CBCA Night of the Notables, a School Visit, and another Book Launch

CBCA Night of the Notables

Nette Hilton - NSW Judge

My friends Kirrili, Gwynne and I went to Dymocks in George Street, Sydney last Tuesday evening to celebrate the announcement of the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book Week Awards Notable Books.

The notable books are a long list of books. The judges then choose the shortlisted books from this list. The shortlisted books will be announced at midday on Tuesday, 28th February. From this shortlist, the winners will be chosen. The big announcement of the winners in each of the categories will be announced at the beginning of Book Week on Friday, 18th August. All books entered were published in 2016.

The full list of books in the notable list can be found here.

Margaret (Nette) Hilton, current NSW judge, spoke about the judging process while Jacqueline Harvey (Alice Miranda series) talked about the importance of encouraging children to read. 

More information about the judges and the judging process can be found here.

It was so lovely to see some of my Sydney and Central Coast literary friends again. The children's literature community is so beautiful, and every time I go to a related event, I get to catch up with some amazing people.

Congratulations to all the book creators linked with books on the notable list (these include authors, illustrators, book designers, editors, publishers, publicists as so on). What an amazing set of books. All of these books are quality literature from cover to cover and would be an asset to any home and school library, or a personal collection. My collection just keeps getting bigger!

School Visit: St Brigit's, Raymond Terrace

Last Friday I had the privilege of talking to and workshopping with Year 3 from St Brigid's Primary School, Raymond Terrace. We had a very busy day discussing narrative structure, realism writing and where to get ideas from. Thanks to Aleesah Darlison from Greenleaf Press who worked with the school and I to meet the needs of the children. Beautiful school, beautiful children :)

Book Launch

Lastly, I attended Renee Price's book launch of her second picture book, 'Digby and the Yodelayhee Who?' at Wallsend Library. She sang, she told stories, and she was very funny. A happy and delightful event. Congratulations, Renee!

On another note:

Some of you have worked out this is my third blog post in a week. Yes, my third. This has only happened a few times before and may never happen again, but at least you're now up-to-date with my mischief. Cross your fingers I will be writing the next blog post in my new writing studio currently under construction. I can't wait! 

(Oh, and we're painting inside our house at the same time. Utter chaos here!)