Read Alert

Breaking Dawn, the long awaited final of the Twilight quartet has at last arrived.
The frantic hysteria in the build up to the release has seen teenage girls across the world feverishly awaiting the latest development in the very twisted love story of Bella and Edward. The book has an initial print run of 3.7 million [...]

This is from Boyce’s review of The Knife of Never Letting Go:
If I have one quibble, it is that I think it should be sitting proudly on the shelf next to these books, rather than being hidden away in the “young adult” ghetto. There’s been a lot of fury among authors recently about the proposal [...]

Book now for Words + Music, a special book event for secondary students at the State Library of Victoria. Places are limited.
Michael Gerard Bauer, Ursula Dubosarsky and William Kostakis explore the connection between writing and music in a special event for secondary students.
The three writers are paired with live performers: rock, opera [...]

Shaun Tan joins poet, esayist and Melbourne literary icon Chris Wallace-Crabbe for a special in conversation event. Shaun Tan and CWC will be available for book signing after the talk.
Wednesday 11 June
7pm, gold coin donation
Village Roadshow Theatrette,
State Library of Victoria
Bookings 8664 7555
bookings@slv.vic.gov.au

Portrait by Nick Stathopoulos
But if you can’t make it tomorrow night, you can catch [...]

Read Alert will take a break on Monday to celebrate the Queen’s birthday*.
To mark the occasion we have a booklist featuring five other great English women.
Before I Die Jenny Downham
Broken Soup Jenny Valentine
The Game Diana Wynne-Jones
Forever Rose Hilary McKay
My Sister Jodie Dame Jacqueline Wilson
*Actually, the Queen’s real birthday is on 21 April. Readers in [...]

Here is JK Rowling’s commencement speech at Harvard.
And here is a website where some angry authors and book-people are railing against a UK plan to put age banding on all children’s books…
…and here is an article that has some very feisty commenting on the issue - both pro and con.
Happy Friday!

Randa Abdel-Fattah is among the panel tonight on ABC1’s Q&A. Q&A is the program where you can ask the questions. Go to the program website, register and send it in your questions. Other panellists include Crikey founder Stephen Mayne and Tony Burke, (opposition spokesman on immigration prior to becoming the now federal minister for Agriculture, [...]

A biting southerly wind drags the leaves from the plane trees on LaTrobe Street. Current Melbourne temperature: 12C.
So how happy am I to receive an invitation to attend a book launch in Darwin next Friday? To be reminded that there are people in Australia right now strolling about in t-shirts and sandals. Who are not [...]

Morris Gleitzman marks the publication of Then, a companion novel to Once, with a special in-conversation event at the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre Elsternwick, next Tuesday, 3 June.
The event is from 4.30pm for 5.00 start, winding up at 6.30.
You can reserve seats by phoninng (03) 9811 2416 or email rsvp@au.penguingroup.com
Then continues the story [...]

It’s another strong line-up for this year’s Guardian fiction prize for children, announced at the Hay-on-Wye Festival this week. Highlights include Before I Die by Jenny Downham, The Bog Child by the late Siobahn Dowd and Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Jenny Valentine, the author of the wonderful Finding Violet Park is one of this [...]