CBCA 2011

Congratulations Cath Crowley
Congratulations Leon Davidson
Congratulations Leanne Hall
Congratulations Sally Rippin
Congratulations Fiona Wood


Cheers to all the notable and shortlisted authors. Champagne all round, and umbrellas, and boots that don't let the rain in.

I'm breathing again—just. When the notables list came up an hour earlier than the shortlist and I didn't know that they were pulling the shortlist from the notables I was a basketcase, full of breathless, butterfly-like cliches—adverbs even. Then I was walking on sunshine.

http://cbca.org.au/awards.htm

three hours

Three hours and counting until the CBC announces the shortlist. Good luck to all my authors and friends.

pronunciation

Julia Gillard just pronounced 'hyperbole' (hi-perbily) as 'hyper-bowl'. I am not sneering. I once thought that's how it was pronounced. Then I heard someone say it. And then 'apologia'. Really? That's how you pronounce it?

watching trainwrecks

How not to do it (meanwhile being effortlessly entertaining).

http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html

time, or lack of it

Harriet has just given up her day sleep. That's when I wrote. So I will give up TV. And reading. And quite possibly cooking as well. And I will write at night. But I won't give up reading until I've finished the Ethel Turner shortlist. I just finished Big River, Little Fish. Beautiful writing and a slippery, satisfying twist. There are so many books that promise a pay-off that doesn't come. Far rarer are books that seem to be headed for a sweet, quiet ending, then give you bucketloads of unexpected magic, and pull it off.

the Ethel Turner

Congrats to the six author shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.

Cath Crowley for Graffiti Moon
Melina Marchetta for The Piper's Son
Kirsty Eagar for Saltwater Vampires
Belinda Jeffrey for Big River, Little Fish
Jaclyn Moriarty for Dreaming of Amelia
Michelle Cooper for The FitzOsbornes in Exile

Is the Ethel Turner a prize only for Ethels, or Kirstys or Caths? Nope. But in a hell-strong field of YA published last year, the brightest, shiniest books just happened to be written by women. Or so the Ethel Turner judges thought.

I have some reading to do.

counting down...

In less than a month the Children's Book Council will be naming their shortlist for the book of the year awards. From a publisher's point of view, this is the time of year where we hold our breath and hope. The CBC awards are the only children's books awards in Australia that cause books to be sold. I cannot wait for this to change, for the Inkys and the premiers' awards to gain traction. In a market that is small and extremely talented, many writers who deserve to be on the CBC list don't make it, and every year this is pretty much heartbreaking. 
Meanwhile, there are two things I'd love to see in the CBC awards: a category for debut authors—so books like Notes from the Teenage Underground don't get pushed aside—and for the non-fiction to be divided into age ranges, as the fiction is, so picture books aren't competing with upper-YA.
Good luck to everyone on April 12. I will be forgetting to breathe.