Read Alert

Who said the following?
“The 15 years since I left the band have been the best of my life. I should have been a museum curator or a librarian because I like that better than being a rock star…Do you know the biggest problem for most musicians on tour? Getting your laundry done.”
A: Paul McCartney (The [...]

…gets underway on Tuesday 4 March, with five writers, plus publisher Andrew Kelly and a surprise or two.
The first Booktalkers features Lee Fox, Elizabeth Fensham, Allayne Webster, Sean Condon and James Roy.
Venue is the Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria. We kick off at 6.30pm and the event is fully catered. Admission is [...]

(everyone who isn’t at this workshop can safely ignore this post)
Penni Russon
Jaclyn Moriarty
Justine Larbalestier
Kirsty Murray
Malorie Blackman
Margo Lanagan
Maureen Johnson
Meg Cabot
Neil Gaiman
Scott Westerfeld
Lili Wilkinson
insideadog Writer in Residence
Judith Ridge
Bookshelves of Doom
Jane Espenson
Bloglines

Remember how Steve Jobs recently said that there was no point to the Amazon Kindle, because nobody reads books any more? Well the New York Times takes issue. Highly recommended.
Breaking News: Anne Rice is still crazy. Everyone’s favourite vampire-writing, God-fearing “I don’t need an editor because I’m perfect” is back in the papers. Remember how [...]

In case you haven’t seen the new series of Australian pink books produced by Girlfriend magazine and Allen & Unwin, check them out here.
You can also enter this competition, or watch this video of the editor of Girlfriend.
And look out for the interview with series editor Eva Mills in the next CYL newsletter.

The Australia Council, who support the Centre for Youth Literature, recognise the challenges of creating a great graphic novels and picture books. It takes time and that means, at some point, money. (I think here of the conversations had over many years between CYL and the publishers of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival.)
OzCo have announced [...]

Places are still available for our blogging workshop and seminar next Thursday. With reports that publicists now devote half their resources to online marketing, why would you want to miss out?
Blogging for writers: the how, what, why and when of blogging
Presented by Lili Wilkinson, Editor of www.insideadog.com.au
This hands-on seminar-workshop will introduce writers to the world [...]

The clever folk at CMIS have fired up this list of resources in response to the apology on Wednesday.

It was an extraordinary dau in Australia’s history that leaves so much to reflect upon.
Have a peaceful weekend.

How much better could the great works of fiction be — if only they had zombies in them? Find out over at at insideadog.
Writers Meg Cabot, Maureen Johnson, Justine Larbalestier, John Green and E Lockhart are celebrity judges. It’s a perfect zombie storm.
What are you waiting for?

Read this heartbreaking article about Kenneth Grahame.
Feel a bit down.
Then read this article about Judy Blume and feel better.
PS. How big is the new Isobelle Carmody? You could seriously injure a person with it! Maybe it shouldn’t be allowed on aeroplanes!