This year’s Young Australian’s Best Book Awards (YABBA) took place on Tuesday at Sacre Coeur in Glen Iris.

The celebratory morning saw over 20 authors and illustrators come together to celebrate 30 years of children’s literature.

Booked Out would like to congratulate the organisers on a wonderful event, and the winners of course!

The winners were:

Picture Storybooks

Pig the Pug – Aaron Blabley, Scholatic

Fiction for Younger Readers

You Choose: The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove – George Ivanoff, Random House

Fiction for Older Readers

The 52-Storey Treehouse – Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan

Fiction for Year 7-9

Two Wolves – Tristan Bancks, Random House

The winners of this years awards were chosen through the Reading & Enjoying Australian Literature (REAL) Awards shortlist.

In recognition of his long-time support of the YABBAs, Richard Bennet was awarded The Graham Davey Citation, presented in memory of the former YABBA president.

The YABBAs have been running since 1985, and seek to provide children with a voice in the Australian book industry by encouraging them to read, recommend, rate and reward the books they enjoy the most.

Please click here if you would like more information about the YABBAs.

Be sure to tune in to Insight on SBS tonight at 8:30 pm to catch Dr Arne Rubinstein!

The program will take a look at the transition from boy to man, and the many diverse, fascinating, dangerous and sometimes painful rituals which mark this transition.

Jenny Brockie will be speaking to a range of males, including Dr Arne Rubinstein about what helped shape their identity as a man, and whether boys need rituals to successfully transition into manhood.

Booked Out extends congratulations to Michael Robotham who has taken out the British Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger for the best crime novel of the year.

He received the award in London for Life or Death.

Stephen King has described Life or Death as ‘…a nerve-shredding thriller with the heart and soul so often missing from lesser crime and suspense novels. I couldn’t stop reading, yet I didn’t want Audie’s story to end. Robotham is an absolute master.’

To read more excellent reviews, visit http://www.michaelrobotham.com/index.asp?pagename=books+life+or+death

Wednesday September 9th saw a stellar line up of young adult writers, teachers, librarians, publishers gather at the 100 Story Factory in Redfern to launch the Stella in Schools program in New South Wales.

It was an enthusiastic audience who heard from authors Randa Abdel-Fattah, JC Burke, Emily Maguire and Erin Gough on a panel moderated by Bec Kavanagh and introduced by Aviva Tuffield.

The Stella in Schools program is designed for girls and boys years 7 – 12 and includes school visits by notable Australian writers, educators and publishers, writing workshops, teaching notes on all Stella Prize shortlisted books (years 10 – 12), resources for all secondary levels and PD opportunities for teachers and librarians.

There was a spirit of great camaraderie amongst the writers and their supporters with everyone sharing the desire to raise the profile of women writers… not just on the curriculum in each state but in the community and press. It was a festive event to launch Stella into NSW schools.

Pictured from left to right: Randa Abdel-Fattah, JC Burke, Erin Gough, Emily Maguire and Bec Kavanagh. Photograph by Connor Tomas O’Brien

The shortlist for the 2015 Inky Awards was announced late last month, so if you are aged between 12 and 20, get in there and place your vote!

The shortlist for 2015 is as follows:

Gold Inky Award shortlist:

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil (Hardie Grant Egmont)
Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier (Allen & Unwin)
Laurinda by Alice Pung (Black Inc)
The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Protected by Claire Zorn (University of Queensland Press)

Silver Inky Award shortlist:

Bird by Crystal Chan (Text Publishing)
Spark by Rachael Craw (Walker Books)
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Allen & Unwin)
Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson (Simon & Schuster)
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (PanMacmillan)

Congratulations to all who made the list. We’ll be tuning in on Tuesday the 13th of October to see which books are named as the Gold and Silver Inky Winners in 2015.

For more information, visit https://insideadog.com.au/vote

Last week we made a big to-do of the CBCA Book of the Year awards, but now it is time to re-direct the spotlight to another superstar who was  honored on the day, illustrator Michael Camilleri.

