Strengthening the Spirit: Jared Thomas’ 'Songs That Sound Like Blood'

Hello Darling Readers,

Just a note to say that I'm back at my favourite - Kill Your Darlings online - for a special feature on Indigenous OzYA (good timing!) and specifically discussing Jared Thomas' latest, Songs That Sound Like Blood!

Enjoy :) 

Reading Matters 2015: Professional Program Day 2 Summary

Here is my summary (to the best of my abilities!) of Professional Program Day 2 of the 11th biennial Reading Matters Conference. 

 And here’s my chance to say how great the program was – wonderful authors from diverse backgrounds and nationalities celebrating youth literature. The Centre for Youth Lit programmers really outdid themselves (I’m looking at you Adele Walsh! You superstar!) and the whole Conference was simply marvelous – my hat is off to you, everyone at CYL (Adele, Jordi, Anna and Bec!!) 

It was also wonderful to catch up with the Aussie YA crowd – both those on the program and everyone who came along to soak up the #YAmatters goodness.  

And Jess, of The Tales Compendium fame, was my Reading Matters buddy again! We met at the 2013 Conference (the first one for both of us) and we decided then & there that it’d be our book-blogging-buddy tradition – so far we’re 2 for 2 and I look forward to attending Reading Matters 2017 with her! 

Representation Matters: Diverse voices for all readers 

– Sara Farizan

Sara Farizan called her talk: 'People Are More Than One Thing: intersecting identities and writing with anxiety' and she was simply marvelous. She treated her talk like a “first date” with the audience.

Sara took us on a time-warp to 1984, to the first cartoon she became obsessed with – FYI, her favourite Ninja Turtle was Donatello because all he needed was a stick. Steve Jobs was also sowing the seeds for a career in computers, a young Sara was liking Michael Jackson (she can do his famous high-kick!), Ronald Reagan had yet to acknowledge the AIDS epidemic and Iran–Iraq War was raging. Though Sara is Iranian-American, she’d never been to Iran but her parents, "Taught me that they are more than the country of their origin."

Sara spoke about her younger years and what an anxious child she was – case in point, she became worried every time she watched the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood intro, hoping he’d get dressed before the intro music ran out.

"Television was everything & I know I probably shouldn't say that on a day about education,” Sara said – before professing her love for Belle from Beauty & The Beast who helped her begin to figure out her sexuality; "I didn't want to be Belle, but I was jealous of brutish Beast for winning her affections." Sara then played one of Belle’s solo songs from the Disney movie, and I’ve gotta say, she’s kinda a great feminist heroine: "I want much more than this provincial life!"

Sara then showed more pop-culture examples that started her on a path to articulating her sexuality and embracing her cultural identity. Sara referenced the famous Whoopi Goldberg story about seeing Nichelle Nichols playing Uhura on the original Star Trek: “Well, when I was nine years old, Star Trek came on. I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, ‘Come here, hum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there’s a black lady on television and she ain’t a maid!’ I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be.”

Something similar happened for Sara when she read Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden. Further to this, she said; “The library helped me learn about myself with dignity and in a safe space,” because at school; “there were no examples of who I could be.” Sara even mentioned one eighth grade assignment on same-sex marriage and equal rights was the first time she had her eyes opened, and a parent tried to have it scrapped. She also referenced the ‘Day of Silence’, which is a national day of action in which students across the country vow to take a form of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools – this was another initiative that started to familiarize Sara with this world she’d never otherwise been exposed to.

As for Sara’s debut novel If You Could Be Mine – it started out as her school thesis, and she never thought it would get published. She wrote it for herself, partly to fill the gaps in her own reading growing up.

Sara is an Iranian-American writing about Iranian lesbians, but she’s never been to Iran and is very conscious of appropriating other people’s culture and stories, she always tries to be respectful. She said she won’t always write about lesbians, because she doesn’t want to be a mouthpiece – and she actually hopes that people come along who are better writers than her, and keep telling these stories.

