CATEGORIES

She worked behind the scenes for years to produce compelling, high-quality books, but in recent times editor Sally Collings has also turned her hand to writing. Her best-selling first book, Sophie’s Journey, conveyed the harrowing, heartening story of Sophie Delezio. She’s followed it up with two more books, Positive and The World According to Kids, [...]

Heath McKenzie is the popular illustrator of the enchanting new I Love You Book being featured this week at Kids’ Book Capers. He became an illustrator through… hard work, perseverance, minor ignorance and lots and lots of practice. Since then he has worked on hundreds of projects. Heath says he loves being his own boss, [...]

Last post, Ian Irvine told us about the 10 things he enjoyed most about writing Grim and Grimmer Book 3: The Desperate Dwarf. He’s back again today. But this time he is going to tell us about… 10 things I found hardest about writing this book by Ian Irvine 1.                   Right Beginning Initially, The [...]

Libby Hathorn, author of I Love You Book has  been writing stories since she could hold a pencil and spell out words. She has published more than 50 books for children.  Libby says, It’s a life-long love affair with story and the way in which thoughts and words are able to be put down and [...]

If you’re reading this blog then you’ve probably got an interest in ebooks. If you do, then you may have already heard about Calibre. Calibre is a free, open source, cross-platform (Windows, Mac and Linux) ebook reader, organiser and converter. If you’ve ever listened to music you downloaded from the internet, then you’ll probably be [...]

Today I’m all about e-books. Yes, I know we have Joel at the Smell of Books for that.  In fact I highly recommend that, if you are looking for and educated opinion and some facts, you go read his blog. Joel can provide an informed opinion on all things e-published whereas me writing on ebooks [...]

Author Ian Irvine is currently touring blogs across Australia in celebration of his latest novel, Grim and Grimmer Book 3: The Desperate Dwarf. And guess which blog he’s stopping at today? Take it away, Ian… 10 Things I enjoyed most about writing this book by Ian Irvine 1.                   Title I had the idea for [...]

Did you know that here in Melbourne we have a centre for Books, Writing and Ideas? It’s called the Wheeler Centre and it’s situated on Little Lonsdale Street just around the corner from the State Library. As it’s website proudly proclaims, it is “a Victorian Government initiative and the centrepiece of Melbourne’s designation as a [...]

My problem is twofold. First, most pressing, and most depressing, I’m going through a book break-up. This break-up’s worse than usual, because it’s a six-book one. Having absolutely inhaled Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series (if you already haven’t heard me rabbiting on about them, click here), I am now staring down the barrel of the [...]

News has surfaced this week of two surprising defections from rapidly entrenched sides in the Great Publishing Wars of 2011™. In the red corner is the reluctant indie/self-publishing darling Amanda Hocking, author of several self-published ebooks and POD (print on demand) dead tree titles. Hocking recently announced she had sold over a hundred thousand copies of [...]

My dear Lucy, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be [...]

They say a picture says a thousand words but, for the literary fans who like prove their dedication by getting tattoos devoted to their favourite texts, you better off going with something more quick, pithy and evocative. Check out this link where  Buzzfeed did a feature on the 20 Awesome Literary Tattoos if you’d like [...]

TITLE:  The Report AUTHOR: Jessica Francis Kane PUBLISHER: Granta  (March 2011) ISBN: 978 184627 279 0     240 pages. Reviewed by Ann Skea (ann@skea.com). Authors find their inspiration in the most unexpected places. New Yorker, Jessica Francis Kane, found hers in a report published by Her Majesty’s Stationary Office which she picked up in the [...]

So what is it that the shuffling undead have in common with the equine symbols of purity? Well, nothing really. It’s just that for some odd reason they seem to divide opinion. Apparently, most people favour one or the other. Authors Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black had a bit of a blogging discussion about zombies [...]

ENTER OUR GRIM AND GRIMMER COMPETITION NOW! In The Grasping Goblin, Ike picks up a frozen lightning bolt. What is the most dangerous or difficult thing you have ever done? Let us know in the comments section of this post and Ian will pick 3 winning entries over the competition period to receive a free [...]

Today, I’m very excited to be the first stop on author Ian Irvine’s blog tour to celebrate the release of The Desperate Dwarf, the third book in his hilarious Grim and Grimmer series for readers aged 10 + Ian Irvine is a marine scientist and has written 27 novels, including the bestselling Three Worlds fantasy [...]

Here’s a fact that might not surprise you very much: the internet is full of idiots. The idiots come in many flavours, but the kinds of idiots who are annoying me this week are some of the people who write blogs about ebooks. Let’s kick off this discussion with a few choice quotes from some [...]

There are a lot of thoughts that race through your head watching the following video, not least: Who is this guy? What inspired this video? This is really random. Is he serious or seriously taking the p&ss (I vote the latter)? He looks a bit like the guy from Buffy/Angel. He’s kind of cute. My, [...]

This week I committed the book-loving equivalent of ‘I can’t. I’m washing my hair’ by switching off my phone for a day or two and spending Friday night and Saturday buying, carting, unpacking, and assembling a giant bookcase.   I’d waited some three months for it, as Ikea was, for some reason, having trouble sourcing [...]

You may have seen, or at least heard of, ‘Big Love’, the TV series starring Bill Paxton as the paternal head of a four-wife family. The series somehow manages to showcase the humour and the love as well as the jealousy between multiple wives sharing one (very busy) hubby. And while I would occasionally watch [...]

