficult times. Amongst balancing new workloads and commitments, our speakers have been incredibly resilient, and risen to the challenge of COVID-19 with fantastic online sessions.

Don’t just take our word for it, read on for glowing reviews of recent online sessions, delivered in top-notch quality.

Click here to view our full list of speakers who are offering online sessions, and don’t forget that due to this new initiative, you can now book authors and illustrators from thousands of kilometres away without the pricey travel costs!

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BRIAN FALKNER – St Andrews Lutheran College, April 2020

“Brian was entertaining, engaging and so well-organised! The little activities he planned were relevant to the unit and super effective. All of the students enjoyed the visit and his clever sense of humour!”

“I thought Brian was great at engaging multiple students and his content appealed to them. My students thought he was great and really appreciated how he interacted with them on a personal level. As a teacher, I found his explanation of the importance of character in a story, really insightful.”

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MARK SMITH – St Kevin’s College, August 2020

“Mark did an outstanding job with presenting online to our Year 8 students. Even though it was not possible for our students to be interactive, Mark still delivered a highly engaging presentation which captivated our students’ attention and gave them many useful tips and hints for their own writing. He answered all of our previously sent questions and many students contacted him via social media afterwards. I would highly recommend other schools engage Mark for an online presentation during this remote learning period. Julie Pagliaro – Head of Libraries, St Kevin’s College”

A big congratulations to all the wonderful authors who have been shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards in fiction, non-fiction, young adult, children’s, short story, poetry and emerging writer categories.

The finalists include Booked Out’s very own Anna Krien for Act of Grace (Fiction Book Award), Alice Bishop for A Constant Hum (University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection) and Tristan Bancks for Detention (Griffith University Children’s Book Award).

State Library of Queensland proudly manages the awards in collaboration with sponsors, industry partners and the writing community.

See the full shortlists for each category here.

An update from the Booked Out team:⁣
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Following the announcement of Stage 4 restrictions in Victoria, the Booked Out office will be closing its doors for 6 weeks. We will continue to operate remotely.⁣
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This is an evolving situation, and we are ready to answer any questions you may have about your bookings. You can reach us by phone or email and we will be happy to assist with your enquiry. ⁣
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Take care and stay safe. ❤️⁣
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(03) 9824 0177⁣
bookings@bookedout.com.au

Welcome to August! Wait, August?! Nope, we can’t believe it either (wasn’t time frozen back in March?).

If you’re steadily making your way through your TBR list in iso and are feeling panicked that you can start to see the bottom, have no fear. Our fantastic speakers have been busy at work, writing exciting and engaging stories for all readers. Read on for new and upcoming releases from Booked Out speakers this week!

Archie Fusillo – Tribal Lores
When the “new” neighbours, Frankie Rescio’s newest mate Lochie Marsh’s parents, invite his family over for an Australia Day BBQ, Frankie knows the idea is fraught with danger. It’s not just that the two families have their own take on the world and how it functions. They have each created a suitable veneer of respectability to mask the fractures and dysfunctions that might otherwise tear their lives apart. Each family holds fast to its own tribal lores of what is and isn’t ‘normal’ in a world that needs to be held at arm’s length for the sake of survival-the individual and the family’s both. Frankie Rescio is in Year 10. His sister is dead. His younger brother is about to start Year 7 at Frankie’s school, and next door, Lochie is about to have his already less-than-perfect world invaded by an estranged family member, his now pregnant half-sister Emma and her layabout boyfriend. Just when it seems each family’s life had found a safe passage between ‘them’ and ‘us’, Frankie and Lochie inadvertently construct a rickety bridge that may prove too perilous to cross, even as everyone is forced to.

Deb Abela – Bear in Space (ill. Marjorie Crosby-Fairall)
Bear has plans to change his world, one space adventure at a time, and discovers just how far you can go with someone by your side.

Bear is different. When he dreams of going into space, the other bears laugh. But Bear has plans to change his world, one space adventure at a time. In space he feels at home, but also alone, until something extraordinary happens. He discovers just how far he can go with someone by his side. A richly imagined story that celebrates difference, self-belief and the way friendship and acceptance can empower someone to build a better world.

Tim Harris – Toffle Towers 3: Order in the Court
The adventures at Toffle Towers hotel continue as the manager – 10-year-old Chegwin Toffle – battles with blizzards, rioting guests and hostile takeover attempts!

Join Chegwin Toffle for more fun and frolics as Toffle Towers gets snowed in. Amid the snowball fights, things start to go wrong when guests’ precious belongings go missing and Brontessa Braxton launches yet another assault to take over the hotel.

Will Chegwin catch the culprit? Will he be able to beat Brontessa in court to save his beloved hotel and staff? And will he ever find the missing room 50 and the hotel’s mystery guest?

Adrian Beck – Derek Dool Supercool 2: Going Viral (ill. Scott Edgar)
DEREK DILBERT DOOL returns in another SUPERCOOL adventure! Thankfully, so do his friends Booger and Big Denise.

After accidentally going viral, Derek is now on a mission to DELIBERATELY go viral! After all, what’s more SUPERCOOL than being an internet hit? The only problem is, none of his ideas are quite working out as he expected. But Derek’s not the type to give up. No way! He is determined to achieve VIRAL VICTORY – even if it’s the last thing he ever does.

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With lockdown back on the cards for Victoria, Booked Out always encourages buying books from your wonderful local booksellers, many of whom are offering delivery or contactless pick up! Take care everyone!