Indigenous Literacy Day

A Media Release has arrived in the mail promoting the upcoming Indigenous Literacy Day, an extremely worthwhile cause that deserves support. The release explains:

All Australians can help raise $100,000 for remote Indigenous communities by buying a book on the inaugural Indigenous Literacy Day on September 5th.

Over 200 booksellers and publishers will donate 5% or more of their day's profits as part of the major new campaign.

Working in partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation and with the support of the Australian Publishers Association and the Australian Booksellers Association, Indigenous Literacy Day aims to raise funds to buy books and resources for remote Indigenous communities.

Raising awareness of illiteracy in these areas is critical, as many Indigenous Australians struggle to read everyday items like newspapers, medication labels and bank statements, and literacy rates in these communities have been found to be worse than in many third world countries.

The idea for Indigenous Literacy Day grew from the success of the 2006 Australian Reader's Challenge (ARC) in which over 14,000 participants, including schools, libraries, booksellers and publishers raised $80,000.

For a list of participating publishers and booksellers and more infromation on Indigenous Literacy Day please visit:

www.worldwithoutbooks.org

Byron Bay Writers Festival Round Up #1

The Byron Bay Writers Festival is over for another year and, as is usually the case for me, what with small kids and a full time job Byron is just too far away to put in an appearance.

Fortunately, Jane over at Speakeasy (the blog of The Australian Writers Marketplace) has been and has produced a series of detailed reports about the panels she attended. She tells us all about the panel for Researching for Fiction that was given by Garry Disher, Richard Flanagan, Gabrielle Lord and Carrie Tiffany. She also attended the How to Create a Kick-Ass Character panel that was chaired by James Phelan and included Gabrielle Lord and Michael Robotham.

Head on over to Speakeasy to get all the good oil.

The Crime Reader's Plan at the Byron Bay Writers Festival

The 2007 Byron Bay Writers Festival will be held 27 - 29 July and casting my eye over the program it promises to be a beauty. All ticketing details can be found on the BBWF website as well as accommodation details and a full program so you can plan your stay.



I've had a good look at the program myself and have picked out the highlights that the crime reading fan will be interested in. This listing is but a small selection of the huge array of sessions, workshops and interviews on offer.

Friday 27th
the panels for crime fans start almost immediately with the 2nd session in the Petrac Marquee being held from 9:45 - 10:45am. The Thrill of It All: The Art of Keeping the Reader Hooked will feature Barry Maitland, Michael Robotham and Gabrielle Lord.

From 1:45 - 2:45pm there will be a chat with Richard Flanagan (An Accidental Terrorist) in the Macquarie Marquee. You can then slip back to the Petrac Marquee where Barry Maitland will be joined by Gideon Haigh and Helen Greenwood for How I Write: Writers across genres talk about their process. This session goes from 3:00 - 4:00pm.

Saturday 28th
Garry Disher will be taking part in a panel titled Home and away: what succeeds in a global market along with Nury Vittachi, Laksmi Pamuntjak and chaired by Deepika Shetty. This session will go from 10:30 - 11:30 am and is held in the Macquarie Marquee.

You can then hang around until 12:30 at the same location because Michael Robotham (The Night Ferry) and Gabrielle Lord (Shattered) will be telling us how My protagonist kicks butt: writing characters larger than life. This session will be chaired by James Phelan (Fox Hunt, Patriot Act).

To make it a complete Macquarie Marquee day, the session to follow that one - beginning at 1:45 will feature Garry Disher and Marele Day (the Claudia Valentine series) along with Sarah Armstrong and Eva Sallis in what sounds to be a very interesting talk titled Prize writers: what does winning prizes mean to writers.

Sunday 29th
From 9:30 - 10:30am in the East Marquee you can kick the last day of the festival off with Gabrielle Lord, Richard Flanagan, Carrie Tiffany, Garry Disher and Irina Dunn at a panel titled Research for fiction: we don’t just make stuff up - a session that sounds as though it will be extremely instructive.

A choice of two very interesting panels in the afternoon should just about see you out. At the SCU Marquee Richard Flanagan, Gideon Haigh, Alice Garner and Susan Bradley Smith will be talking about Why I write: writers of fiction and non fiction reveal what inspires them while over at the Maquarie Marquee Garry Disher and Alexis Wright (Carpentaria) will be telling us all about Everything in its place: how landscape, natural and built, informs writing.

Somehow after all of this you will have to try to recover. Fortunately you will be in one of the most beautiful settings in Australia to do so.