Today in the office we are celebrating the International Day of The Girl. The theme of 2017’s October 11th celebration is “Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: A Global Girl Data Movement.”

Plan International has released the findings of a new survey of Australian girls, which has shown that 98% of girls don’t think they’re treated equally to boys. The research reports that there is a there is a ‘dream gap’ between “what girls aspire to in early life and what they believe is realistic for them as they become young adults.”

Girls and women are particularly under-represented in STEAM fields – there are more men named Peter than there are women in the top 200 ASX companies. Enter new Booked Out Speaker Ally Watson, who founded the ‘Code Like A Girl’ initiative to combat the issue of gender diversity in tech. They hold coding events Australia-wide, for girls from age 6 – 18.

Ally has also just started visiting schools to share her story, as well as to encourage and empower girls to pursue a career in STEAM fields.

See what’s happening to celebrate the #DayOfTheGirl at DayOfTheGirl.org, which monitors the day’s events all over the world, and read more about Ally Watson here.

As a company who deals with schools throughout Australia, Booked Out is aware of the increasing need for cyber education and safe practices. We have recently started working with the highly-regarded Cyber Safety Lady, Leonie Smith.

Leonie is a regular speaker at schools, where she goes into expert detail about various issues related to cyber safety. For further information on her sessions, please give us a call on 9824 0177 or send us an email at bookings@bookedout.com.au.

In the meantime, here is some information and helpful tips from the Australian Government for protecting your privacy online:

• Limit what you share
• Change passwords frequently
• Create strong passwords
• Back up your data regularly

You can find more information at the Stay Smart Online Week website

Today is the International Day to celebrate Teachers!

Celebrated in more than 100 countries world-wide, World Teachers’ Day was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1994 to recognise the role of teachers in society.

At Booked Out one of our favourite parts of the job is working with teachers. Teachers who work really hard to make author visits happen in their school and community. It is no mean feat pulling together the permission slips, funds, calendar dates, classroom logistics, projectors, microphones and all the small details which make incursions run.

So, hats off to you teachers! And even though they might not know it yet, your students are all super lucky to have you.

NB: for hats off instruction, please refer to the image on the right.

Writers Victoria have announced their Write-ability Fellowship winners for 2017 and this year the list includes our phenomenal speaker Jessica Walton. Author of the groundbreaking children’s book ‘Introducing Teddy’, Jessica will be using her fellowship opportunity to explore her own experiences with cancer, chronic pain, disability and chronic pain. She will use poetry, essays and letters to complete the collection.

You can read more about Jessica’s planned works and about the other winners by clicking the link here.

Congratulations Jess! We can’t wait to see your next inspiring book!

A few weeks ago a few of us were lucky enough to get along to the launch of Sofie Laguna’s latest adult novel, The Choke. Sofie spoke as an advocate for her characters, sharing their experiences and the world they inhabit. The Choke is set at the Murray River and tells the story of Justine as she grows up in a cruel world of poverty and violence.

Today we would like to share two fantastic review excerpts with you.

First up, Chris Gordon of Readings:

Laguna has beautifully captured the bewilderment of childhood and the emergence of adulthood in her character of Justine. It is so unquestionably heartbreaking. Reading becomes the sole purpose of the day. You cannot put the book down because you are immersed, completely and utterly, until the story finishes.

And from Helen Sullivan from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Laguna’s villains, like all of her characters, are sensitively drawn and terrifyingly real: deadly, damaged men to whom children and women cling in spite of themselves. Laguna is sensitive to the complexity of Justine’s relationship to her father. She is also unforgiving of his actions.

Justine becomes the target of violent revenge for her father’s crime. Pushed to the brink of death and sanity, she finally starts to fight back, and the slingshot is released. The Murray’s banks touch at the choke; the book races to the finish line. The stone Laguna lets fly ricochets inside you for days afterwards.

With our next Booked Out Book Club coming up we are all passing The Choke around the office with relish. We hope you will get a chance to read it too.

Writers Victoria this week announced their new appointed Director, Angela Savage.

Author and Booked Out speaker, Angela has been influential in the local writing industry through her published works, her school talks and workshops, and her classes for adults. With experience leading other organisations and programs, we have no doubt Angela will excel in her new position and we wish her all the very best!

Author and performer Justin Heazlewood will be presenting an afternoon of storytelling on Sunday 24 September at Bella Union, Trades Hall, Carlton.

Wednesday 6 September marks Indigenous Literacy Day, a national day to celebrate Indigenous culture, stories, language and literacy. This is a day to work towards closing the literacy gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous children, with donations helping to provide books and literacy programs to remote communities across Australia.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation encourages us all to participate in this day  – here are some suggestions:

• Hold a Great Book Swap
• Make a donation through their website
• Hold a literacy event such as a book launch or storytelling session
• Take an ILF donation box to work or school
• Advocate for us on social media and tag @IndigenousLiteracyFoundation on Facebook and @IndigneousLF on Twitter with #ILD2017

You can also go to the ILF website to buy a book!

For more information or to make a donation, visit the Indigenous Literacy Foundation HERE

This week in the Booked Out office we are celebrating the release of Take Three Girls, the highly anticipated collaboration between three of our wonderful speakers: Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell and Fiona Wood. Pictured is the Take Three Girls cake from the launch at Readings Hawthorn – it tasted as good as it looks!

Take Three Girls is a tale of unlikely friendship, cyber-bullying and feminism, exploring the challenges facing young women today. This book is the perfect read for year 9-10 students navigating the tricky waters of relationships and social media.

A couple of us were lucky enough to hear these three fabulous authors speak at Melbourne Writers Festival today – now it’s safe to say we are even more excited to dive into Take Three Girls, and our office copy is in hot demand!

Congratulations Cath, Simmone, and Fiona!

Today one of our agents Hannah was lucky enough to get in on the Book Week action, and visited Pascoe Vale South Primary School to see the brilliant Fiona Harris and Scott Edgar talk about their new series, the Super Moopers!

The grade 2 and 3 students were treated to a rousing song about Moopertown, which also helped to wake up Scott. They saw how Fiona and Scott worked together to come up with the character designs for the Moopers (the inhabitants of Moopertown) and some of the preliminary names for the series. They also learnt that Every Picture Tells a Story (a very important take home message).

At the end of the session Fiona and Scott read the story of Dramatic Dom, and then created a new Super Mooper character, Fearless Freddie (pictured below). Scott showed how the face and body language of a character helps us understand their mood.

Here is some feedback from Inga Spyrou, a grade 2/3 teacher at Pascoe Vale South Primary School:

On Wednesday the 23^rd of August, Pascoe Vale South P.S. had the privilege of being thoroughly entertained by the hilarious Fiona Harris and Scott Edgar. Fiona (Author) and Scott (Illustrator) created the extremely colourful and energetic series, The Super Moopers.
Fiona and Scott were absolutely fantastic! The students, and staff, were captivated the entire time. Dramatic Dom, Giggling Gertie, Musical Markus and Nervous Nellie will definitely win a place in every child’s heart. Fiona and Scott, these Super Moopers are an absolute credit to you both. Congratulations and thank you.

A big thank you to Fiona, Scott and Pascoe Vale South Primary School for letting Hannah tag along for the session.