Category: Behind the book
Classified variously as young adult, ‘new adult’ and adult, Whisky Charlie Foxtrot is a great read for senior secondary students. In this post, we invite you to listen to author Annabel Smith as she reads from the novel. A student activity and comprehensive teaching notes are available below.
Get to know a little more about Tracy Ryan.
Get to know a little more about Goldie Goldbloom.
Ezekiel Kwaymullina said My Country was inspired by his Nana and Gran, who passed on their love of country to him. The book has become a family affair with Ezekiel’s mother, internationally acclaimed artist Sally Morgan, creating the illustrations.
Debut author Zoe Thurner discusses Dress Rehearsal her novel for young adults …
A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey turns 30 on Anzac Day 2011. First published by Fremantle Press and now licensed to Penguin, the bestselling memoir was pulled from the submissions pile by Fremantle Press Commissioning Editor Wendy Jenkins. In this article Wendy remembers what it was like to find a classic Australian story.
In which countries will the Jake series be published? As many as possible! So far it has appeared, or is scheduled to appear, in countries where French is spoken as well as India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. There’s also been interest from China, Germany, Greece, Philippines and Serbia.
Debut novelist Alan Carter talks about crime writing and his new book Prime Cut.
What prompted you to change careers and become a writer? It was partly to do with a coincidence of timing and partly to do with finally being confident enough to pursue a dream.
Ron Elliott discusses his version of ‘the great Australian novel’ and the journey both he and his characters went on to tell the story of Spinner.
Cheryl Kickett-Tucker’s slightly spooky children’s book Barlay! has an important message for young kids.
Sally Morgan edited the Waarda series and created the books’ distinctive front covers. Now she has written her own book for the series called The Magic Fair .
This is your second novel for young adults. What was easier, and what was harder this time around? I wish my second novel had been easier! Both were challenging and rewarding in different ways.
Award-winning author, Norman Jorgensen, and illustrator James Foley are exposing the pain and the triumph of creating and publishing a picture book on their new blog http://knutthelastviking.wordpress.com/ .
Author of The West, John Mateer, says the question of this place, of being in Australia where American-style suburbs have grown out of British colonial settlements on land taken from Aboriginal peoples, profoundly shapes anything a poet can say.
Speaking from Shanghai, where she lives for part of each year, Burning Bright poet Caroline Caddy discusses the influence of China on her writing. A lot of my poetry concerns China, and one of my collections, Working Temple, is all about China. I wrote that in the early 1990s, and now some of those pieces […]
New Poets author, Emma Rooksby, says she’s stopped asking herself if whether what’s on the page is ‘good enough’ and has turned her attention to expressing herself with authenticity.
90 Packets of Instant Noodles author, Deb Fitzpatrick, was starstruck when Elizabeth Jolley marked her creative writing thesis. Years of hard writing and a stint living in a Costa Rican shack later, she’s releasing her first novel for young adults.
Editor of New Poets and award-winning author, Tracy Ryan, says new poets need to do three things: read poetry, practise detachment and refuse to be discouraged by rejection.
Best selling young adult novelist Kate McCaffrey won over readers with her cyber bullying novel Destroying Avalon before reaching the North American market with her hard hitting second novel In Ecstasy. In Beautiful Monster she’s writing about eating disorders. Kate tells us why.
With foreign rights sales to Hachette in France and Scholastic in India, the popular Jake series is on the cusp of going global.
How does it feel to be included in an anthology alongside David Malouf and Dorothy Porter Amazing. At the outset I never realised that the anthology would include such great writers. When I look at the final product, I’m a little overwhelmed at being included alongside people I not only respect but immensely admire (particularly […]
How far back does your interest in picture books stretch? I went to an exhibition of artwork from a picture book when I was in Year 2 at primary school. I loved seeing all of the artwork displayed. We spent a lot of time that year making our own picture books: planning them on huge […]
Where did the inspiration for your story come from? My inspiration for Beach Sports Car came from two sources – my childhood memories of Useless Loop and the inventiveness of my father.