Exciting news for the township of Fish Creek in South Gippsland, Victoria… This weekend brings the opening of the Alison Lester Shop! The shop is the first ever Alison Lester concept store, and is situated close to where many of Alison’s books are set.

The opening of the store will also see the launch of Imagine: 25th Anniversary Edition, Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach and Baby Days.

If you are passing through Fish Creek on another weekend, be sure to drop by #1 Falls Road.

Visit alisonlester.com for updates and more details.

We have received some wonderful feedback for one of our new speakers, Clare Wright, which we would love to share with you all.

Clare presented at the annual Loreto Mandeville Hall Writer’s Breakfast in late August as part of Book Week 2014.
In her presentation, Dr Wright described the process of undertaking research, of relentlessly seeking out the answer to a research question and of uncovering facts that might have been overlooked by others who had previously examined the same primary sources.

The message from Dr Wright to the students in the audience emphasised the importance of perseverance and finding joy in what you do. She spoke of a particular teacher who inspired her love of history. This woman was ordinary in many ways, but her passion had a transformative influence on Dr Wright and set her on the path of being a historian.

Dr Wright’s presentation was beautifully woven, richly illustrated and completely engaging. It was clear that every member of the audience had become immersed in her narrative, and many commented that they could have listened to her for hours. For those who attended, the Writers’ Breakfast was indeed a wonderful start to the day.

Thank you to Rosemary Abbott, Director of Learning Resources, for sharing her positive words with us.

Clare Wright is an historian and is the winner of the 2014 Stella Prize for her book The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, which tells the story of role of women in the Eureka Stockade.

Join Sally Warhaft as she discusses the second edition of her international bestseller Well May We Say… The Speeches That Made Australia with Stella Prize winner Clare Wright at Carlton Readings on Wednesday the 22nd of October.

This second edition features a new introduction and the addition of defining speeches from the past ten years, among them the Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples and Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech.

The event will kick off at 6:30pm at Readings Carlton — 309 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

This is a free event, but bookings are essential. Click HERE to RSVP

On the tail of a successful season at the Sydney Opera House, The 26-Storey Tree House, live on stage is back! The next season of this adaptation of Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s book is due to open at the Sydney Opera House on January 3rd 2015, and will run through to the 25th of January.

Described by Alphabet Street as “a fabulous adaptation… the perfect performance to take your Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton fans to… ” young fans must not miss out on seeing the 26-storeys of this crazy tree house come to life through this production by NSW based company CDP.

The 26-Storey Tree House is best suited for 6 – 12 year olds and their tag-along grown ups.

For more details about the show, please visit http://www.cdp.com.au/26storeytreehouse.html

Tickets are on sale via the Sydney Opera House website: www.sydneyoperahouse.com

And pssst! If you stay tuned in 2015, there may just be a production of The 52-Storey Tree House in its way too!

September saw the City of Brimbank exploding with literary happenings galore in cafes, the town hall, community hubs and libraries – all part of the annual Brimbank Writers & Readers Festival, and the culmination of the Brimbank Writers Awards and awards workshops. Booked Out has a long and lovely association with Brimbank City Council, assisting them with their festival, awards and related workshops since 2008.

This year cartoonist and illustrator Oslo Davis gave an insight into his creative process, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Chemo memoirist Luke Ryan shared his story, Justin Heazlewood and Torre De Roche contributed their knowledge and experience to `The Business of Writing’ panel, and Chrissie Perry and Melissa Keil helped kids and teens with their creative writing skills.  Bec Kavanagh and Emilie Zoey-Baker once more judged the poetry, kids and teens Writers Awards categories, and the effervescent Bernard Caleo acted as MC for the closing night awards ceremony. Leading up to the awards deadline, writers Alice Pung, Robert Hillman, Lia Hills, Sofie Laguna, and Michael Wagner helped Brimbank residents start their creative process.

Congratulations on another successful festival, City of Brimbank, it’s extremely inspiring to see such exciting community events taking place!

Recently Michael undertook a residency at Guildford Grammar, WA. Since Michael is a veteran of running writer-in-residence programs for schools, we thought we’d ask him to reflect on just what a residence can achieve. Here’s what he had to say:

From the 9th to the 14th of June this year I was Writer in Residence at Guildford Grammar School fifteen kilometres from Perth. Guildford is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in WA with a beautiful campus by the Swan River. My flights, accommodation and meals for the week were fully provided for by Guildford. I stayed in one of the Lodge rooms within the grounds of the historic Rose and Crown Hotel – a very pleasant ten minute walk from the school.

During my time at Guildford I presented author talks in the senior school to 4 year 7 classes, 4 year 8 classes and 3 year 9 classes. I also spoke to a combined group of year 5s in the Preparatory School. As well as this, I attended a Boarders’ dinner, a night-time Music Recital and a Book Club meeting.

I very much enjoyed my time at the school. The week was well organised, the setting lovely, the teachers helpful and welcoming and the students enthusiastic and responsive.

I think longer term residencies like this can be a very positive experience for both the author and the school.

Apart from the financial benefits of multiple days bookings, for an author it gives you time to get to know the school, the teachers and students, and to have time to feel a part of the community. There is also the opportunity to see students over a number of sessions. On this occasion I only saw each group once, but in other residencies where I’ve taken writing workshops, the longer stay enables writing activities to be set and developed over a number of lessons. Another positive is the opportunity to engage with students outside the formal sessions, especially at lunchtime or in the library. (Although schools still need to be aware of limits when it comes to overall contact times.)

