Today is Indigenous Literacy Day, an initiative by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation to help raise funds and awareness for literacy in Indigenous communities.
You can participate by making a donation, supporting an Great Book Swap event in your local community or buying a book from a bookshop that supports ILD and will donate a percentage of sales today to the ILF.
I’ve listed a few below, but if your event isn’t listed, please feel free to add their details in the comments.
Ashfield Library, NSW — Aboriginal Dreaming stories
Cockburn Library, Perth WA — Parent forum with Mem Fox (6/9) with proceeds donated to ILF
Fisher Library (University of Sydney), Camperdown NSW — Great Book Swap
Health Sciences Library (University of Sydney), Lidcombe NSW — Great Book Swap
Mosman Library, NSW — Family story time
Museum of Contemporary Art, The Rocks NSW — Great Book Swap and talks
National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT — Great Book Swap and special events (15/9)
One Word, One Day, Ultimo NSW or online – Art auction by illustrators, organised by the Australian Society of Authors
Pages and Pages, Mosman NSW — Book busking
If you can’t make it to any of these, you can check out for other ILF events in your local area throughout the year.
Merrian Weymouth saw my plea on Twitter for a recap of the romance panel at the 2012 Melbourne Writers’ Festival and generously took some notes for Book Thingo. Huge thanks to Merrian for this excellent recap!
The Panel
The panel was chaired by Caroline Lowry. Stephanie Laurens, Rachael Treasure and Su Dharmapala were the authors speaking about why they love writing about love.
Stephanie represented genre romance. Su and Rachael write with romantic elements—Su perhaps more multi-cultural chick lit, and Rachael stories about life and love in rural Australia.
All three authors’ work history has been as women in strongly male environments, science, corporate Australia and the world of sheep shearing, horses and dogs.
I need to mention Rachael’s most excellent cowboy boots stamped with peace hearts and angel wings, reminding me of the Gram Parsons’ cowboy angels.
There was a full house in ACMI studio One to hear the presenters.
The motivation to write
Rachael spoke about self-help author Louise Hay’s statement ‘we are in a place of love or a place of fear’ as her motivation to write; that she wanted to write about and bring about that place of love for her characters and readers. Her love of living on the land and rural Australia is a prime motivator and her constant setting.
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A compilation of tweets from attendees at the 2012 Melbourne Writers’ Festival session with Stephanie Laurens, interviewed by Anne Gracie.
The tweets are in chronological order and, where I’ve noticed conversations that branched off, I’ve included them as well. If you can’t see the embedded link below, click here to view it directly on Storify.
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Brief impressions and tidbits from the 2012 RWA conference at the Gold Coast. You can find photos on Flickr.
Source: RWA
I didn’t officially attend RWAus12—I just attended the ARRA signing and R*BY Awards dinner—so I can’t pretend I have any particular insights on what was discussed at the plenary sessions, keynotes, publishing panels and various launches that occurred at the conference. But I did speak to various attendees and stayed at the conference hotel, so I was able to form some impressions of the event and, yes, overhear a few things, which I wanted to post in case other readers find them interesting.
Eloisa James
Authors had very positive things to say about her speeches. I’m told her breakfast speech should have been a keynote, because it provided so much value for writers. I can’t actually say much about her, personally, because every time I was near her I had severe brain malfunction due to my severe author crush. As in, I think I was actually blushing, which, if you’ve met me you’ll realise isn’t something my cheeks would normally do.
Anyway, she was super gracious and as lovely as you all think she is. Maybe more. Her new book was available from the conference bookshop, so I’ll be reading it soon. Also, I hugged her. You can all die of envy now.
Okay, it wasn’t a full hug. I took advantage and half-hugged her while posing for a photo. (Sadly, I forgot to turn the camera on!)
Fiona Lowe
She was the toast of the conference, I think. Her R*BY win was just FANTASTIC. If you’ve read my review of Boomerang Bride, you’ll know that it didn’t completely work for me, but I’m incredibly happy for her. What an amazing achievement. Lowe’s success with this book is the perfect fairy tale ending for pretty much every aspiring author in the conference, I think.