"The more connections I make with people who are not like me, the richer my life becomes,” Sara said. And as for other people writing diverse characters, Sara asked them to please consider that; "Everybody wants to be the hero sometimes."

We Need Diverse Books: Under-represented voices 

– Clare Atkins, Sara Farizan, Abe Nouk, Jared Thomas

This panel was chaired by Ambelin Kwaymullina, author of one of my all time favourite Aussie YA series – The Tribe. I’d actually interviewed Ambelin for Junior Books+Publishing ahead of the conference on this very topic, and you can read the article here, but there is a pay-wall.

Jared Thomas kicked off this discussion with a truth bomb: "Race doesn't exist. Racism does,” he said we are just the human race. Clare Atkins talking about her book Nona & Me said she didn't want to write from an indigenous perspective - given the history of colonisation in Australia, Clare didn't want to join that list of people taking. Clare ideally would have liked to co-write the book with an Indigenous author, but those in Yirrkala (Northern Territory) who would have been the best candidates (for their English literacy and interest) were already stretched so thin, helping their own community that they just didn’t have the time. The compromise was working closely with Merrkiyawuy, who was extremely generous with her knowledge and time.

Sara Farizan wondered if writing on a topic that is seen as “taboo” automatically makes an author “controversial”? But she probably had the best summary for reasons we need diversity; "Nobody is better than anybody else - we all have to go to the restroom." Sara said that upon being published, author Malinda Lo (of ‘We Need Diverse Books’ fame) said; "Welcome to the club. There's three of us." [lesbian women of color].

Ambelin quoted Malinda at one point - "Diversity is reality. Let's stop erasing that." And I thought it was very heartening that the day before this Reading Matters conference, Malinda had been sitting on a panel at Book Expo American discussing the exact same thing. As to that – here are just a few Tweeted thoughts from Malinda, but I highly recommend you read through the #BEA15 live-tweets of her session too!  

Abe Nouk said he finds connecting with an audience “magical and mystifying,” and said in telling your story, "People have to step-up for themselves first and foremost. And that is terrifying." Abe is so eloquent, he also dropped this truth bomb: "We strip away people's dignity when we tell them where to stand …the only way to evolve a culture is to respect it.” And then he spoke about ‘the myth of ownership,’ in our society.

Ambelin summarized beautifully, when she said; “If all the images of people like you are absent/negative, you never see yourself as positive … When you don't hear those [diverse] voices in books, it's a false perception of reality.” Ambelin also suggested that publishers should think about what’s happening behind-the-scenes, establishing fellowships and building up expertise so you have someone in-house who can pinpoint when something is disrespectful etc.

Jared Thomas made a great point about how buoyed the Australian film and television industry has been because it tells Indigenous stories (off the top of my head: Redfern Now, The Sapphires, Black Comedy and so many more) … and book publishers should take note!

Sara Farizan said she was frustrated by children's books in which there are more animals than people from diverse backgrounds – an example of how this insidiousness starts young.

Clare Atkins noted that we; “Also need diverse characters whose diversity is incidental, not the whole plot - many accessible levels of diversity.” She thinks tackling diversity comes in at three levels; more diverse authors, characters and to normalize their stories.

A question came from the audience about “how do we get these books into schools?” Ambelin acknowledged that it’s going to be harder – it just is, sorry. The publishers who are producing these books tend to be independents, so they don’t have the same sales reps and publicists and accessibility that big publishers do. But that’s no excuse not to become familiar with the likes of these incredible publishing houses and the books they are gifting us;

·      Magabala Press·      IAD Press·      Backroom Press·      Aboriginal Studies Press

Jared Thomas also suggested that teachers and librarians link these books to things like Reconciliation Week. It’s a way to build communities, and you can invite authors to come speak! He asked teachers/librarians to be proactive in getting these books & authors into your schools – be proactive, do research – it’s going to be a little bit harder but we all need to work together to make a difference (I’ll refer to Malinda Lo’s Twitter call-out to bloggers/vloggers doing their part too!)

