Read Alert

Reading Matters
Reading Matters, organised by the Centre for Youth Literature, is Australia’s leading youth literature event for both professionals and young people. This biennial conference brings together leading Australian and international writers, commentators and performers to explore current issues and ideas in youth literature. It features a dynamic program of readings, discussion and performances.
Reading [...]

News overnight that the Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas has announced its first director.
Step forward Caro Llewellyn, formerly director of the Sydney Writers Festival and the PEN Centre in New York. The news was announced in The Age this morning.
Reflecting on the relationship between Australian and international writers Llewellyn said “I think (the [...]

Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, the founding manager of the Centre for Youth Literature, popped up on Radio National’s The Book Show yesterday to talk about the promotion of reading.

The Boys, Blokes, Books & Bytes program was presented with the award in the category of Leadership in Community during a ceremony at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Thursday evening, 4 December.
Program Coordinators Mike Shuttleworth and Erin Ritchie accepted the award on behalf of the Library.
Boys, Blokes, Books & Bytes is a reading program [...]

This just in, from Friends of Colac Library (via Alien Onion):
 
 

NYT bestselling author, YouTube royalty and founder of Nerdfightaria John Green posts a made-of-awesome speech on his blog that he delivered at ALAN:
Well, let me tell you: Gatsby isn’t boring. Nor is Speak. Nor is Fallen Angels. Nor is Ethan Frome. Okay. Okay. Ethan Frome is a little boring. But teenagers can (and do!) like seriously good books. I find it very strange [...]

The dfc is the fantastic weekly comic published in the UK and available everywhere on subscription. The dfc has just launched a voting award for readers called The Oinkies. Hmmm, wonder where they got that idea.

Staying in the UK, Philip Pullman and Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen have gone in to bat for school librarians.

Congratulations to Patrick Ness, who has just won the Booktrust Teenage Book Prize for The Knife of Never Letting Go.

More info here.

Max Leone, a thirteen year old boy from New Jersey offers some sound advice on what boys like to read - and don’t.
Andy Griffiths has a few thoughts on the topic, too. You can hear his talk, recorded by Radio National, here.
Meanwhile, the Boys, Blokes, Books and Bytes tour has wound up. But the blog [...]

Earlier tonight, the young adult literati of Melbourne gathered for the announcement of the 2008 Inky Awards. The Inkys are Australia’s only teenage choice book awards, run by the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria, on insideadog.com.au.
CYL selects a longlist of 10 Australian and 10 International books published in the last year, and [...]