CMIS Evaluation Fiction Focus

Esther Hautzig, best known for her wartime survival story The Endless Steppe, has died at the age of 79.

The New York Times obituary is here.

This time it’s E. Lockhart for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, which was a Printz Honor Book in 2009. Although we have been hearing about this title for a long time, it inexplicably has not been released in Australia.

Lockhart’s speech, in which she discusses the influences that shaped the novel, can be viewed here. And as we can’t bring you a local review, here’s one from the New York Times. Sounds good – any Australian publishers interested? For all we know it might already be in the pipeline.

There will be another Printz speech soon – the only ones remaining are the vision of speeches by Margo and Melina. We’ll let you know – about a fortnight to wait for the first of these, we’re guessing.

It’s WA Week – a time to celebrate all the good things about the West. So let’s tip our hats to our many talented authors and illustrators, whether they still live here or not.

Sandgropers we love to read include Tim Winton and we’ll unapologetically claim Shaun Tan and Anthony Eaton, even though they no longer live on this side of the country. Happily, Matt Ottley has now made the move west.

There’s a great list over at the CBCA WA website.  Too many to name you all, but we thank you for the richness you bring to our young readers – and to us.

Image of kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos manglesii) used under Creative Commons licence.

Sources on the ChildLit listserv who are close to the family have advised that YA author Norma Fox Mazer has passed away following a short illness. Her most recent novel was Missing Girl (2008), but she also collaborated with illustrator Christine Davenier on the delightful picture book Has Anyone Seen My Emily Greene? (2007)

News is just through from the publisher that Patrick Ness will be touring Australia in 2010. Apart from dates, details are scant but there’s plenty of time and we’ll keep you informed.

Dates

Western Australia:  25^th February – 1^st March

Victoria:  3^rd – 5^th March

Tasmania: 5^th – 6^th March

NSW: 8^th – 10^th March

New Zealand:  11^th – 13^th March

Queensland: 16^th – 19^th March

Listen to what Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun) has to say about growing up with English and American children’s books.

Thought-provoking, indeed. Who is being excluded from our literature?

On ABC Radio National Life Matters. Here.

Fantasy fans have lost one of their most popular writers in the death of David Eddings on Tuesday at the age of 77.  His wife Leigh, who contributed to his writing, predeceased him last year.  His series comprise The Belgariad, The Malloreon, The Elenium, The Tamuli, and The Dreamers.

In an interview two years ago he explains the motivation for setting out on the path of fantasy.

What do Tohby Riddle, Randa Abdel-Fattah, James Roy and Mark McLeod have in common? Not to mention Garth Nix, Isobelle Carmody, David Hill, Mal Peet (there goes the Aussie authors theory), Tristan Bancks, Morris Gleitzman, Danny Katz and Mitch Vane. (All but David Hill write/illustrate for YA and younger, although even his book is of relevance to teenage readers).

It was James Roy, on his blog head vs desk, who alerted us to the good news that Writers Talk 2009 is up and running. The first four authors are already on the site; the others will be added in coming weeks.

This terrific resource, an initiative of the Centre for Learning and Innovation in the NSW DET, is a spinoff from the forthcoming 2009 Sydney Writers Festival. Each author video is supported by additional resources including a bibliography and teaching notes.

And if you want more, WT 2008 and WT 2007 are also still online and well worth investigating.

… has a whole conference devoted to her works. This sounds like a very good reason to be in Bristol in early July this year. Of course, the author of so much wonderful speculative fiction will be in attendance as guest of honour.

The venue is the University of the West of England. The dates are July 3-5 and the closing date for registration 20 June.

Here’s an interview about her Worlds of Chrestomanci series.