Vegemite Kids

For the past couple of months, my son has refused to take Vegemite sandwiches to school. This is coming from a kid who was raised on the stuff, has painted his face in it, and typically adores a good Vegemite rollick through the undulations of soft, fluffy, wholegrain bread or cruskits or vita weat.

An Aussie kid tradition, really.

So, it was with intrigue that this Vegemite refusal mysteriously appeared. Upon subtle interrogation, I discovered that one of the boys in Riley's class hates the stuff and has spread ('scuse the pun) it around the school that eating Vegemite is not 'cool'.

Yes, I know you can hear my teeth grinding from here. And yes, I know you know what I'd like to do to that kid (paint his face with Vegemite).

I'll admit it. I like to resort to a good old Vegemite sandwich in the lunchbox when all the cheese and ham and olives and tomatoes and avocado is in sudden short supply (and of course, we can forget about peanut butter). But that creative licence is now gone thanks to some little kid and his penchant for Declarations of Cool.

This got me to thinking about how the smallest things we do can often heavily impact the lives of others. Sometimes it's deliberate but often it's inadvertent, as is the case with the Vegemite Slayer in Riley's class.

This morning, after a late night working, I realised I hadn't made the kids' sandwiches. Running out of time, I reached straight for the Vegemite - only to be rattled by a harrowing wail from Riley... no Vegemite sandwiches! he wailed in horror. That's right - he'd rather go sandwichless than suffer the perils of anti-cool indignation fostered by Vegemite Slayer.

Thankfully, all is not lost. Riley did indulge in a very secret golden crumpet, drenched in butter and skerricks of Vegemite for breakfast this morning - savoury, delicious bliss. He gobbled every bite. He wiped his mouth of all evidence and he skipped off to school with a Vegemite-free sandwich.

There may be a teeth grinding, frustrated mother at home but at least there's a kid who is not about to suffer the horror of being marked 'uncool'. We couldn't have that now, could we?

Babies in Beanies

It's on again! MissChief Maker and Snowgum Studio have come together to raise money at one of winter's most stunning Canberra events - Babies in Beanies. Kate Dawson and Leonie Keogh welcome votes to choose Canberra's most adorable (how can you choose?) baby in a beanie.

Children from newborn to 5 years old are eligible to enter. The entry fee is $30 and your child's photo will be taken by talented photographer Leonie at her studio or at MissChief Maker in Pialligo.

There are some great prizes to be won and all money raised goes to the Newborn Intensive Care Foundation.

Head to the MissChief Maker website for more info. You enter your own child or just vote for others at both misschiefmaker.com.au and snowgumstudiophotography.blogspot.com but can only vote once.

Get on board, appreciate some utter cuteness, and help raise money for a worthy cause!

The view from my window...

For the next couple of months, I will be enslaved to a computer, producing something truly beautiful. It's kinda nice that it's winter. I can stay in and snuggle and drink endless cups of tea while I mould creative things into a creative compilation.

Bliss.

The next Riley book has not been forgotten - Riley and the Curious Koala: A journey around Sydney is also in production; Kieron and I are quietly chipping away at some glorious pages here and there, with a planned release of late November.

It's a lovely time, a deeply creative time. Time to dive in.

Event: Poppy and the Bushfire Book Launch!

click to enlarge

The lovely Mimi King is launching her second book in the Poppy series of picture books - Poppy and the Bushfire - at Dymocks in the Canberra Centre on Saturday 3 July, 11am.

Come along and meet Mimi and hear a reading of this exciting (and dramatic!) new story, with sensational illustrations by the fabulous Kieron Pratt, who will be on hand to do some live drawing! There will also be a book signing.

See you there!

My CBCA Book Conference Experience

Day One

My first ever Children’s Book Council of Australia conference was an absolute dream. A little overwhelming but highly enlightening and truly book bliss for any author, illustrator, publisher, teacher, librarian or literary specialist, not to mention anyone who just loves books!

Entitled Imagine This! Imagine That! the conference was held over two days at the Menzies Hotel in the heart of Sydney, attended by 400 delegates and some rather meaty Australian literary talent.

After waking at 4.30am to catch an early bird flight to Sydney from Canberra, I arrived at the Menzies just after 8am to register, grabbed a nice cuppa and took a sneak peek at the publisher trade displays and Book Shop, stacked to the rafters with books by speaking author/illustrators and others. I felt so fortunate to have the opportunity to sell my own Riley books at the bookstore, which, astoundingly, and much to my delight, sold out completely by lunch time on Day Two!

