Posts by Judith
Death by 1.7 billion cuts
There’s a scene in an early episode of Sex and the City that’s always been a favourite of mine. The girls are talking over a meal about—what else—men, and Charlotte says, in utter exasperation… I’ve been dating since I was 15 years old, I’m exhausted, where is he? I know how she feels. Only it’s…
Read MoreAnd the Oscar goes to…
John Marsden! John takes out the Kill Your Darlings Great YA Championship for Tomorrow, When the War Began. And the KYD People’s Choice award? Victor Kelleher‘s classic Taronga. Both are great books, but just between you and me? Would’ve been nice to see the girls catch a break. *sigh*
Read MoreStories to Make Mountains Start Breathing
From the March/April 2006 issue of The Horn Book MagazineForeign CorrespondenceStories to Make Mountains Start Breathing by Judith RidgeWhen Popeye Bobby walks in, everybody stands back. He’s real gentle this old fulla, but no one messes with him, neither. He’s real powerful… He can tell you stories that make mountains start breathing. —from The Binna Binna Manby Meme…
Read MoreGarn the Blues
As you know, I’m a contributor to the current Kill Your Darlings YA Championship over at the Killings blog. It’s been interesting to me to see which books my fellow YA afficionados have chosen to write about—their favourite books of the last 30 years, and the ones they felt made a significant contribution to the…
Read MoreDon’t kill this darling!
Just a little update to note that my contribution to the Kill Your Darlings YA Championship is now up. My post, as previously mentioned, is about Joanne Horniman’s 1997 novel Loving Athena. It’d be fab if you left a comment over at Kill Your Darlings—and Vote 1 Loving Athena!
Read MoreLet the games begin!
No, no, no, not those games! The Kill Your Darlings Great Aussie YA Championship has begun! I mentioned the Championship a few days ago, and now the list of 11 great YA books from the past 30 years has been announced. The posts will begin on Monday, and you can vote for your favourite of…
Read MoreFinding readers finding books
I met a young woman today—a girl, really, a young teenager—who I’ll call Jessica. I was at the Mount Druitt Hub for a work event—we had an author talk and book launch with Ambelin Kwaymullina, and her first young adult novel, The Tribe: The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf.* In the room opposite, an exercise program…
Read MoreRemembering Margaret Mahy
I am so heavy of heart to write this post. We’ve lost so many people in the children’s book community this year—big names like Maurice Sendak, lesser known but well-loved folk like blogger and writer Peter Sieruta, both from the US. Here in Australia, recently, we lost dear Jean Chapman, a writer and champion of…
Read MoreThe Great YA Championship—Kill Your Darlings!
Why yes, I have been busy lately! A few weeks ago, I received a very thrilling email from one of the editors at the terrific literary journal Kill Your Darlings. KYD’s online editor, Estelle Tang, contacted me to ask if I’d like to be part of a celebration of Australian YA fiction on KYD’s blog…
Read MoreUpdate on the Great eBook Debate!
So my post is up here—please do pop over and add a comment! And the official launch has taken place, too, with a look back to the original launch of Greylands, with Nadia Wheatley doing the honours. It’s quite a remarkable launch speech; do check it out!
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