mary poppins tsb art

Poppins art at cnr Kent Street & Cherry Tree Lane, and at cnr Kent & Adelaide Streets - Mary Heritage and Admiral Ten Boom.

the winds of heaven / judith clarke

I review for Allen and Unwin, along with lashings of other reviewers... I read this beautiful story in one night because it was so compelling. The language, the evocative imagery, the emotional upheaval... Dear Kate, whose heart also broke at the library scene, posted my review up on the site today - read them all here.

Fan’s downfall is drawn out, beautiful like shattered stained glass, and tragic.

happy reading for NSS Australia!

where will you be at 11am on NSS Day?

Find yourself in a library, or a hairdressing salon, or a shearing shed, or a classroom, and let your inner Pete free!

Baaaaaa!

D*P*C # 1,2

I'm working on two Learning 2.0 programs at the same time - OMG. I've covered blogging (1), so onto (2) twitter. I'm librarianalison over there and I'm following four twitterers so far. I love that you can only use 140 characters - I'm a fan of microfiction; the variations of which include writing a story in 150 or 100 words, or in 150 characters to send via SMS. It makes for snappy writing, and you can fit a few in a zine: Onefifty. Michael Gerard Bauer won an early 150 word comp. through BWF and it got printed on volunteers' t-shirts. I have a strange fascination for the Skin story too even though I haven't read the whole thing.
I'm supposed to be talking about twitter, right? I like it for short, sharp, immediate communication. And everyone's on it - the Qld Premier included. It's a great news dissemination service - what are you doing? says it all. People twitter at conferences, I twittered at my hotel - you can post on the run. It makes people feel included, and since it's interactive they can post back. I'm still figuring out how that works. Networking. Excellent tool. And it clarifies your thinking - what was important about today?
I want to use it in the library.

no apples for the teacher

Life is an intricate puzzle. For some time I had planned to study the postgraduate diploma in primary education either through QUT or USQ after completing my library management degree with CSU. I planned to move into teacher librarianship both for the work and to gain coverage of all employment bases. Not that you have to be qualified in librarianship for Queensland schools. Although it would be much better for children if that was a requirement.
For some months I have been an enthusiastic pre-preservice teacher just waiting for Res. School at USQ. Yesterday I regretfully unenrolled (it was a mid-year intake) because I will not be able to fulfil the work placement requirements in semester two - because I gained a full time librarian position in public libraries!! So, the school thing is not to be just now - no apples for this would-be teacher.
That's okay because my other much longer held dream was to work in public libraries...all those enquiring minds. Love life.

wordbox for writers takes off!

tonight is the eve of wordbox's third birthday and we are totally celebrating. the 'box had solid growth in its first two years thanks to some enthusiastic support from industry leaders who support young people's writing - 3000 hits each of those years.
I don't remember when we hit the 3000 this year, but it was early. On birthday eve we're up to 10 959 - by the end of the week that will mean 5000 hits over the year.
Thank you to all the librarians, teachers, TLs, authors, competition organisers, parents, industry members and most of all - young people - who use wordbox as their comprehensive reference guide for Australian writing competitions. You keep it strong.

Wordbox focuses on providing links to genuine literary opportunities for young Australians in the fields of reading and writing which result variously in publication, reward, recognition and the building blocks of a future career. These opportunities are offered by Australian government agencies, libraries, schools and writers’ organisations where young people’s interests are central. Information is provided about assessing the worth of a competition and about avoiding scam competitions. It's so selfish, really. I support young writers so they'll develop their work so we'll all have something fabulous to read at bedtime - tonight and every night to come.

Wordbox was inspired by Tim Cahill, a (then) young U.S. writer, who wrote in Teen Ink magazine that having a piece published is a wondrous experience, especially as a teenager, when it seems so often that your words are doomed to suffocate in the flood of relationships, activities and responsibilities…
[T. Cahill, 'Preface', in S H Meyer & J Meyer (eds) Teen Ink 2: More voices, more visions written by teens, Health Communications Inc, Deerfield Beach, Florida, 2001, p. xviii]

On Birthday Eve I'd like to send out virtual roses to wordbox supporters I know of. Thank you, and apologies to any I've missed.
Denise O'Connor (SLQ), St Mary's College Ipswich, The Source, Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School, WritingWA, Australian Writers Marketplace, Sydney Writers, Antonia Suthers, Nicole McPhee, edNa, James Roy, Hazel Edwards, Simon Higgins, Judith Ridge, Jenny Stubbs, Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards, State Library of Tasmania, The Glennie School, National Literacy and Numeracy Week, Mackay Libraries, Margaret Spillman, Gladstone City Library, Education Victoria, Darebin Libraries, Education Tasmania, Hillbrook Anglican College, Mackay Christian College, Stanton Library, Fraser Coast Libraries, Queensland Writers Centre, Mike Shuttleworth (CYL), Pat Flynn, Rockhampton Libraries, Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal, Fremantle Children's Literature Centre, and most recently Sharon McGuinness.

Fremantle Children's Literature Centre!!! This is totally bigger than I ever imagined. Look at all these people who support young people's creative development. It's astounding. Exciting. Hopeful.

If you've used wordbox to check out the comps, let me know - comment on the blog! Happy birthday.

happy mothers' day

we walked on the beach at Gataker's Bay today, and were pleasantly surprised by the work of an unknown artist. Nothing says 'I love you' like a coral, seaweed and sand artwork. Sweet.

townsville

I'm in Townsville - I've had a whirlwind tour of the whole town - three libraries, the Strand, everywhere. Very impressive.
More later.