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For those budding Scotch Scribes looking for a role model, here’s an interesting list of authors who were published whilst still under the age of 20 (or who wrote their books that young but were published later). 

Teen/Child published authors
*       Nancy Yi Fan: Swordbird (published at 12 yrs)
*       Zlata Filipovic: Zlata’s diary (written 11-13 years; publ. 13))
*       Flavia Bujor: The prophecy of the stones (14)
*       Atwater-Jones, Amelia: In the forests of the night (14)
*       Alexandra Adornetto: The Shadow thief (14)
*       Sonya Hartnett: Trouble all the way (15)
*       Catherine Webb: Mirror dreams (16)
*       Francoise Sagan: Bonjour Tristesse (16)
*       Robert Louis Stevenson: The Pentland Rising (16)
*       SE Hinton: The Outsiders (17)
*       Christopher Paolini: Eragon (18)
*       Simon French: Hey, phantom singlet (18)
*       Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (19)
*       Helen Oyeyemi: The Icarus girl (19)
*       Jack Heath: The Lab (19)
*       Scott Monk: Boyz are us (19)

       Published as adults
*       Daisy Ashford: The Young visiters (sic) (written at 9; publ. 38)
*       Anne Frank: Diary of a young girl (written at 13-15 years; publ.
posthumously)
*       Isobelle Carmody: Obernewtyn (begun when the author was 15; publ.
29)
*       Louisa May Allcott: Flower fables (written at 16; publ. 22) & The
Inheritance (written at 17, publ. posthumously)

       Close, but no cigar
*       Matthew Riley (20)
*       Catherine Jinks (26)

Thanks to Craig Edgman, Teacher-librarian, for compiling this list.

Mrs Sweeney

Australia has lost one of its literary treasures, Ivan Southall, who died on the 15th November at the age of 87. Mr Southall was particularly prominent during the 1960’s and 1970’s, when he penned one of my favourite books from childhood – Hill’s End - a story about children who must fend for themselves in the Australian bush when a wild storm attacks their town. His other novels include award winning classics  Josh and Ash Road.

Mrs Sweeney

Melbourne author Nam Le has won the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize for Literature, worth $140 000! The son of Vietnamese refugees who came to Australia when he was a baby, Nam Le is a qualified lawyer who quickly realised he didn’t want to live the corporate life.

His book The Boat is a collection of short stories set in diverse locations. When asked about this aspect of his work Nam said he is interested in the  the way

 ’fiction makes strange even the places we think we know. Subjectively, no two neighbours live on the same street, let alone in the same city. However, fiction can also evoke our familiarity with strange things. It’s this tension I’m interested in — the artifice and agenda behind making familiar things strange, strange things familiar’,

 (http://www.namleonline.com/q&a.html  18/11/08). 

The Dylan Thomas Prize is the world’s largest literary prize awarded to an author under the age of 30.

Mrs Sweeney

Well! What an unexpected turn of events! Despite the fact that before the day Alex was a one man team, and on the day he turned up AFTER his surrogate team had answered his round of questions…the Silverthorn team won the final by a narrow margin! Last minute ring-in, James, was fast, accurate and unflappable! Elliott was his usual loquacious self (without actually answering any questions), and Alex arrived in time to contribute to his teams’ points during extra time and the Quirky Questions. Well done team – your names will shine on the Scotch Factor Trophy.

The Macbeth experts (James, Daniel and Jamin )answered some pretty tough questions with aplomb, impressing myself and others with their detailed knowledge of the play, and ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ members – Sam, Stuart and Ed, competed valiantly considering only 2 out of 3 team members had read their book- Two Pearls of Wisdom!

Mrs Sweeney

The sequel to Diego Run is out! Actually, I didn’t find it as exciting as Diego Run, but if you read the former you’ll probably still be keen to find out what happens to Diego. He becomes involved in a blockade by Coca farmers, attempting to dissuade the Bolivian government from confiscating the farmers’ Coca harvests. Hit by rubber bullets and tear gas Diego once again proves himself tenacious and brave. Does he make it back to his parents? Read it to find out.

Mrs Sweeney

It’s incredible what lengths some dedicated and passionate teachers will go to just to get people reading! A primary teacher in Colombia enlists the help of his two donkeys every weekend. Intrigued? Read this inspiring article.

There’s a charming slideshow too.

Image: New York Times 23/10/08  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/world/americas/20burro.html?_r=3&ei==5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin 

Mrs Sweeney

Aravind Adiga has won the 2008 Man Booker Prize for his first novel, The White Tiger.

The novel is about the struggles of a rickshaw puller in New Delhi, and is described by the judges as a book that “shocked and entertained in equal measure”.

Aravind spent some of his teenage years in Sydney, and claims this influenced his writing about the class systems in India. Read this interesting interview with the 33 year old author.

Mrs Sweeney

The shortlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize has been announced, and once again Australian authors feature. Steve Toltz has been shortlisted for A Fraction of the Whole, and Aravind Adiga has also been shortlisted for The White Tiger.

The four other books on the shortlist are:

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant

The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher and

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

We’ll have these in the library as soon as we possibly can, because they’re bound to provide some satisfying reading.

Mrs Sweeney

Yet another debate is raging about what is appropriate content for children’s books. Matt Otley’s Requiem For a Beast won the 2008 CBCA Picture Book of the Year. It contains some obscenities, depictions of racism, and violence.

Kate Eltham, Chief Executive of the Queensland Writers’ Centre, eloquently defended the book…

             Detractors ask if we really want to read profanity and racist dialogue in our children’s books? But this is an insidious question. What can the reasonable answer be except ‘no’? … But this of course masks the real issue. That ugliness exists. That racism, violence and ignorance are real. And books, especially fiction, are still the best vehicles for exploring confronting ideas.

Read the whole article.

Do you agree? Are ‘books the best vehicle for exploring confronting ideas’? Do we, as Mr Batty suggested at today’s Olympic Reading Challenge Awards Ceremony, learn about ourselves and our reactions to others through reading books?

Mrs Sweeney

It’s official! Melbourne is only the second city in the world to have been awarded ‘City of Literature’ status by UNESCO. Edinburgh received this status in 2004. The centrepiece of Melbourne’s bid was the plan to establish a Centre for Books and Ideas at the State Library of Victoria, expected to be completed in the middle of 2009. Read more here.

Mrs Sweeney

Image ; http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Melbourne_City_Misty_Skyline_Federation_Square.jpg/800px-Melbourne_City_Misty_Skyline_Federation_Square.jpg  21/8/08