I also found it very heartening to hear that the Sydney Morning Herald 2015 Best Young Australian Novelists were a fantastic mix of diverse voices; Maxine Beneba Clarke, Alice Pung, Ellen Van Neervan, Omar Musa, and Michael Mohammed Ahmad.

Ambelin asked the authors to finish this sentence: ‘We Need Diverse Books, because …’ Sara said; “because I don't want any kid to feel ‘less than’.”

Anthology Live! 

– Abe Nouk

Abe Nouk gave us chills again with a stirring poetry slam performance. I said it in my Day 1 post, but I can’t say it enough: buy his book, watch him on YouTube and if you’re a teacher/librarian – reach out to him to learn more about his Creative Rebellion Youth Enterprises!

Comic Culture: Stories among us 

– Tom Taylor

 

Tom Taylor is a multi-award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author, playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the writer of the bestselling DC Comics series Injustice: Gods Among Us and Marvel’s Superior Ironman.

Tom Taylor’s talk was called 'Comics: the single greatest storytelling medium on earth (really)' he began by asking for a raise of hands to show who has and has not read comic books. I’ve got to say – I was shocked and disheartened to see how many in the audience have never read a comic book … but I think by the end of Tom’s talk, they were all changing their tune.

Tom explained that he got his start in comics because he had a story about a suitcase at Flinders Street, and he appealed to the Internet to help him find an illustrator to go with his story. The Internet bit back, and pretty soon he found himself with a job writing for the Star Wars comic series. Then he got jobs writing Injustice: Gods Among Us and Earth 2 series for DC Comics.

"Comic books aren't just for kids anymore!” Tom said (which was partly why he decided to write his The Deep series for kids!). And Tom wanted the audience to know that comic books aren’t just for boys anymore (if they ever were) either – with 48% of comic book readers in the US being female. Comic books have come such a long way – and Tom said for him, he was allowed to push the envelope with the series’ he was writing; "Injustice was weekly. So they didn't have time to edit me!" - on having female superheroes marrying each other etc … He wrote a black Superman & Filipino Aqua Woman too.

"The higher your brow goes, the smaller your brain gets,” –Tom summarized people who don’t or won’t read comic books, and “Ignoring an entire storytelling medium is insane!” He also said it’s a shame that comics are read widely around the world, but there’s still such a stigma in Australia: "Comics are for everybody!"

Tom asked for a raise of hands from librarians if they have lots of comic books getting stolen from their stacks (so many hands went up!) and he said “When people are stealing things, it's a good sign,” and asked librarian to please consider those kids who feel bad that maybe they don’t have $2 for a late fee (so maybe scrap it completely?)

There was a totally legit question/concern from the audience, about the history of comic books sexualizing women and Tom tackled it brilliantly. He reiterated that 48% of female comic book readers in the US are women and because of that we're seeing less sexualisation of female comic book characters (because the industry just won’t stand for it anymore). He name-checked the new Batgirl who doesn’t have a skimpy costume, and the first Muslim female superhero in the new Ms Marvel.

More to this point about how female-friendly comic books are now (and I’ve written about this before) – after Tom’s talk I was thrilled to discover news in my Twitter-feed that a fantastic comic series called Lumberjanes would be adapted into a live-action movie. AND another great comic book series called The Wicked + The Divine would be heading to TV! It’s a great time to be a female comic book fan, people! There are still problems – case in point was an all-male panel at Denver ComicCon who were bought together to talk about Women in Comics (yes, really) … BUT they were raked over fiery hot coals for the serious insult – because like Tom said, the industry just won’t stand for that kind of rubbish anymore.

