Empire of the Word explores how reading and writing were born; how we learn to read; who or what might prevent us from reading; and the future of reading. Eight years in the making and shot in 15 countries, the series journeys from prehistory to present day and beyond, illustrating how reading and writing are inextricably linked to human evolution and existence.
The fourth and final episode looks at the future of reading, with reference to the terrific interactivewebiste Inanimate Alice.
Empire of the Word has an accompanying interactive mystery, Lehka’s Journey. The first two of eight episodes are already online along with some interactive word games.
The program airs in Canada at the end of this month. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long to see it here.
Manguel’s 2007 Massey lecture series, The City of Words, can be purchased from several sources as a CD, but does not seem to be available in mp3 format.
That would be Best Books for Young Adults, the list published annually by YALSA, the Young Adult arm of the American Library Association.
Earlier this year there was considerable debate about the future of this popular list, which, like the Carnegie Medal nominations (see previous post) provides a terrific source of titles for keen readers. It’s difficult to find the final decision without being a member of YALSA ; this post in response to the SLJ article suggests that none had been made, certainly at the time of writing, but this post refers to a proposed readers’ choice award, possibly taking BBYA’s place at some future date.
No matter for now. We have a 2009 list of nominations and we are delighted to see the following titles on it:
The two most prestigious awards in the UK are the Carnegie Medal for outstanding writing and the Kate Greenaway Medal for distinguished illustration. The first stage of the 2010 process has begun with the lists of nominations for both awards announced overnight. From here it becomes: shortlist (23 April 2010); winners (24 June 2010).
The lists are long, and keen readers will want to devour as much as they can get their hands on from the Carnegie list, Those who love illustration will savour the titles in the Greenaway list.
Eagle-eyed Judith Ridge alerted us to the nomination announcements via twitter, where she noted that the beautiful and poignant Harry and Hopper (a Margaret Wild / Freya Blackwood collaboration) was in the running for the Greenaway.
The shadowing site will be up and running soon, and worth keeping an eye on.
Image of Kate Greenaway used under Creative Commons licence.
Here’s another terrific free resource from the UK. Everyone’s Reading Plus is a 108-page PDF document listing titles suitable for readers of both genders aged between 11 and 18. A few Australian authors are included.
The titles on the Everyone’s Reading list can also be browsed online in a searchable database on the dedicated website. UK schools can select 15 titles from the list as part of a gifting program.
Everyone’s Reading has recently started on twitter.
The full Arts Festival (PIAF) program was unveiled yesterday. Earmark Friday 26 February to Monday 1 March for the literature component, with the traditional free Family Fun Day taking place on Sunday 28 February. This is a long weekend in WA.
Is this the longest longlist in the lit awards world? Well even so, as this Irish award consists of nominations from libraries around the globe, there are sure to be many titles here for the 2009 award that will suit your reading taste.
The award is open to works of fiction written in, or translated into, English and published within a specified period of time, and as usual there are plenty of Australians on the longlist.
Fiction Focus was planning to extrapolate all the Australian nominations, but being a bit slow to tackle this task, we are happy to see that Perry Middlemiss at the Matilda blog has already done the work.
The author describes it as ‘Gladiator meets Project Runway’: the dystopian reality-TV spectacle that is the premise of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, along with its sequel Catching Fire. Book Three, The Victors, is due to be published towards the end of 2010.
Australian and UK cover. Copyright rests with the publisher, Scholastic
Dystopia and Science Fiction : Blade Runner, Brazil and Beyond (or, Who’s Dystopia Is It?) (or, Dystopia is in the Eyes of the (frightened) Beholder). Notes from the Digital Cultures Project (University of California, Santa Barbara) with a definition, comments on the cultural and political sources of dystopian fiction and what we can learn from reading it.
Publishers Weekly has listed its best of 2009 (the heads-up came from Monica Edinger via twitter. Monica is aka educating alice).
Whilst the list is mostly North American in flavour, one or two foreigners have crept in, including this comment about a certain Shaun Tan’s Tales:
Tan proves that his prose is every bit as hypnotic as his artwork in this wondrous collection that reveals the banality and strangeness of the suburbs.
The Fiction Focus Blog is published by Curriculum Materials Information Services (CMIS), Department of Education and Training, Western Australia. It is designed to provide news about current events, resources and research to assist teachers and teacher librarians engage teenagers with books and reading.
No Comments » | 
authors, teaching ideas, websites | Tagged: reading | 
Permalink
Posted by judij
