From the 15th – 18th of November, several of our authors will be appearing at the Stonnington Literary Festival. The event will be launched by Shane Maloney on the 15th, Sofie Laguna, Gabrielle Williams and Paddy O’Reilly will share some of their stories in a special storytime for adults, and Toni Jordan and Fiona Wood will join Meme McDonald in a lively discussion on the inspirations and personal stories behind their work.

Lisa Hill, a local blogger who will be hosting the session, recentlyreviewed Love Like Water, giving it a solid dose of blog love.

*The dialogue is sharp and realistic, as conversations bounce around in witty exchanges full of slang and references to popular culture. But there are also vivid word-pictures of the town and the outback to contrast the lives of the haves and the have-nots in this arid landscape.

Love Like Water is a terrific book. It was shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers in 2008, (definitely YA, there are sensual love scenes) and was Highly Commended for the Christina Stead Award in 2007.*

Hill’s review is one of many out there, all posted by readers who love Meme’s sharp, thoughtful narrative and who can see not only the literary importance of the book, but who know a good book when they see one.

To find out how you can see one of these fantastic speakers in action, check out the festival program here.

Craig Smith has opened up a bookstore section on his site, and many of his classics both new and old can be purchased there. Click here to check out his site.

At the moment, Craig has available for sale Doctor Frankenstein’s Other Monster (author: Nigel Gray) which is a key resource Craig draws on (pardon the pun) for his drawing workshops. Billy The Punk(author: Jessica Carroll), Heather Fell in The Water (author: Doug MacLeod), Cat (author: Mike Dumbleton) and Sister Madge’s Book of Nuns (author: Doug MacLeod) are also available.

Some of these favourites have not been available outside school and local libraries for some time, and now is a chance for fans out there to not only have a copy for themselves, but a signed one, too. Craig will continue taking many drawing workshops for us through 2013. Download a detailed outline of Craig’s workshops here.

The Ros Bower award is a $50 000 prize given to artists to respect a lifelong contribution to community arts and cultural development. Booked Out is incredibly proud of Meme McDonald, who has been awarded this honour.

The image at right was taken from the Saturday Age (29/9/12), from Jason Steger’s Booknotes column.

Short and sweet this week from one of our roving reporters who attended the launch of Gus Gordon’s new book, the very charmingHerman and Rosie last weekend and The Little Bookroom.

At this picture book launch with a difference, adults were just as keen as children to get their copy of this whimsical new book signed by the author.

Gus has written a very quirky, soulful picture book set in summertime New York. It features subways, hotdogs, jazz clubs and singing on rooftops!

Children will love the two apartment dwellers Herman and Rosie who live a few blocks apart and are both into music. The parent/grandparent readers will love the maps, sketches, jazz references and the hum of Manhattan.

Gus hails from Sydney, but we’re thrilled to say that he will be visiting Melbourne schools in Book Week 2013.

The weather is warming up (by degrees at least if you can excuse the sudden rainstorms) and we’re counting the days until daylight savings and some balmy evenings.

This warmer weather also signals the countdown to the holiday season (90 days until christmas to my counting) so we’ve put our heads together in the office and come up with a list of activities that we’d want to be a part of if our local library happened to run them.

The activities cover ages from 1-early teen so there’s something fun in there for everyone, and they’re the type of sessions that no-one will leave bored or empty handed from!

Download the full flyer below and don’t forget to give us a call when you start your planning.

School Holidays 2013

I’m back from the Sunny Brisbane Writers Festival where I was lucky enough to see some Booked Outers (and soon-to-be Booked Outers) in their native habitat.

Day 1: A day of tall tales began with a session with Martin Chatterton, who taught me that when it comes to stories, tone and confidence are key! My word hunt then led me to a session with Nick Earls (or Nick Management Consultant – to see what I’m talking about head here) Nick discussed the etymology of surnames with the illustrator of his upcoming book. Finally into a session with the wonderful Ben Law who had the audience laughing, cringing (at threatened nudity) and ‘oh yeah-ing’ in equal measures. It was a session on non-fiction writing, and while it may have been aimed at 12-15 year olds, my roving reporter skills have clearly benefited from his wisdom.

