Interviews

Storer’s literary larder offers tasty treats in 2016

Award-winning author Jen Storer uses infectious humour, outlandish language and a distinctive narrative voice to lure readers through her picture books for young children and darker tales aimed at middle-grade readers. In this Q&A she reveals how healthy neglect can benefit a story, why reading aloud is important, and how farmer Clarrie and his quirky

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Heiss breaks barriers to big lives and literacy for Indigenous kids and communities

Acclaimed Indigenous author Anita Heiss knows reading opens doors. Her own books and her work with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation are helping to break down barriers and getting good books into the Australian communities that need them most. Harry’s Secret is her latest creative contribution to this important cause. In 2015 you released Harry’s Secret, which

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McCartney’s ‘Smile Cry’ conveys complex feelings to children

Tania McCartney’s new picture book Smile Cry is published in Australia this April and offers a unique and subtle exploration of children’s emotions. It’s also the tip of the iceberg in terms of McCartney’s amazing creative output—which is almost as huge as her love of raspberries! What’s unique about your new picture book, Smile Cry

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Vass brings Bradman to life for Aussie children

Coral Vass works to get the words just right. And that’s whether she’s writing about the Australian dubbed by many as ‘the greatest batsman who ever lived and the greatest cricketer of the 20th century’ or about two birds fighting over a perch. Her most recent books for children, Meet … Don Bradman and Two

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ACT reading ambassador Gold is keen to get kids hooked on books

Canberra-based author Irma Gold is the new ambassador for the ACT Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge—and she’s passionate about finding ways to get kids hooked on books. Her compassion for the baby elephants that are put to work in the tourist industry in Thailand informed her upcoming book for children, Seree’s Story, that will be published

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Varley’s rom-com debut ‘The Bit in Between’ offers plenty to chew on

Claire Varley’s debut novel The Bit In Between is a contemporary love story about Oliver and Alison, two young Australians who land in the Solomon Islands searching for purpose and belonging. Oliver is writing his second novel and Alison gets involved in supporting the local indigenous women. As Oliver’s novel takes shape, coincidences start to

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McGarry channels Dr Smith to enflesh the villainous Iago

Tim McGarry’s recent performance of Mark O’Flynn’s short story ‘Iago’ at the monthly literary soiree in Sydney that is Little Fictions was ‘Part jester part Shakespearean tragic’—to steal the words of Spineless Wonders’ Publisher Bronwyn Mehan. But how do actors like McGarry enflesh a character when they read another person’s story to a live audience

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Angst over a hanky? O’Flynn’s Iago’s fast and feisty

‘All that fuss over a snot rag. Get over it.’ … please discuss. Why did Australian author Mark O’Flynn feel free to tamper with the Iago from Othello, who some say is Shakespeare’s most evil villain? This Q&A with O’Flynn takes you behind the scenes of how he wrote this brilliant story. Next week, I’ll

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