Some early scenes at the bookshop - this lovely librarian was loaded to book capacity!

By 9am, I was settled in to the main conference room for the first sessions. I met two lovely teacher librarians – Liz and Dani – from Leeton and Broken Hill, respectively (who made me want to travel to both destinations, post-haste).

Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of NSW, opened the conference with a beautiful and impassioned speech, which was quickly followed by an enlightening and emotive talk on the Indigenous Literary Project, presented by Kristin Gill and author Andy Griffiths, who is the ILP Ambassador.

We were entranced by their journeys to remote indigenous Australian communities where they spend time talking with and donating a plethora of book packs to kids, whilst simultaneously highlighting the importance of literacy amongst Aboriginal children… only one in five of these children can read at an ‘acceptable’ level, an appalling statistic that is worse than most developing countries.

You can learn more about this enormously important project at indigenousliteracyproject.org.au, where you can get personally involved - or rope in your school, community or business organisation.

Next we were given a glorious keynote address by talented Australian author and literacy advocate Libby Gleeson AM, which was followed by morning tea and the chance to meet up with faces old and new. It was a real thrill to finally meet authors Dee White and Sandy Fussell after connecting on the internet for so many months, and also to meet Rebecca Newman of Alphabet Soup magazine, who shares my deep passion for reviews, news and literary musings. If you haven’t checked out her wonderful magazine, you must do so immediately.

After morning tea, we were swept up in star struck splendour with three back-to-back sessions on picture book partnerships between author and illustrator; something that is dear to my own creative heart.

Firstly, we were spoiled rotten to have Libby Gleeson and illustrator Armin Greder take us through their amazing picture book collaboration, revealing the way they have worked together to create some beautiful picture books … focusing on The Great Bear and An Ordinary Day. It was an amazing treat to see initial draft illustrations of Armin’s work on The Great Bear and to learn how he develops his work, in tune with the narrative.

Next was Margaret Wild and Julie Vivas – oh I had stars in my eyes! Watching their work unfold together – seeing Julie’s roughs, learning how Margaret first conceived her storylines, was such a thrill. It was remarkable to be taken through the production process for both Puffling and Let the Celebrations Begin.

Then came my own personal love – Jackie French and her partner in spectacular creation – Bruce Whatley, who delighted us with images and tales on the creation of Diary of a Wombat. It was hilarious to hear Bruce read production emails between Jackie and the publishers at Harper Collins regarding picture book Emily and the Big Bad Bunyip. The emails related to the debacle over what kind of instrument Emily the Emu could possibly play (it was originally a trumpet). Seeing as though Emily only has teensy little wings, the team finally settled on a tuba. Wonderful, enlightening stuff.

Learning how famous book collaborations are formed, developed and retained, was a joyous thing for this author - a real highlight for me.

After lunch, where I managed to catch up with the lovely Aleesah Darlison, we were treated to a fascinating talk by impassioned book lover and literacy dynamo Paul MacDonald, who owns The Children’s Bookshop in Beecroft, Sydney. Paul spoke to us about the rise and importance of Graphic Novels from K to 12, and his arguments were strong and enlightening. One of my regrets was not getting to meet Paul, who so kindly featured Riley and the Sleeping Dragon in one of his well-populated presentations on books-to-look-out-for, in Sydney last year.

Following Paul was a conference highlight – an hour with author/illustrator (and now film maker!) Shaun Tan who delighted everyone with a powerpoint presentation on his magnificent artwork, regaling us with his thought processes behind his ideas. Intelligent, introspective, philosophical and glorious to witness, Shaun also showed us a sneak peek of his new short film, based on his book The Lost Thing. It was truly amazing.

I also met and thoroughly enjoyed chatting to children's book aficionado Peter Williams, who collects first edition books and art - and actually owned one of the original paintings Shaun displayed during his talk. Such a lovely man and so impassioned about the work of Australian authors and illustrators.

Shaun Tan boggles us all with talent

Following afternoon tea and clutching books signed by Jackie French, Bruce Whatley and Shaun Tan (who are all just gorgeous people!) Melina Marchetta appeared to an entranced crowd, which I, alas, missed, as I was feeling a little under the weather.

