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.

We are thrilled to congratulate the booked-outers who have made the shortlist of the WA Premier’s Book Awards for 2016!

In the Children’s Books section we have Trace Balla who has been and her gorgeous graphic novel adventure Rivertime (Allen and Unwin, 2014), Elizabeth Honey (plus Alison Lester and the children of Gununa) for Our Island  (Viking, 2014), David Metzenthen and Michael Camilleri for One minute’s silence (Allen and Unwin, 2014) and Glenda Millard for  The Duck and the Darklings (Allen and Unwin 2014).

In the Young Adults section Nicole Hayes for One True Thing (pictured, Random House 2015), Sue Lawson for Freedom Ride (Black Dog Books, an imprint of Walker Books 2015) and Claire Zorn  for The Protected (University of Queensland Press 2014) all made the list.

We also have to give a shout out to Nakkiah Lui  who was shortlisted in the Scripts section for Kill the Messenger (Belvoir 2015).

Booked Out would like to wish all of these people our best wishes for the announcement of the awards!

Stay tuned to pba.slwa.wa.gov.au to keep up to date with the prize.

Past episodes have featured interviews from guests such as Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Carlton Board member Kate Jenkins, pioneering LGBTI advocate and ex-footballer Jason Ball, and footy journalist Sam Lane.

Earlier this year co-hosts Nicole Hayes and Alicia Sometimes edited the book From the Outer: Footy Like You’ve Never Heard It (Penguin), which brings together 30 personal stories about Aussie Rules from unexpected voices.

We think it’s pretty specky.

Booked Out would like to congratulate children’s author Corinne Fenton on a very special award!

Corinne’s picture book, Little Dog and the Christmas Wish was the inspiration for Myer’s 2015 Christmas window display, which was recently awarded second place at the Global Department Store Summit 2016 in the World’s Best Store Window Campaign at a Department Store. What a wonderful achievement!

The windows, set on Christmas Eve in Melbourne 1956, featured iconic local landmarks pictured in the book, such as Flinders Street Station, the Hopetoun Tea Rooms and the Skipping Girl neon sign.

The display was shown at both Melbourne’s Bourke Street store and Brisbane’s Queen Street store from November 10, 2015 – January 6, 2016.

Visual merchandiser Stage One has been responsible for Myer’s Christmas windows since 2010. To read more about the display, click here, or to read more about the Department Store Awards 2016, click here.

Image credit: Kid’s Book Review

A great line up of children’s authors and illustrators  were in attendance at the 12th National CBCA Conference last Friday & Saturday. Over 400 teachers, librarians and publishers from the four corners of Australia converged on sunny Sydney for  the event held at the Menzies Hotel.  A bonus for attendees was that the Sydney Writers Festival was held on the same weekend .

Its out! The CBCA Book of the Year shortlist has been announced, and some fine books have made the cut.

Congratulations to the following authors that we have the honor of working with.

Early Childhood

The Cow Tripped Over The Moon – Tony Wilson (Illust: Laura Wood)

Perfect – Danny Parker (Illust: Freya Blackwood)

Mr Huff – Anna Walker

Older Readers

The Flywheel – Erin Gough

Freedom Ride – Sue Lawson

Cloudwish – Fiona Wood

Younger Readers

The Cleo Stories: A Friend and a Pet – Libby Gleeson (Illust: Freya Blackwood)

Soon – Morris Gleitzman

Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars – Martine Murray

The Eve Pownall Award for Information Books

We are the Rebels: the Men and Women who made Eureka – Clare Wright

Check out the full list HERE

Booked Out would like to congratulate the winners of the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, including Booked Outer Alice Pung, whose novel Laurinda (Black Inc.) won the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature. Well Done!

Thirty judges had the formidable task of deciding upon a winner from a record 500 entries, selecting Indigenous writer Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu (Magabala Books) as Book of the Year. The culturally significant work, which uses the journals of early explorers to challenge the dominant narrative about the nature of pre-colonial Aboriginal culture was also awarded the first ever Indigenous Writers Prize.

We would also like to congratulate the following Book Outers who made the shortlist:

• Abdi Aden & Robert Hillman, Shining: The Story of a Lucky Man (HarperCollins) – Multicultural NSW Award
• Tony Birch, Ghost River (University of Queensland Press) – Christina Stead Prize for Fiction & Indigenous Writer’s Prize
• Brian Falkner, Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo (Pan Macmillan) – Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult’s Literature
• Sue Lawson, Freedom Ride (Black Dog Books) – Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult’s Literature
• Gabrielle Williams, The Guy, the Girl, the Artist and his Ex (Allen & Unwin) – Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult’s Literature

The Team at Booked Out look forward to reading our way through this impressive selection of Australian stories!