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!

Tonight will see the announcement of the winners of the 2014 Environment Award for Children’s Literature. This award is the initiative of The Wilderness Society and celebrates excellence in environmental children’s literature.

Past winners include Jackie French and Sue DeGennaro for The Tomorrow Book (2011) and Graeme Base for Uno’s Garden (2007).

If you are keen to get along, RSVP via The Little Book Room HERE. We might see you there!

If you can’t make it along, we will post the 2014 winners after the announcement at The Little Book Room tonight.

The Stella Prize is thrilled to invite you to the launch of the New Stella Prize Schools Program!

Download the Stella PDF and RSVP details HERE

The Stella Prize is a major new literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing. The Stella Prize Schools Program will bring some of this country’s best writers for adults and young adults into schools, as well as provide education resources for all secondary school levels (our education kit includes reading lists for Years 7 – 10, detailed teaching notes on all Stella Prize shortlisted titles, links to the Australian Curriculum, and loads of great ideas for the classroom).

This exciting new program will kick off with a free event at the Wheeler Centre from 4.30 to 5.30pm on Wednesday 10 September featuring acclaimed writers Cate Kennedy, Carrie Tiffany and Tony Birch in conversation with Bec Kavanagh.
RSVP is essential and any queries can be directed to the Stella Prize Manager, Megan Quinlan:
megan@thestellaprize.com.au / 0408 260 981

We hope to see you there!

Voting is now open for Australia’s top teen-choice book awards! The Inky Awards represent the best in new literature for young adults, and is selected by a panel of teen judges from across Australia.

The highly anticipated shortlist has been revealed to more than 300 young readers at a special Melbourne Writers Festival schools event. Five Australian books, nominated for the Gold Inky Award, and five international books, nominated for the Silver Inky Award, make up the 2014 shortlist.

Booked Out are very happy to congratulate two of our speakers, Will Kostakis and Ellie Marney in making it to the shortlist!

Gold Inky Award shortlist:
These Broken Stars – Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
The First Third – Will Kostakis
Every Breath – Ellie Marney
Fairytales for Wilde Girls – Allyse Near
The Sky So Heavy – Claire Zorn
Silver Inky Award shortlist:
All the Truth That’s In Me – Julie Berry
Seraphina – Rachel Hartman
ACID – Emma Pass
Man Made Boy – Jon Skovron
Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase – Jonathan Stroud

Young readers (aged 12–20) are invited to vote online for one book in each category, or select one overall favourite. Voting closes at 5pm AEDT on Sunday 5 October.

To cast your vote, visit the State Library of Victoria, INSIDE A DOG

The winners will be announced at the 2014 Inky Awards ceremony at the State Library of Victoria on Tuesday 21 October. Join the discussion on social media using#InkyAwards.

Melissa Keil’s new work is being launched today, and will be available from the 1st of September. Described by Junior Books & Publishing as  ‘every bit as nerdy, goofy and dramatic as Melissa Keil’s Ampersand Project-winning book ‘Life in Outer Space’… It is also every bit as loveable, touching and addictive’ this new YA novel is sure to be a hit.

Alba loves her life just as it is.
She loves living behind the bakery, and waking up in a cloud of sugar and cinnamon.
She loves drawing comics and watching bad TV with her friends.

The only problem is she’s overlooked a few teeny details:

Like, the guy she thought long gone has unexpectedly reappeared.
And the boy who has been her best friend since forever has suddenly gone off the rails.
And even her latest comic-book creation is misbehaving.

Also, the world might be ending – which is proving to be awkward.

As Doomsday enthusiasts flock to idyllic Eden Valley, Alba’s life is thrown into chaos.
Whatever happens next, it’s the end of the world as she knows it.
But when it comes to figuring out her heart, Armageddon might turn out to be
the least of her problems.

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl will be launched by Sally Rippin tonight at The Sun Bookshop in Yarraville.
For more details, visit melissakeil.com

Jack Heath’s new book Replica is being launched today! Described as an ‘electrifying new read for young adults…. a tense sci-fi thriller about identity, ethics and androids’  (Readings), this is a must-read for all Jack Heath fans.

Chloe’s memories have been erased. All she knows is she’s imprisoned in the basement of a girl who looks exactly like her.

Who is her captor? What does she want? Chloe is running out of time. She’s in more danger than she realises, and nothing is as it seems…

“Intense, thought-provoking YA sci-fi about identity, ethics and android doppelgangers… well worth waiting for. Great balance of contemplative philosophy/belting action.”  —Imogen Russell Williams, critic at The Guardian

Be at Carlton Readings, 6.30pm tonight to hear Jack discuss Replica.

You can also read more by visiting Jack’s website

Hats off to the winners of this years CBCA Book of the Year Awards!

Booked Out are very pleased to especially congratulate Fiona Wood for taking out the top prize for Older Readers with Wildlife and  Freya Blackwood for her Honorary Prize for Younger Readers with Banjo and Ruby Red.

In their comments, the judges acknowledged the tough themes in Wildlife are ‘handled brilliantly with honest and authentic teenage voices’.

Of Banjo and Ruby Red, the judges commented ‘the elegant brevity of language carries the action along with every word carefully selected for  maximum impact.’

If you are keen to find out more, you can read the full run down of the judges comments, here.  And for the full list of books and authors who have been awarded this year, please visit the CBCA webpage.

Photo of Fiona Wood by David Johns

Booked Out congratulate Deb Abela on her new book New City.

Inspired by governments around the world not taking enough care of the planet, Deborah Abela’s  first novel in the series Grimsdon focused on a group of kids left behind in a flooded city with sea monsters, flying machines and sneaker waves…

The sequel, New City, takes the issue of a climate-changed world further by asking what happens to the refugees created when wild weather drives them out of their homes? This time, there are ornithopters, ice tornados, rescue eagles and a brand new bad guy.

Isabella and her friends are nervous about what they’ll find in the New City. It’s inland and it’s dry – far from the flooded city they’ve just left. Will their lives here be as luxurious and carefree as Xavier says? In fact, bleak, uncertain times have brought darkness and danger to New City.

Teachers can visit Random House for teachers notes for Deb’s latest book. Click Here

Our very good friends at Black Inc. are hosting a fantastic teacher evening with Alice Pung:

Come and meet Alice Pung, author of Unpolished Gem and editor of Growing up Asian in Australia, and Clare Atkins, author of Nona & Me.

Alice will speak about her new novel Laurinda, set in an exclusive girls school, and Clare will speak about her novel Nona & Me, which is set in Arnhem Land, and is the story of two friends, Rosie, who is white, and Nona, who is Aboriginal.

Free event, all welcome. Refreshments provided.

Date: Tuesday 19th August 2014 Time: 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start Location: Black Inc. Office, 37-39 Langridge St, Collingwood VIC 3066 (on the corner of Langridge and Cambridge streets)

Bookings: Free event but numbers are limited, so please RSVP by Friday 15th August to elisabeth@blackincbooks.com

All guests will receive a complimentary Black Inc. bag with an advance reading copy of Nona & Me, teaching notes, a sample chapter from Laurinda and information about a competition for secondary students to have their work published in an anthology edited by Alice Pung.

If you live interstate and are unable to attend and are interested in receiving information about Laurinda and Nona & Me, please contact Elisabeth Young on elisabeth@blackincbooks.com

If you want to tell a friend about the event, download the flyer and pass it on to them!