After a rest in my room and a long bath, I attended the cocktail party to launch Queen Victoria’s Underpants by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley. The bubble-sipping crowd was entertained by the appearance of Queen Victoria herself, dressed in her finest regalia and bearing the most illustrious pair (and she didn’t hesitate to make them known to everyone in the room) of bloomers.

Jackie (who is looking fabulous!) chats to the cocktail party crowd

Her Majesty regaled us with the journey from knickerless monarch to be-knickered modern woman, changing the future of undergarments for women everywhere. It was such a treat.

Alas, I wasn’t feeling well and a glass of bubbles probably didn't help, so after a quick catch up with really lovely author Karen Robertson, I headed off to bed and slept a good ten hours, dreaming about an incredible day.

Day Two

As if this conference could get any better, we started the day with an emotional (for me, anyway, and it seems for many other delegates) conversation between publisher Margaret Hamilton and authors Glenda Millard and Stephen Michael King.

Although I’m not yet overly familiar with Glenda’s work (that is about to change!), I am a great Stephen fan and he was every bit as down to earth, warm and beautiful as his books. His focus on purity and simplicity in his work, and his own personal mantra on adopting kindness in his world, had me in tears. Later, at morning tea, I did the old stupid star struck thing and introduced myself to him and said something along the lines of “I love you!” before scurrying away. The poor man.

Enormously successful author Markus Zusak was next - it was fascinating to hear him talk about The Book Thief and how he discovered that writing for himself – and not trying to please everyone who would ever read the book – was the only way he could possibly get through a manuscript that trebled in size by completion.

At morning tea I met some gorgeous teacher librarians – Sue and Kate – and we chatted over scones with jam and cream before the launch of Libby Hathorn’s new book The ABC Book of Australian Poetry. With an introduction by Margaret Hamilton, Libby spoke to us about her passion for poems and introduced us to this magnificent and important new collection.

A book signing soon followed, then it was into some fabulous concurrent sessions, beginning with Ursula Dubosarsky and Tohby Riddle, who took us through the construction of their incredible work – The Word Spy, which focuses on the origins and structure of the written word.

Ursula and Tohby do their literary thing

It’s absolutely shameless that I had yet to dip into The Word Spy – it was just yet another of many books I’m yet to add to my groaning children’s book pile – and as the story for their book unfolded, I was horrified to realise this book is so completely me and everything I love – well… how could I have lasted this long without it? On the way home later that night, I searched every airport bookstore for it and managed to snaffle the last copy at Borders in Canberra the next day! and of course – it’s heaven.

Big regret – not having the chance to meet Ursula and Tohby – those book signings were crammed with queues and sold-out books and not enough minutes before new sessions began. Regrets regrets.

The next concurrent session was really eye-opening for me – I had not read verse novels for many many years and fell in love with them all over again after reading Sally Murphy’s Toppling recently. Sally and I have liaised by email since her Snowy’s Christmas picture book was published last year and it was just so lovely to hear her speak on her passion for poetry and verse – focusing on her CBCA shortlisted book – Pearl Verses the World.

It was also a real thrill to hear successful verse novelist Sherryl Clark talk about her verse and poetry work, and to become re-enthralled with a form of literature that seems to have lost its popularity over the last few decades. That is about to change with these talented authors bringing such zest and emotion to these fabulous books.

The third session was run by authors Sandy Fussell and Dee White – and was absolutely fabulous. Packed with priceless and informative information on authors and in the internet, Dee and Sandy are two very active, dynamic and passionate authors who have Facebook and Twitter firmly in hand, with their very impressive and interactive websites and blogs. Sandy, an IT professional, has a comprehensive and amazing site for her popular Samurai Kids series, and Dee’s website is quite mindblowing in its content and resources for other authors – I have no idea where she finds the time to write her books on top of all that she shares and coordinates for others.

After a bite of lunch with some more fabulous people - and where I met absolutely gorgeous author Sue Whiting, I hotfooted it to more book signings where I finally met Sally Murphy, after all this time and then said a quick hello to super lovely author Jacquie Harvey, who has been featured on Kids Book Review with her fabulous Alice-Miranda book series.

Alas, I wasn’t feeling well, so after a quick rest, I joined a fascinating and lively discussion on E-Books between publishers from several high-profile organisations, including Dyan Blacklock, Linsay Knight, Laura Harris and Leonie Tyle, in discussion with Mark Macleod. It was incredible to hear their thought and opinion on where e-books are headed and the imminent ‘demise’ of the hardcopy book. (A bit like the ‘paperless office’, I suppose!)