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Australian fans of historical romance author Julia Quinn might want to start saving up now, because she’ll be here for the 2013 Romance Writers of Australia conference at the Esplanade in Fremantle, WA.
That’s right. If you live anywhere outside of Western Australia, you need to save—or save up those frequent flyer points!
Other guest speakers for RWAus 2013 include editor and romantic suspense author Nina Bruhns, author and blogger Sarah Wendell, and Kim Hudson, author of The Virgin’s Promise: Writing Stories of Feminine Creative, Spiritual and Sexual Awakening. I believe the theme will be ‘Riding the waves’.
I don’t know how I’m getting myself to WA—not to mention my books—but plans are afoot, I can guarantee that much!
Photo: Kat Mayo
I’ve just come back from the ARRA signing at the QT Hotel, and I had a fabulous time. The event seemed very well attended, and many authors stayed beyond the allotted time.
And, yes, I MET ELOISA JAMES! I went a bit crazy. But she signed a modest stack of books for me, witnessed the collapse of my composure and then offered to have a photo taken with me.
Author crush heaven.
Anyway. I met a bunch of other fantastic authors, which I won’t name because I also missed seeing most of the authors. I only managed to get through part of one row of authors before I ran out of time.
Read the rest of this post.
So go forth and visit a bookshop today. Better yet, enjoy a bookshop crawl. And don’t let anyone talk you out of buying a book—not for any reason!
For specific events and initiatives, visit the official website, Facebook or Twitter.
Again via the Australian Romance Readers Association loop, Charlaine Harris will be making an appearance at Dymocks Chermside (Queensland) today from 1pm. This will be the last chance for Aussie readers to see Harris on this tour before she leaves for New Zealand.
Photo: Sigrid Estrada
Source: www.charlaineharris.com
Last week, Hachette Australia hosted a meet and greet with Sookie Stackhouse author and True Blood co-creator Charlaine Harris. Guest blogger Zja Noir attended for Book Thingo, and here’s her recap of the event.
Zja tweets as @obsidiantears83 and blogs at Book Bites and the Book Bites Facebook page. She reads urban fantasy, paranormal romance, romance, dystopian fiction, epic fantasy and classic literature.
Charlaine Harris is a darling. She has this thick southern accent, a sense of humour, and a magnetic draw to her. But I guess realistically the magnetic draw was because I was in the presence of one my favourite authors.
Book Thingo was invited to a small, exclusive cocktail party hosted by Harris’s Australian publishers, Hachette. The event was small and select, and each representative had a chance to shake hands and chat (grill or gush, depending on the personality type) with Charlaine.
Read the rest of this post.
For Charlaine Harris fans down under, here’s her schedule of appearances for the rest of her A/NZ tour. Her schedule seems extremely demanding, and I’m not sure how she’s managing to get any sleep on this tour!
Perth
TODAY — 6.30 to 8.30 pm
Perth Ballroom, Parmelia Hilton
Tickets: $28pp
Bookings: Dymocks Garden City — 08 9364 7687 or 08 9364 7387 or gcorders@dymocks.com.au
Adelaide
Wednesday, August 1 — 6.30 to 8pm
Burnside Ballroom, 401 Greenhill Road Tusmore, Adelaide
Tickets: $10pp
Bookings: Dymocks Adelaide — 8223 5380 or Burnside Library — 8366 4280
Brisbane
Thursday, August 2 — 6pm
Event Cinemas at Myer Centre (cap 294)
Tickets: $20pp
Bookings: Visit Dymocks on Albert Street or call 07 3007 2800
Wellington
Sunday, August 5 — 3.30pm (doors open at 3pm)
The Dominion Post Write Stuff Event, Amora Hotel
Tickets: $20 for Dominion Post subscribers or $25 for non-subscribers (including a glass of wine/beer)
Bookings: Online
Auckland
Monday, August 6 — 6.15pm
A Night with Your Maker, Rialto Cinemas, Newmarket
Tickets: Free (ticket required)
Bookings: Dymocks Newmarket