Day 2: The sun was shining (while in Melbourne grey clouds abounded) so I took advantage of the opportunity to leave my cardigan at home! In hindsight, this could well have been a mistake as the charming Chris Turney took myself and 200 grade 4/5 students on a sub-zero trip to Antarctica. We lost a few men, had to eat our dogs and…well, I won’t give it all away. At the end of the session, the number of questions from the audience was astounding. The poor person with the microphone was darting back and forth – probably good for his circulation in the cold!

Then onto more amplified theatrics with Ghost Boy and his colourful umbrella! I’m sure the teacups that lined the terrace were close to cracking with vibrations from the crowds shrieks and roars. Together we made some lively poems, with a surprising amount of roast ‘sexy’ chickens. This roving reporter wanted a photo op, but the superstar was too mobbed by his crowd of adoring fans.

Day 3: David’s partner Katherine, of ‘Squish Rabbit’ fame began my third and final day at the festival. In her session ‘How to Write a Rabbit’ I (along with an enthusiastic group of kids) was treated to a lovely session on how small things can say an awful lot. For example, while a carrot-eating rabbit is probably a very traditional type of rabbit, a burger-eating rabbit (although hopefully not the bunny kind!) is probably a bit crazier. The drawings inspired by this talk were incredibly good, and I heard one little girl exclaim ‘I didn’t know I could draw!’.

My festival experience ended with Pat Flynn and Peter Carnavas, who talked about their new book ‘My Totally Awesome Story’. The competitive banter about who’s better – authors or illustrators – had the audience in stitches. Everyone learned how to draw the characters and to imagine how the main character Duane might react if approached by a shark – by biting him of course! I was sad to leave the festival, but when I heard a voice beside me say “That was my favourite session of the festival, I love Pat Flynn”, I thought instead that it was the perfect moment for this roving reporter to head home to Booked Out HQ.

• Rosalind McClintock, Booked Out Agent

As the National Year of Reading draws to a close and we start counting down to the holiday season, we’ve done some brainstorming in the office and come up with a list of speakers with fun and interactive sessions. End the year on a high by booking something kids can sink their teeth into.

Why not make sure that kids head off on holidays with a book in their bag and a spring in their step?

The attached flyer offers some suggestions for entertaining ways to wrap up the year, and we’re always here to make personal recommendations and help you make your bookings.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Download PDF

Congratulations to JC Burke whose book Pig Boy has won best fiction at this years Ned Kelly awards. The awards, designed to recognise the best in Australian crime writing and announced annually at the Melbourne Writers Festival haven’t previously been awarded to young adult fiction, so the win this year is a great honour for Jane (and well deserved because the book is fantastic!).

You can read a review of Pig Boy here.

Following hot on the heels of Book Week, and kicking off a week of schools festivities at MWF, the shortlists for the 2012 Inky Awards have been announced!

This great prize, recognising both local (the Gold Inky) and international (the Silver Inky) work is judged by a panel of teenage readers and then voted for by an audience of young adults. So if your YA book is on the list you know you’re doing something right!

The 2012 Inky shortlist is a great one and can be found in full here but a special hooray goes to the following Booked Outers nominated for the Gold Inky.

• Leanne Hall Queen of the Night
• Gabrielle Williams The Reluctant Hallelujah
• Em Bailey (aka Meredith Badger) Shift

Congratulations and good luck all!

Congratulations to all the great authors and illustrators shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year awards. Special shout out to the following winner and honour books.

Scot Gardner – The Dead I Know WINNER Older Readers

Kate Constable – Crow Country WINNER Younger Readers

Robert Newton – When We Were Two HONOUR Older Readers

Jackie French – Nanberry: Black Brother White HONOUR Younger Readers

Lucia Masciullo (illus) – Come Down Cat by Sonya Hartnett HONOUR Early Childhood