I then ran into fellow local Canberra author Tracey Hawkins and had a wonderful natter with her and also author Mo Johnson. In finishing an incredible 48 hours of book bliss, we were treated to an appearance by amazing and most beloved book creator Bob Graham (why doesn't Bob have a website???), who took us on a biographical romp through his working and personal life, complete with powerpoint ‘slide show’. This was rounded off by a magnificent musical tribute to Bob’s work, performed by a talented group of musicians, conductor and singer.

Bob Graham humbles us all with talent

Just before the tribute finished, I had to hightail it to catch my flight, but leaving early was no consolation prize. I left feeling warmed, fulfilled and enormously grateful for this extraordinary experience – one I know all of us will be talking about and sharing for many weeks and months to come.

Huge kudos to the CBCA NSW team for this incredible two days. Special thanks to conference convenor Gail Erskine and her team for coordinating such an enormous event and for making this such a pleasant and beautifully constructed literary work of art.

Personal thanks to Mary McNally and the bookshop staff for having my books on sale and for providing a book-lover’s nirvana – I know how the hard work they put into this. And lastly, thank you to our amazing Aussie talent – our authors, illustrations, publishers, teachers, librarians, literary specialists… for without you, there would be no books to open and no literary beauty to behold.

Silence.

Sorry for the silence. It's not that I'm not thinking about you. I'll be back soon - for the next two weeks, I will be buried under a pile of books, product and photographic stills, and permanently attached to Adobe illustrator.

See you at the other end, and I'll try to write in the meantime. Thank God for coffee and chocolate.

x

Designers are so stylish!

Part of the pleasure of receiving gorgeous handmade products to shoot for handmade living. is not only the items themselves, but the way in which designers package them. So cute, so stylish, so creative - like Christmas and birthdays all rolled into one and I have to open and gasp in surprise!

They're so cute, I've been leaving them for the kids to open after school! But then, of course, I then have to swat them away, as they want absolutely everything they open for themselves... hmmm.... sounds like someone else I know... me!

Vinnie's CEO Sleepout

The lovely Meredith from Dalton's Books here in Canberra is doing a really fine thing this forthcoming wintry 17 June. She's sleeping out. No, not at a friend's house, not camping. Well, kind of camping. She's sleeping out for a good cause - it's St Vincent De Paul's CEO Sleepout - where brave souls brave the elements in support of the homeless - to experience first-hand the difficulties of life on the street.

Notable business people and CEOs are sleeping out in Australia's capital cities, hoping to raise awareness (and funds) of the plight thousands of people suffer all over our country. All money raised during this icy feat will go towards helping Vinnies help the homeless.

The ACT is our smallest state/territory by far, yet Canberrans have really jumped on the bandwagon. Most astonishingly, we are providing the secondmost number of CEOs registered for this sleepout - next to Sydney - and have already raised over $176,000 for a combined national total of $1,184,873! GO CANBERRA!!!

Learn more about how you can get involved at the CEO Sleepout website. You can also make a direction donation to this extremely worth cause. Don't duck your head under your doona. Get involved - and support amazing people like Meredith who are easing out of their comfort zone in support of those in need.

So fabulous to be prominently featured in Handmade Market's amazing two-page advertorial in the Canberra Times this week, showcasing my Riley books and also talking about our exciting new venture - handmade living. The full spread can be seen here.

Canberra Times Double Page Feature

Handmade Market shone in a stunning two-page advertorial in the Canberra Times this week - you can see the full shebang here, but in the meantime, I'm just thrilled to see my books peeking out from the photo bottom left! (Click to enlarge.) And of course, Shop Handmade and handmade living. also got mentions.

See you at the market tomorrow!

Handmade Treasure

The treasure in my life just doesn't stop.

I met with Jennie from Posie yesterday, not only to ogle my new Riley pencil rolls, but also to chat with her about handmade living., as Jennie is now an official contributor. Just wait til you see what she is in store for the book - amazing.

She also gave me some stunning samples of her new hairclips and the most sensational passport holder, which I'm considering having made to complement the Riley travel range. Totally love. And of course, how could I live without these mushroom knitting needles???

Thanks Jennie!