1. WA Premier’s Literary Awards
The lovely folk over in Western Australia have announced their choices for the 2011 WA Premier’s Literary Awards. Congratulations to the following shortlisted authors (and their publishers) in the young adult category:
- Crow Country by Kate Constable
- Horses for King Arthur by LS Lawrence
- The Coming of the Whirlpool by Andrew McGahan
- The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner
- Only Ever Always by Penni Russon
- Whisper by Chrissie Keighery
2. Interview yourself 20 years into the future
Last week a video went viral of a 32 year old man interviewing his 12 year old self. What resulted is mind bending hilarity. Special credit for the Dr Who mention.
3. Jodi Picoult on tour
Jodi Picoult and her daughter, Samantha, have co-written the novel Between the Lines which was released on 2 July 2012. Perfect timing for an Australian tour, we say. And so it is – you can catch Jodi and Samantha in various locations throughout WA, NSW, Queensland and Victoria from mid-July. Click here for dates (booking is sometimes necessary).
Keep up with the Australian tour through the Facebook fan page.
4. Your e-reader is reading you
The Wall Street Journal published an article last week on the way e-readers have allowed reading to become quantifiable. Data on the way in which you read, and purchase reading material, have helped make reading an increasingly measurable exercise. How long you read, how quickly it take you to finish, do you purchase the next in the series etc all this assists in crafted a more detailed sense of today’s reader.
This article is full of interesting pieces of analysis on people’s reading habits, including:
“Nook users who buy the first book in a popular series like “Fifty Shades of Grey” or “Divergent,” a young-adult series by Veronica Roth, tend to tear through all the books in the series, almost as if they were reading a single novel.”
Not surprising but helpful all the same.
5. Vale Pamela Lofts
It is with great sadness that the Centre for Youth Literature notes the passing of illustrator Pamela Lofts. Lofts’ beautiful work graces such titles as Mem Fox’s Koala Lou and Hunwick’s Egg, and (perhaps most famously) Marcia Vaughan’s gooey, brewy, yummy, chewy, Wombat Stew. May her wombat live on to entertain many generations, ever unstewed.