The Crichton Award for New Illustrators was awarded to Michael for his extraordinary work on the picture book, One Minute’s Silence, written by David Metzenthen.

One Minute’s Silence is a book about Gallipoli and Remembrance unlike any other. Readers are invited to imagine soldiers’ experiences from both sides of a conflict, to empathize with defenders and invaders in turn. This is bought to life by Michael’s illustrations which use an array of techniques and ideas, from comics, maps, technical illustrations and the use of contemporary year 12 students in place of both turks and diggers.

Please see Michael in action at a school below – thanks to Ange Ritchie for allowing us to share her fantastic photos.

(And don’t worry, Michael isn’t angry, he is just showing his ‘disgust’ face whilst discussing facial expressions)

If you would like to find out more about Michael, and his session on One Minute’s Silence, please click here

What a great beginning to Book Week 2015. We are so thrilled to celebrate the fantastic books that have been honored today in the 2015 CBCA awards!

We would like to make special mention of the joint-winner of three of the categories, Freya Blackwood, whose illustrations will light up any young readers world.

Here is the full list of winning and honour books:

Older Readers
Winner
The Protected Claire Zorn
Honour Books
Nona & Me Clare Atkins
The Minnow Diana Sweeney

Younger Readers
Winner
The Cleo Stories: The Necklace and the Present Libby Gleenson, Ill. Freya Blackwood
Honour Books
Two Wolves Tristan Bancks
Withering-by-Sea: a Stella Montgomery Intrigue Judith Rossell

Early Childhood
Winner
Go to Sleep, Jessie! Libby Gleenson, Ill. Freya Blackwood
Honour Books
Scary Night Lesley Gibbes, Ill. Stephen Michael King
Noni the Pony goes to the Beach Alison Lester

Picture Book
Winner
My two Blankets Irena Kobald and Freya Blackwood
Honour Books
One Minute’s Silence Michael Camilleri and David Metzenthen
The Stone Lion Ritva Voutila and Margaret Wild

Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Winner
A-Z of Convicts in Van Diemen’s Land Simon Barnard
Honour Books
Tea and Sugar Christmas Jane Jolly, Ill. Robert Ingpen
Audacity: Stories of Heroic Australians in Wartime Charlie Walker

We extend our best wishes and congratulations to all of the authors, illustrators and publishers behind these books, and all the books that made it to the 2015 shortlist.

To view the full list of nominees visit the CBCA website.

After seeing more than 70 of his books published, Michael Wagner has now launched his own micro-publishing company Billy Goat Books. 

The first title to be released with Billy Goat Books is Michael’s latest work, Pig Dude: He can do ANYTHING!

Releasing in late August 2015, this hair-raising and heart-warming adventure has a little bit of everything, for everyone. The young (and young at heart) will be delighted by Pig Dude’s attempts to fly, by almost any means – often resulting in a bruised ego and a bare bottom along the way…

For more information about Billy Goat Books and Pig Dude: He can do ANYTHING! please visit www.billygoatbooks.com

We are thrilled to extend our congratulations to Trace Balla and Wendy Orr, who were both honored at the 2015 Environment Award for Children’s Literature last week.

Trace Balla’s hit book Rivertime took out the Picture Fiction award.

Wendy Orr’s book Rescue on Nim’s Island was award the Fiction prize.

The joint winners of the Non-Fiction category were Emu (Claire Saxby and Graham Byrne) and Our Class Tiger (Aleesah Darlison and Antonia Stylianou).

The Environment Award for Children’s Literature is an initiative of The Wilderness Society.

Pictured from top to bottom: Trace Balla, Wendy Orr and Morris Gleitzman welcoming the audience.

We are delighted to share some exciting news for Chrissie Perry! Following on from a display at the Bologna Book Fair, Simon and Shuster in the USA have acquired her ‘Penelope Perfect’ series.

Anticipated publishing dates for the first two books in the series, Project Best Friend and Very Private List for Camp Success is set for Summer 2016.

Pictured is Very Private List for Camp Success which was released by Hardie Grant Egmont in Australia yesterday.