the portal

A 7am start is not every boy’s idea of fun, but for Scotch Library’s annual event, Books Blokes and Brekky, 100 keen readers were more than happy to make an exception.  Judging by the number of excited students, Fathers and Grandfathers who arrived at the Cardinal Pavilion on Thursday, Books Blokes and Brekky is an occasion not to be missed.

A delicious breakfast of fruit smoothies, eggs florentine, tea, coffee and mini-muffins filled the stomachs of the hungry guests, while the eight guest authors filled the minds of the “blokes” with their recommendations of books every boy should read.

Paul Collins, Brendan Gullifer, Leigh Hobbs, Michael Hyde, Sofie Laguna, Vikki Petraitis, James Phelan and Nick Place completed the varied line-up of special guests and all impressed the audience with their suggestions from varied genres.

Paul encouraged boys of all ages to read Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines, Brendan suggested the American classic, Catcher in the Rye as his most unmissable book for boys, Leigh Hobbs cited cartoonist Ronald Searle, noted for his St. Trinians illustrations, as an early influence, while Michael Hyde spoke of the importance of Australian classics , specifically Alan Marshall’s I can jump puddles.

Sofie Laguna chose Nick Hornby’s most recent novel Slam as a book for every boy, while crime writer Vikki Petraitis summarised Randolph Stowe’s 1967 comic story, Midnite : the story of a wild colonial boy and recommended it as another Aussie classic.

Action author James Phelan, familiar to many Scotch boys due to his appearance at last year’s Literature Festival, spoke highly of Orson Scott Card’s Sci-Fi award winner Ender’s game. The final word of the morning went to Nick Place who recommended books by both Elmore Leonard and Michael Chabon, but ultimately chose The Princess Bride by William Goldman as his “best book for boys”.

A lively morning of great literary discussion and delicious food delighted all those who attended. Bring on the next BBB!

Madame Librarian

By Brendan Gullifer

Yes, it’s true! There may be another Potter book afterall.

Author JK Rowling has just announced she’s thinking of a Potter encyclopedia. You can read about it here.

Another great writer, American poet Charles Bukowksi (pictured) died in 1994.

But before he left, he gave some wise advice to anyone who wants to be a writer. It’s in the form of a poem, and is called ‘So you want to be a writer?’

This is a slightly edited version.

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

and there never was.

I look forward to meeting with Scotch’s budding writers next week!

By Brendan Gullifer

In 2005, I was in London with my oldest daughter. Just over a week earlier, the bombs had gone off on the underground. Many stations were still closed. Large parts of the train network remained shut down.

But we had an important job to do.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was about to be released. At exactly five minutes past midnight we joined an excited queue of almost 100 people at a bookshop somewhere in the city.

I remember a father behind us saying to his son: ‘I reckon Dumbledore’s going to die. And Ron and Hermione are going to get together. What d’ya think?’

There were guards at the front door. They let in three people at a time. We purchased our copy and raced back to the hotel. I went to sleep. My daughter, who was then 15, finished it at 7 am that morning.

I’m sure it was similar in bedrooms, hotels and houses around the world!

‘You know, Dad,’ my daughter said last week. ‘I’ve grown up with Harry Potter.’

And she’s right. In the last 10 years, 360 million copies of Harry Potter books have been sold in 64 languages

It’s a publishing phenomenon.

Commentators, schoolteachers and other brainy people say the Internet has actually helped the series’ huge popularity. People have read the books and become fans, then spread the word digitally.

Harry is a special sort of boy. Like many heroes, he comes from humble circumstances. He shows courage. He overcomes his fear. That’s true bravery! And he’s honest, and will stand up for what’s right, even in the face of scorn or possibly awful consequences.

Maybe JK Rowling’s time working with Amnesty International – a worldwide organization that campaigns against human rights abuses – taught her the importance of justice and fighting for what you believe in.

Here are some other interesting facts about the book’s remarkable author:

· JK Rowling says the description in the Philosopher’s Stone of photographs of ‘what appeared to be a beach ball wearing different colored bobble hats’ could just as easily have been a description of her as a baby.

· JK Rowling’s sister has a tiny scar just above her eyebrow (sound familiar?) from when she threw a battery at her sister when they were kids.

· She spent much of her childhood swapping made-up stories with her sister, and remembers playing on the stairs in their childhood home.

· There were lots of children in the same street, including a boy whose surname was Potter. But JK Rowling said he is definitely not Harry. She just liked the name.

· JK Rowling said her grandmother died at the same time the family moved to the country. This may have affected her feelings about her new school, which she didn’t like at all.

· The original Ford Anglia car was actually owned by a friend of JK Rowling’s, Sean Harris, to whom the Chamber of Secrets is dedicated. Some of her happiest teenage memories are of zooming round the countryside with Sean in his car. Sean was one of the few people to whom JK Rowling confessed her ambition to be a writer. And he was just about the only person who encouraged her.

· When JK Rowling first thought of the idea of Harry Potter she was on a train – but without a pen! She now thinks this was good because she had four hours’ thinking time before starting to write.

· Parts of the first book were written in Portugal, where JK Rowling was teaching English. This was after her mother had died. JK Rowling says much of Harry’s sense grief about the death of his parents comes from her own sense of loss.

· Other parts were written in a local café. JK Rowling says there were times when she was working on the manuscript that she really hated it (all writers experience this!)

· The first agent JK Rowling sent the book to knocked it back. And the second took more than a year to find a publisher.

And the rest of the story is one of the most remarkable – and successful – in the history of modern literature.

So if, over coming weeks, you’re locked away in your bedroom devouring the new Harry Potter book, and your parents remind you about homework, or walking the dog or stopping to eat, you can tell them this.

That the last time any author had such worldwide success was in the time of Charles Dickens (1786-1861). People used to queue up on the docks for the latest installment of Dolby and Son.

And then you can ask them if they read Enid Blyton as a kid.

‘Do you remember the Famous Five, Mum?’ ‘Do you recall the Secret Seven, Dad?’

And when their eyes go all misty and they get a gentle smile of recollection and longing, you can quietly close your bedroom door and continue reading.

www.brendangullifer.com