The Team at Booked Out are excited to announce our touring authors for 2017! See who is heading where below, and for specific dates check out our tour page.

Places are limited – get in quick to secure a spot for your school!

Melbourne

• Andrew Joyner & Ursula Dubosarsky
• Ben Wood
• Jack Heath
• James Moloney
• Michael Gerard Bauer
• Oliver Phommavanh
• Tim Harris
• Tristan Bancks
• Will Kostakis

Regional Victoria

• Andrew Joyner
• Davina Bell & Jane Godwin

Brisbane

• Ben Wood
• Jack Heath
• Oliver Phommavanh

Sydney

• Jack Heath
• Tristan Bancks

Adelaide

• Michael Gerard Bauer

Perth

• Craig Smith (NZ)

Author and illustrator Andrew Joyner has shared his illustration skills in sessions for students live in classrooms for the last few years.

Now, one of these lessons can be found online! Andrew is featuring in tutorials for ABC’s Splash, demonstrating how to draw the beloved elephant. The videos have been made in conjunction with The School Magazine, that Andrew illustrates for regularly, celebrating their 100 year anniversary.  The fun clips encourage kids to dig out their pencils and paper and have a crack at drawing animals through some simple shape-drawing tips.

Internationally published, Andrew still resides in South Australia and is able to venture out for school visits around Australia. Find the videos here and check out his Booked Out profile for more information!

Illustration by Andrew Joyner

Felice Arena is known for creating action packed worlds with words and illustrations, now, his series Andy Roid is hitting the screen!

The Australian Children’s Television Foundation are working with the ABC to produce the 26 part series following the adventures of Andy who is half boy, half robot and the youngest global intelligence spy in the world. So, one can imagine this will be a huge hit with the eight to 12 year old target audience.

After a jam-packed Book Week, we are very happy that Felice will be available for another week of Melbourne bookings in Term 4, between the 24th and 28 of October.

To read more about Andy Roid making the transition from page to screen visit http://actf.com.au/news/10303/from-book-to-screen-slr-announces-andy-roid-tv-series.

The Booked Out Team would like to pass on their congratulations to Rosalie Ham. The Dressmaker has come in as the top selling fiction title in Australia between July 2015 to June 2016, with 131 000 copies sold!

This is a tremendous success for an Australian title.

The Dressmaker was Rosalie’s first novel, published in 2000 then adapted to film in 2015. It then took out the title for Favourite Australian Film in the People’s Choice Awards in December last year.

Congratulations again Rosalie, we wish you every success!

Congratulations to Cath Crowley who launched her new book on Saturday! Booked Out director Lauris Pandolfini attended the celebration and has reported back with this amazing picture on the right.

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you – this is a cake!

Cath’s new book is set in a second-hand book shop, where mysteries abound and where readers write letters to strangers, to lovers, to poets. It is a love story, following two young characters, Henry Jones and Rachel Sweetie.

Australian Bookseller and Publisher has praised Words in Deep Blue in advance of it’s release:

Cath Crowley has created a sweeping story about self-discovery and growing up, filled with complicated and flawed characters … this is a love letter to books and bookshops, to the ocean, to falling in love and finding your way.

Words in Deep Blue is published by Pan Macmillan Australia.

For more information about Cath Crowley, visit https://bookedout.com.au/find-a-speaker/author/cath-crowley/

It is happening! Book Week 2016 has officially started, with the announcement of the 2016 Book of The Year Winners!

We send out our congratulations to everyone who made it to the list.

In particular we must give our extra special congratulations to Morris Gleitzman (Soon), Anna Walker (Mr Huff)  and Fiona Wood (Cloudwish) who all took out the top prizes in their categories, and of course Tony Wilson (The Cow Tripped Over the Moon), Freya Blackwood (illus. pf Perfect) and Coral Tulloch (illu. Phasmid: Saving the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect) who made the Honours list.

For a full list of the CBCA Book of the Year winners and honour books, check out the CBCA website.

This year we thrilled to be sending authors from around the country and overseas into schools here there and everywhere! If you are hosting an author, don’t be shy to tell us how it all goes!

This morning Eltham North Primary School hosted storyteller Anne E Stewart and had this to say:

She was absolutely fantastic!  The children and staff alike were mesmerised by her story telling and richness of stories.

Please pass on our greatest thanks to her for such an inspiring and wonderful gift.

Thanks to Anthea Eames for sharing her feedback!

So, here’s to it!

Happy Book Week everybody!

At Booked Out, we were all saddened to learn that Illustrator Kevin Burgemeestre passed away on 25th July.

He was a delightful, engaging man and much loved by the children’s book community – and beyond. He started doing school visits for Booked Out over seventeen years ago and was always an enthusiastic, entertaining presenter.  Such a gentle and funny man, Kevin is going to be much missed by not only his family and the writers and illustrators he worked with – but also the many teachers and librarians who have come to know him over these years.

A large gathering of family and friends farewelled Kevin and many tributes were made at a moving ceremony at Dromkeen on Sunday. It was a suitable venue for someone who contributed so much to the children’s literature world.

With Refugee Week just past (19 – 25 June), award winning playwright and Booked Outer Hannie Rayson has penned a timely piece on multicultural Dandenong for the Sydney Morning Herald’s Spectrum section.

The story features two of our very own Booked Out speakers, Mariam Issa and Abdi Aden, who recently spoke at the Drum Theatre’s Journeys of Courage event.

Both Mariam and Abdi fled Somalia as refugees, and since their arrival in Australia have made a real difference within the Melbourne community.

In 2012, Mariam started her organisation Resilient Aspiring Women, which aims to celebrate women and diversity and to assist women to nurture, connect, and engage in cross-cultural conversations.

Abdi has been a Youth Worker for over 13 years, and was the recipient of the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award. Abdi was also involved in the SBS documentary series, Go Back to Where You Came From.

Dandenong is one Victoria’s 40 official Refugee Welcome Zones, with 2200 migrants settling there each year, and is now the home of 3000 asylum seekers – the highest population of refugees in Victoria.

Photo credit: Eddie Jim via the Sydney Morning Herald.