Misrule
Censor or suck it up? Racism and children’s books.
There’s a story on the Huffington Post today about a young girl, Ishema Kane, in Germany who wrote to the newspaper, outraged at their defence of racist language in children’s books—specifically, Pippi Longstocking. As letters of outrage go, it’s pretty fabulous. I especially love this bit: “I find it totally shit that this word would…
Read MoreAustralian Women Writers’ Challenge 2013
Happy New Year! If you’ve been reading Misrule over the years, you will know that I have frequently written about the imbalance in awards for women writers of young adult fiction in this country. I’ve not been alone in this concern—mostly focusing on the remarkable consistency with which the CBCA Older Readers Awards have recognised…
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!
Read MoreIsobelle Carmody and the Great Ebook Debate
A few months ago, the lovely Isobelle Carmody wrote to me and asked me if I’d like to be part of a new online venture she was undertaking, to coincide with the e-publication of her wonderful 1997 novel Greylands. The purpose of the site—only intended to be live for a month—is to celebrate the launch…
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