Events! Events! Melbourne Young Adult Author Events!

My diary is getting chock-full of events this month and the following ones and I gotta share with you: There are some super-fab sounding author events coming up in Melbourne that you might be interested in:

May 17 4pm: Eoin Colfer of Artemis Fowl fame will be at Ward Sager Pty Ltd
Shop 21, 10 Arthur Street, Eltham VIC

Free Event. Email: books@wardsagar.com.au 

May 19 2pm: Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid graphic novels will be at Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne ($20 full/ $12 concession, book through the Wheeler Centre)









May 23 5pm: Isobelle Carmody, author of Obernewtyn, book launch for Metro Winds at Readings, 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn
Free Event. Phone: 9819 1917









May 26 3:30pm Karen Tayleur, author of Six, book launch for Love Notes From Vinegar House at The Little Book Room, Carlton









June 21 6pm: Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon at the Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne ($20 full/ $12 concession, book through the Wheeler Centre)








July 27 6pm: Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister's Keeper at Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne ($20 full/$12 concession, book through the Wheeler Centre)
and

July 31 12:30pm Sarah Billington (ME!) author of The Kiss Off, The Chapel, NMIT Fairfield, Yarra Bend Rd, Fairfield.










I haven't read all of these authors but I know I'm going to learn something from each of them.

I'm excited. How lucky are we, Melbournites? See you there!

Events! Events! Meg Rosoff at the Wheelers Centre and NEXUS Festival of Animation, Comics & Graphic Novels!

Melbourne peeps, listen up!

Wish I'd known about this sooner, but it's not too late for you!

Meg Rosoff, award winning YA author of How I Live Now, Just in Case and What I Was will be at The Wheeler Centre in the city on Wednesday (TOMORROW NIGHT). And it's a free event. I mean, why aren't you going? :)

Check out The Wheeler Centre site for more deets. 

ALSO, I just found about this great sounding festival. If you're around and interested in graphics you should totes check it out!

NEXUS is a festival of animation, comics, graphic novels and moving image, at NMIT Fairfield Campus 10-12 May.  There will be exhibitions, masterclasses, screenings, a book fair, panel discussions, seminars and innovative performances.

GUESTS INCLUDE:

ANTHONY LUCAS              Animator
                                      Jaspar Morello

TOM TAYLOR                   Comic, Screen & Theatre Writer
                                      LucasFilm

DAVID RUSSELL                Storyboard Artist
                                      Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

EDDIE WHITE                    Film Writer & Director
                                       The Cat Piano

COLIN WILSON                 Comic Artist
                                       Blueberry, 2000AD

ISABEL PEPPARD               Animator
                                       Mary and Max

SUTU                               Interactive Comic Producer
                                       www.nawlz.com

BRUCE MUTARD                Graphic Novelist
                                       The Sacrifice

Lots to learn here, don't you think?

 

For full details and to register to events, please see http://nexusfestival.blogspot.com

NMIT
Fairfield campus

Yarra Bend Rd Fairfield

That's all for now, 

I have an exciting new blog series coming up soon so stay tuned for that!

Free Writing & Publishing Seminars in Melbourne!

Hello my lovelies,

The semester has begun again and as a free extra-bonus-awesome part of my Bachelor of Writing & Publishing, NMIT Fairfield are hosting free (to everyone) seminars with Publishing Professionals.

Last week's one was with Maree McCaskill and Jose Borghino from the Australian Publishers' Association was so incredibly fascinating so I recommend if you're in Melbourne you pop on over to The Chapel in NMIT Fairfield, Yarra Bend Rd Fairfield at Midday on Tuesdays if you can!
There is one in particular I am Squeeing with excitement about - the man who made me want to write in the first place, John Marsden is coming! John Marsden is coming!

Here's what's coming up:

12:00pm-1:00pm 1 March: Dale Campisi, Arcade Publishers
Dale is co-founder and Director of Arcade Publishers, a unique niche publisher that short reads about Australia's past: from eccentric entrepreneur EW Cole and infamous Queen of Harlotry Madame Brussels to comprehensive - if unconventional - histories of Melbourne itself, Aussie pinups and hoaxes across the nation and throughout the ages. Arcade also hosts events based around their publications such as the Mysterious, Marvelous and Historical Melbourne walking tours.

1:00pm-2:30pm Thursday 3 March: Sue Hines, Allen & Unwin
Sue is the Trade Director at Allen & Unwin, Sue started her publishing career at the independant publishing house McPhee Gribble. She was the managing editor during the period that the company was the powerhouse of Australian literary publishing and she worked with a range of fiction and non-fiction writers. She then moved to Reed Books to start their first paperback imprint and later went on to become the company's non-fiction and illustrated publisher, publishing many well-known authors during that time. In 1996 she moved to Allen & Unwin as the publisher of her own imprint and was appointed as trade publishing director in 2005.

