Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson is on the longlist for this year’s Green Carnation Prize, an annual award open to all LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) writers, celebrating the best of modern gay writing.
The shortlist will be announced on 2 December, and the winner on 7 December.
Here’s the whole longlist:
By Nightfall – Michael Cunningham
The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge – Patricia Duncker
The Proof of Love – Catherine Hall
Red Dust Road – Jackie Kay
The Retribution – Val McDermid
Purge – Sofi Oksanen
There But for The… – Ali Smith
Remembrance of Things I Forgot – Bob Smith
Ever Fallen in Love – Zoe Strachan
The Empty Family – Colm Toibin
Role Models – John Waters
Before I Go To Sleep – S J Watson
Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? – Jeanette Winterson
Related, somewhat: a popular blog post at Genreville (hosted by Publishers Weekly) written by authors finding that they were urged to make a gay character in their YA novel straight—that is, if they wanted representation and a home for their work.
We published a fantastic YA novel last year by John Green and David Levithan called Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which featured young gay characters and was a sensitive treatment of the issues faced by gay teenagers. Can you think of other YA novels with prominent gay characters? Do you think we need more books like this?
Congratulations to Maurice Gee, whose YA novel The Limping Man has been shortlisted in the Young Adult category in the 2011 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards!
The Awards are judged by librarians in New Zealand for excellence in junior fiction, young adult fiction, illustration, non-fiction and te reo Maori.
The Limping Man is the third volume in Maurice Gee’s celebrated Salt Trilogy.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Wellington on 8 August.
Many congratulations to Leon Davidson, whose fantastic history of the Anzacs on the Western Front, Zero Hour, won in the non-fiction category at last night’s New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.
The New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards celebrate excellence in children’s literature, recognising the best books for children and teenagers published annually in New Zealand.
Zero Hour is the third book by Leon Davidson, author of the best-selling and multi-award-winning Scarecrow Army: the Anzacs at Gallipoli and Red Haze: Australians & New Zealanders in Vietnam.
Well done, Leon!
Today marks the official start of the 2011 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing. You have until 3 June to finish your manuscript and get it in to us for consideration for this year’s Prize.
The winner of the 2010 Text Prize was the post-apocalyptic action novel The Bridge by Jane Higgins. Follow this link to the fantastic new trailer and more information about the book. We’ll publish The Bridge in August 2011.
The 2009 winner was Leanne Hall, for her distinctive novel This Is Shyness.
In 2008 the inaugural prize was won by Richard Newsome’s adventure caper, The Billionaire’s Curse.
The winner will receive a publishing contract with Text and a $10,000 advance against royalties. Download the entry form here and be sure to get your entry in before 3 June!
This week’s Friday Book Club pick is John Marsden’s brilliant take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
We know the story. Hamlet’s father has just died. By the time they’ve filled in the grave his mother has remarried. Hamlet suspects foul play, and it’s troubling his spirit. Or maybe he was always troubled. Ophelia is in love with him. His best friend Horatio can’t work him out. Then, on a cold, still night, Hamlet meets the ghost of his father…
This wonderful book, by one of Australia’s most-loved writers, takes Shakespeare’s famous play and makes it into a moving and full-blooded novel. John Marsden powerfully re-imagines the original characters and story. Hamlet, A Novel will be adored by readers young and old.
You can find reading notes on our resources page. Don’t forget to follow us on facebook and twitter, and feel free to ask us questions. Happy weekend and happy reading!
Bernard Beckett, author of the award-winning Genesis and August (out on Monday), will be giving the keynote speech at the relaunch for the Centre for Youth Literature’s website, insideadog.com.au.
The launch is on Tuesday 8 March, from 6pm, at Media House Auditorium, The Age, 655 Collins Street, Docklands.
Entry is $15, and includes refreshments and a copy of Bernard’s new compelling philosophical thriller about power, humanity and desire, August.
Visit the State Library of Victoria’s website for further details.
This week saw the jubilee conference for the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English. Text went along to gain invaluable face-to-face time with teachers, and also ran a competition to give away a class set of The Unidentified by Rae Mariz. This fantastic dystopian novel is set in a world where corporations control education, and features a great cast of characters dealing with consumerism, peer pressure and friendship. You can find more about the book, a great read for 13-year-olds and up, by downloading the teaching resource here.
Congratulations to Jill Ito, who has won a class set of The Unidentified (valued at $600) for her school, Canterbury Girls' Secondary College. We hope your students love it, Jill!
If you would like to receive Text’s education newsletter, email us here with SUBSCRIBE as the subject.
The Centre for Youth Literature has now announced the shortlists for the Gold (Australian) and the Silver (International) Inkys. Voting is now open for readers aged between 12 and 20.
We’re thrilled that Will Grayson, Will Grayson has been shortlisted for the Silver Inky. Written in alternating chapters by two of the biggest names in YA, John Green and David Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson is the hilarious and poignant story of two teenagers—both named Will Grayson—and the turn their lives take when their paths cross.
Voting for the Inkys closes on 19 November, with the winners announced 25 November.
This is Australia’s only book award voted exclusively by teenagers, so if you are between 12 and 20, visit Inside A Dog, find great books to read and make your vote count.
The Centre for Youth Literature has just announced the longlist for the 2010 Inkys. The Inkys are awards for teenage literature voted for by readers. The longlist consists of 10 Australian books, all vying for the Gold Inky, and 10 International books, one of which will take home the Silver Inky. The longlist was selected by the Centre. A shortlist will be made by a panel of judges before voting opens to readers aged between 12 and 20.
We are thrilled to see two Text titles on the longlist. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, the collaboration by YA superstars John Green and David Levithan, and Kelly Link’s surreal collection of short stories, The Wrong Grave, are both in contention for the Silver Inky.
‘…John Green and David Levithan’s Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a complete romp…the novel is so tightly woven that it begins to feel miraculous…Will Grayson, Will Grayson is so funny, rude and original that by the time flowers hit the stage after Hold Me Closer, even the musical-averse will cheer.’ New York Times
‘Link invests fantasy and fairytale with literary kinks, giving her stories twists that are always quirky and sometimes postmodern. Her work glitters with dark intelligence and a distinctive brand of magic that reminded me of Neil Gaiman at his best…. A wonderful collection that will attract fans, young and old, of imaginative fiction.‘ Age
Important dates:
Shortlist chosen: 12 October
Voting commences: 12 October
Voting closes: 19 November
Winner announced: 25 November
You can read the entire longlist here.