The longer time at the school obviously provides the opportunity for more students and classes to benefit from an author visit. This works particularly well for the school if the visiting author’s books cover a range of year levels allowing a wider range of classes to take advantage of having an author on campus. In the case of the Guildford visit, my book Don’t Call Me Ishmael has been a set text for Year 8s there for a number of years, so most boys in the senior school were aware of me as an author. For the Year 5 talk I was able to focus on my Eric Vale series which is actually set in a Yr 5 class. I think if I was to visit Guildford again there would be the opportunity to do more with the younger classes.

The longer booking also makes it easier for schools to timetable classes and sessions since they have the flexibility of more than one day to work with. Another benefit is that individual students who might be passionate about writing can often arrange a small group or one on one meeting with the author.

Having a writer in residence allows books, writing and reading to gain valuable exposure within a school.

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Have you planned your 2015 residency yet?

As many of you may be aware, Rosalie Ham’s novel The Dressmaker is being made into a film…. right now! Pre-production has begun and we should see the final film hit the cinemas in October next year.

If you would like to learn more about the upcoming film, please visit the official Dressmaker Movie website: http://www.dressmakermovie.com/

Rosalie has also been writing a blog on the process of the pre-production, which you can enjoy here: http://dressmakermovie.com/blog/ Especially delightful is her description of the announcement of the leading actors at an all girls school presentation she recently gave. At the mention of Liam Hemsworth, she describes ‘a ruffle, like wind through wheat, buffeted the rows of spotty faces and at least one girl wept’. She also talks about the creation of the costumes, and gives some handy advice for those who are keen to audition as an extra.

And for those studying or teaching The Dressmaker, please note that with the release of the DVD in October next year, will come some excellent education resources, including a study guide and an Electronic Press Kit, featuring interviews with the key actors, directors and also background information of the filming process including ‘behind the scenes’ footage.

We only have to wait a year!

Bec Kavanagh appeared on ABC News 24 yesterday morning to discuss the under-representation of female authors in Australian classrooms, and how the Stella Prize is working to rectify this. Watch Bec in action on the ABC HERE

The official launch of the Stella Prize Schools program happened last night at the Wheeler Centre. This is exciting new program for girls and boys in Years 7 to 12 and offers school visits by notable Australian writers, educators & publishers, teaching notes on all Stella Prize shortlisted books (for Years 10 to 12) and PD sessions for teachers and librarians.

For more information, please visit The Stella Prize Schools Program.

After the busy month of August, with Book Week, Melbourne Writers Festival, National Literacy and Numeracy Week and the announcement of the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year awards, we are now Springing into Spring!

Over the month of August we organised hundreds of visits to schools, libraries and other organisations, seeing our speakers reach thousands of people.

We would love to share some fantastic feedback that we received:

It was a pleasure spending the morning with the amazing author Fiona Wood and learning about the variety of dispositions that are associated with being a writer. It was relieving to know that fear and judgement in writing was common however Fiona taught us that it would be of great benefit if fear can be used as a positive in writing. Thank you Fiona Wood for helping me believe in my writing and that I should no longer have fear in taking it forward.
– Student, St Columba’s College

I just wanted to let you know that our students really enjoyed Roland Harvey’s visit last week. Visiting Authors are always a highlight of our school year, and Roland’s presentations were very engaging  and inspiring for the students. They especially enjoyed his comic faces and the simple additions that portrayed mood and feeling. His books in our library will be in hot demand in the immediate future!
– F. Greenough, Nunawading Christian College

The year 7 students were very excited to see the process of writing a book, and I think Michael (Pryor) debunked many myths involved in writing, in a friendly and humorous way. The year 7’s were very interested in how a book is actually written and how much goes into “selling” the book to readers. His openness about the difficulties and the rewards was great, and the students were very responsive to it.
– N.Burke, St Leonards

Coming up in September is the launch of the Stella in Schools Program (Wednesday 10th of September) and of course Year 12 Exam Revision time!

Spring also sees us begin planning tours for August 2015 – watch this space!

Drop by Readings Carlton (309 Lygon St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053) at 6.30pm Thursday 11th September to join series creator and editor Lyn White as she launches Robert Hillman’s new addition to the Through My Eyes series, Malini: Through My Eyes.

Malini lives with her parents and young sister, Banni, in northern Sri Lanka. As the civil war heads towards its catastrophic end, Malini and her family are herded by Tamil Tiger troops towards the coast where they will act as human shields, along with thousands of other Tamil civilians. When Malini’s father pushes a mobile phone into her hands and tells her to run off into the forest with Banni, Malini does as she is told. But then the shelling begins, and Malini has no way of finding her mother and father.

With the role of parent thrust upon her, Malini has no choice but to travel to her grandfather’s village a long way inland. She and Banni will need to keep off the highways and stay alert for soldiers from all sides. But where will the next meal come from? Who can they trust? Where will they shelter? And will they ever be reunited with their parents again?

The uplifting story of one girl’s odyssey through war-torn Sri Lanka.

For more information about the launch of Malini: Through My Eyes, please visit Readings, Carlton. This is a free event, no bookings required. The Booked Out team will see you there!