12:00pm-1:00pm 8 March: Mary Russell, ANZ Society of Indexers
Mary is the President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers. Mary will provide an overview of the skills required for different kinds of indexing including Bibliographic and database, Geneological, Georgraphical, Book, Legal, Periodical and newspaper, Pictorial indexing, Subject gateways, Website and metadata indexing. Phew!

3:00pm-4:00pm Thursday 17 March: John Marsden (Squee!!)
John Marsden has won every major writing award in Australia for young people's fiction, including the 2006 Lloyd O'Neil Award for contributions to Australian publishing. He was also nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2008, the world's largest children's and youth literature award, and the second largest literature prize in the world. His recent books include Home and Away, Hamlet: A Novel, A Roomful of Magic and the Tomorrow series, the first of which, Tomorrow When the War Began, was adapted for film by Stuart Beattie in 2010. Join John for a fascinating talk about his life, work and life's work.

Phew! That's enough for now, but I'll post again about how Bruce Shearer (Playwright and Senior Training Consultant for LexusNexis) is coming, as well as Cora Kipling (Senior Publicisit for Text Publishing), Helen Cerne (Writer and Manuscript Assessor), Jeff Sparrow (Overland), Lisa Dempster (Emerging Writers' Festival and Vignette Press) and Tim Pegler (Author and Journalist). They. Are. All. Coming.

NMIT Fairfield, Yarra Bend Rd, Fairfield Victoria. Call Adelina Broglio on (03) 9269 1833 for more details.

Sairz out!

Sorry for my tardiness

I've been a little bit quiet of late, I know.Erm...sorry about that.

Truth is, it's that time of year University assignment-wise and I've been a bit like this:

Except less board looking. Well. No I retract that statement. Totally as bored looking. And more nail chewing. And tired making. And sleeping. There's been lots of sleeping involved. Well, more sleeping during the day because I haven't been sleeping at night. Been trying to sleep at night so it all comes down to a lot of time TRYING to sleep. And TV watching. There's been a lot of that as well. 

And all of that = PROCRASTINATION. Yes, when it comes to academic study, I appear to be a firm believer of "If I don't look at it, it'll go away". Which it never does. It just gets harder cos you have less time to do it in.

When it comes to my creative writing, the times that I utilise this method, it, well it DOES go away. At present, no one's waiting with baited breath, tapping their watch and scowling at me if I don't get cracking. So sometimes the motivation flows away...

But I do have to cut myself some slack. Last year I wrote two books. Neither of which I wrote during term time at University.

So I'm not too phased. As soon as exams etc are over I'll be back to writing.

I have to make the most of my time here, living on Res with the friends I've made...wanna know why?

Cos I'm not coming back next year!

Yes, there have been some developments in the past week or so.

Firstly I FINALLY made the decision: Teaching is not for me. Not a whole classroom anyway. What do I love most in the world? Well, books of course. Being the blog of a writer, I reckon any one of you could have figured that out.

So what industry should I REALLY be trying to work my way into? The publishing industry! I mean, DUH.

So next year I'm going to move back to Melbourne and do a Writing & Publishing degree - get to move straight into second year because of previous qualifications. Woot! Plus might get a little bit of credit for what I've studied here which will be awesome.

And the degree involves two things: Writing (writing a novel is part of the course work!) and Publishing (industry placements at publishing houses!) so I reckon it's going to be pretty sunny.

Yes, I do realise there will be assignments, and I know how I feel about those, but it's looking a bit brighter than this Education track is, for me.

I'm really looking forward to moving back to Melbourne actually, seeing all my friends, my old haunts and interests. As much as I love the peace and quiet of the country, there is a lot more on offer in the big bad.

But before I can do that I have to get back from the WORLD!

Caught a bit of a snag in my Visa application for the UK, and it turns out I won't be allowed into the country until within a week of class starting. Which is kinda crap considering my plane ticket gets me there THREE weeks before class starts. Do they not want people to enjoy themselves as WELL as study? See their countryside, and bask in the...er....rain?

Keep ya posted how all that turns out.

Still being nice and patient in and impatiently patient way when it comes to the two fantabulous agents who have my full MS. Another two weeks and I can give one a polite tap on the shoulder and ask if she's had a chance to flip through it yet. We'll see.

Until then, I have other stuff!

Bye for now. Going to watch some TV. Then do some study. Then watch some TV. Then go and annoy someone, cos they're likely to not be on campus anymore. Who will the lucky person be??