Everyone knows the song Waltzing Matilda, but how many people know the true story behind its creation? Christina MacPherson, playing a marching-band tune was the girl who originally inspired Banjo Patterson to write his song while Banjo was visiting her brother. Though the old Scottish tune and the lyrics are remembered, Christina’s part in the [...]

Brisbane author, J.E. Fison, launches two new books in the Hazard River series this month. Tiger Terror and Bat Attack follow the action-packed holiday adventures of Jack Wilde and his friends. As part of the blog tour to promote these books, J.E. is here at Literary Clutter to tell us a bit about the Hazard [...]

Long Live Us is a hilarious fractured fairytale written by Edel Wignell with beautiful watercolour pencil illustrations by Peter Allert. It features characters from some popular fairytales from around the world. The Troll (from ‘The Three Billy-goats Gruff’) is the main character, and the fact that he is hungry leads to interaction with characters from [...]

You’d expect a book that involves high-stakes gambling, false headquarters, hidden compartments, paper that’s designed to dissolve upon contact with water, and police raids that involve spectacularly breaking down and entering through walls to be complete fiction. Particularly a book that includes businesses being set up on tropical islands, and cameos being made by one [...]

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day, and we all know what that means. Well, actually, we don’t. Ask people about the correct way to celebrate the holiday and you’ll probably hear about something that sounds like forty comedians and a troupe of strippers having a riot in a brewery, possibly with the words “beer”, “fiddle-de-dee” and [...]

TITLE:  Fifty Plants that changed the course of History AUTHOR: Bill Laws PUBLISHER:  Allen & Unwin ISBN: 9781742372181    226 pages. Reviewed by Ann Skea (ann@skea.com). This is a handsome book. A delight to look at and a pleasure to hold. It is also a pleasure to read, not just because each page is beautifully illustrated [...]

As an author, it’s always inspiring for me to hear about small independent publishers in Australia willing to team first time picture book illustrators and established authors to produce books that readers will enjoy and that give Australian creators an opportunity to showcase their unique talents. Long Live Us, from IP Kidz is a perfect [...]

  As some of you may already know, the iPad 2 was announced on 2 March, and released on Friday in the US to much fanfare. News has officially surfaced about the tablet sales over the weekend and it seems overwhelmingly good (for Apple, at least): the iPad 2 has completely sold out, and sold [...]

“Most of the prophets of the past millennium were more concerned with scansion than accuracy. You know, ‘And thee Worlde Unto An Ende Shall Come, in tumpty-tumpty-tumpty One.’ Or Two, or Three, or whatever. There aren’t many good rhymes for Six, so it’s probably a good year to be in.” Aziraphale, in Good Omens* by [...]

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE GEORGE AND GHOST COMPETITION! A FREE COPY OF GEORGE AND GHOST IS COMING YOUR WAY What an amazing standard of entries we had in our Kids’ Book Caper’s George and Ghost competition. Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to enter. Competition judge and George and Ghost [...]

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.” Who would have thought that these words, uttered by the legendary Grouho Marx, would have gone on to inspire a website for young readers? Inside a Dog was originally launched in May 2006 by the State [...]

Part 2 of my delicious recent acquisitions! Feast your eyes on these babies! The Magician’s Book by Laura Miller – reading through the Chronicles of Narnia for the Reading Challenge has not only renewed the love that lay dormant in my heart for Aslan and Mr Tumnus and even Jadis, it’s also set me on [...]

I haven’t done one of these ‘Recent Acquisitions’ posts in a while, but I’ve definitely still been receiving books at a fairly rapid rate. I’ve chosen my most anticipated reads for this two-part post…I hope there are some in there you’re eagerly anticipating reading too, or at least are inspired to learn more about them! [...]

Trudi Canavan, best selling author of The Black Magician trilogy and numerous other books, is back to answer some more questions. If you missed part one of this interview, go back and read it before reading part two. Sequential interviews usually work best if read in order (nag, nag). And now, on with the interview… [...]

ABOUT GEORGE AND GHOST George and Ghost is a book about a little boy and his special friend. One day George decides he doesn’t believe in Ghost anymore and the onus is now on Ghost to prove that he exists. George and Ghost delves into the world of what’s real and what’s not and does [...]

Catriona Hoy is visiting today as part of her blog tour to celebrate the launch of her beautiful new picture book, George and Ghost. She’s going to be talking about ghosts in general and about the special Ghost in her new book, which has been beautifully illustrated by Cassia Thomas. I asked Catriona some spooky [...]

Trudi Canavan is a best-selling Australian fantasy author whose books include The Black Magician trilogy, the Age of the Five trilogy and the current Traitor Spy trilogy. And she’s here at Literary Clutter for a bit of a chat. Let’s start off with a fairly standard sort of question: When did you realise that you [...]

This quirky new picture book from Michèle Dodd takes a simple idea and develops it into an engaging story. If you’ve ever wondered what is really underneath the witches’ hats on the road, this is the story for you. At the stroke of midnight, four mischievous witches sneak out from their hiding places under the witches [...]

When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it’s an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now [...]

It’s International Women’s Day and to celebrate we are asking who is your favourite female author and what women writers recently rocked your socks? I may write about non-fiction these days, but my early years were filled with fiction written by women. This is not because I felt strongly about reading female authors but because [...]