{"id":1084,"date":"2016-08-15T21:09:11","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T11:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/?p=1084"},"modified":"2016-08-22T20:13:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T10:13:40","slug":"the-book-i-made-the-book-that-made-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/the-book-i-made-the-book-that-made-me\/","title":{"rendered":"The Book I Made: The Book That Made Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BTTM<\/a>I am thrilled and excited to announce that my first book, The Book That Made Me<\/em><\/a>, will be published on September 1, just a couple of weeks away, by Walker Books Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Book that Made Me<\/em> was inspired by my fascination with the reading lives of writers. As a teacher, editor and a devoted fiction reader, I have read a lot of \u2018how to\u2019 writing manuals and writers\u2019 memoirs, and I am always intrigued by the way books\u2014especially the books read during childhood and adolescence\u2014contribute to the way we think, feel and view the world around us. And while I\u2019d read a lot about the influences on adult writers, I really wanted to know more about the reading lives of my favourite writers for young people.<\/p>\n

The Book That Made Me<\/em> is the product of that curiosity.<\/p>\n

The book has been a long time coming. I initially pitched it to then-Walker Book publisher Sarah Foster around four or five years ago. A book like this will always take time; you’re commissioning several dozen individual pieces of writing, across several countries and involving visual artists as well as writers. People agree to be part of the project, and then other commitments take priority and they have to drop out. Changes happen within publishing houses, and within one’s own life, that affect the editorial and publishing process.<\/p>\n

But we got there, and the actual publication date is not incidental: September 1 is Indigenous Literacy Day, and the royalties from\u00a0The Book That Made Me\u00a0<\/em>are going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation<\/a> to support the work they do with young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers. And excitingly, Candlewick Press<\/a>, Walker’s US parent company, will be publishing the book in the northern spring (2017).<\/p>\n

Commissioning and editing a collection of personal essays is both a pleasure and a great responsibility. I am honoured that my friends and colleagues who have contributed to this book have entrusted me with their stories, and I am proud of the book that we have made together. I am excited to be able to share it with the young readers we created it for, with the intention that their reading eyes would be opened up to a whole new world of books and writers and ideas.<\/p>\n

Review copy requests and media enquiries\u00a0for The Book That Made Me<\/em>:<\/strong><\/span> Stephanie.Whitelock@walkerbooks.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Contributor<\/a>

Contributor Will Kostakis is excited!<\/p><\/div>\n

A little bit more about me:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am internationally recognised as a specialist in children\u2019s and young adult literature. Originally an English teacher, I fell in love (again!) with children\u2019s literature when undertaking post-graduate studies at Macquarie University. I have a Masters in Children\u2019s Literature (on feminist retellings of fairy tales for teenagers) and I am currently writing my PhD on representations of Australia in children\u2019s and YA fantasy fiction (with a special interest in Aboriginal story and representation).<\/p>\n

I have worked as an editor (at the NSW School Magazine<\/a>, ABC Books<\/a> and as a freelancer), a teacher of writing children\u2019s and young adult fiction (two years in the MA program at the University of Sydney and more than ten years at the Australian Writers\u2019 Centre<\/a>) and in arts program development. I was creative director of WestWords (the Western Sydney Young People\u2019s Literature Project) for seven years; I\u2019ve programmed two schools\u2019 programs for Sydney Writers\u2019 Festival, and am currently the Coordinator of Outreach Programs for Liverpool City Library<\/a> in south western Sydney. I was a member of\u00a0the Board of the Australian Society of Authors<\/a> from 2012 until 2016.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m widely known as a critic, commentator and advocate of children\u2019s literature and reading. I\u2019m a regular speaker at festivals, conferences and in the media, including internationally. In 2001 I received a Churchill Fellowship<\/a> to study literature programs for children and teens in the US, Ireland and UK. In 2009, my paper at the conference dedicated to the work of British children\u2019s fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones was voted favourite paper by the Guardian Books Blog.<\/p>\n

Some links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Book That Made Me<\/em> on goodreads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Me on ABC Overnights<\/a><\/p>\n

Guardian Books Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

My 2010 Sydney Writers’ Festival session<\/a> with Melina Marchetta and David Levithan.<\/p>\n

Teachers’ Notes<\/a> for The Book That Made Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am thrilled and excited to announce that my first book, The Book That Made Me, will be published on September 1, just a couple of weeks away, by Walker Books Australia. The Book that Made Me was inspired by … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-misrule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1084"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1103,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions\/1103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}