And because I love comics and want everyone to love them too – here are some more female-friendly comic books/graphic novels that you should definitely look up:

·      Nimona by Noelle Stevenson 

·      The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi 

·      anything by Alison Bechdel 

·      Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley 

·      everything by Raina Telgemeier 

·      Rat Queens by Kurtis J Wiebe 

·      The Dreamer online comic by Lora Innes 

·      El Deafo by Cece Bell 

·      Through the Woods stories by Emily Carroll 

·      Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff 

·      This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki illustrated by Jillian Tamaki 

·      Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples 

AND if you’re in Melbourne you should definitely come along to the monthly All Star Women's Comic Book Club!

Comic books rock! 

Science vs Magic: Realities of a different kind 

– Jaclyn Moriarty, Sean Williams

 

This was a great debate between sci-fi writer Sean Williams, and Jaclyn Moriarty who loves a touch of magic in her books … Sean bought along a sonic screwdriver, while Jaclyn was armed with THREE wands!

"I'm aware of the problems but I don't know how to fix them,” said Sean Williams on the science in his books – and more to that, science fiction (good science fiction) should have more questions than concrete answers.

Jordi Kerr was moderator of this session, and she had some great questions like - "Does technology make us more human or less human?" To which Sean mused, "The day we run out of questions we may no longer need to live.”

I loved this debate, but Jaclyn Moriarty won me over with her recitation of the Lamia poem;

 Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomèd mine—
Unweave a rainbow, as it erewhile made
The tender-person'd Lamia melt into a shade.

Our Forgotten Rebels: Writing non-fiction for teens 

– Clare Wright 

 

Clare Wright is an Australian historian, author and broadcaster. Her latest nonfiction release, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, was the 2014 winner of the Stella Prize.

I think Clare Wright came in with a really tough job after the teen panel of Day 1 pretty collectively said they’re not interested in non-fiction YA. She is adapting her Stella Prize-winning non-fiction novel The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka into a YA edition called We Are the Rebels: The Women and Men Who Made Eureka (available from Text Publishing in August).

I think she really swayed the crowd when she spoke about her ten-years worth of research investigating false gendered roles in Australian history. She stressed that her research into the Eureka Stockade has uncovered new human history, not just women’s history – and she highlighted this through artwork that was so blokes-heavy to the point of ridiculousness. She was prompted to look differently at this slice of Australian history by asking the question “Where am I in this story?”

Quite frankly – Clare Wright’s book asks us to move beyond the blokes, blokes, blokes history of Eureka, to think critically of all the women who are erased from human history - I want to read that!

Drawn to You: Imagery and imagination 

– Priya Kuriyan

 

Priya began by saying that, growing up, "I didn't think that a person like me had a place in a book” – on the lack of representation in the books she read as a child. As such, when she started drawing her own comics they were full of blonde-haired, brunettes called Andi (because that’s all she knew!) "Diversity should be looked at as an advantage, rather than a disadvantage!"

About her book Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean (Allen&Unwin) which is edited by Australian author Kirsty Murray, Priya said the idea for the collaborative work was prompted by the awful 2012 Delhi gang rape case that sparked feminist outcry in India and around the world, including in Australia. As such, the book is a celebration of feminist speculative fiction (it’s incredible – BUY IT!)

Priya likes to tackle tough topics through her illustrations – she makes it a point to "Shake up what is normal ... a princess can be goofy, not traditional thin/fair." And because India is so divided by class, she tries to portray diversity in her novels because issues of caste and class are internalised by children at a very early age – and picture books can change this.

Priya spoke about the initiative ‘Room to Read’ - Indian company that creates picture books very cheaply for impoverished children living in remote areas.

A final message from Priya was, “A good image brings good luck.”

Literary Landscapes: Place, space and everything in-between 

– Clare Atkins, Sean Williams, Kyle Hughes-Odgers

This was a great talk that included Kyle Hughes-Odgers – a visual artist, exhibiting artwork across Australia and internationally. Kyle and Meg McKinlay (author) won the 2013 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Australia/New Zealand for the children’s book Ten Tiny Things. (seriously, follow him on Instagram – he’s incredible!)

My big take-away from this session was Clare Atkins moving to Yirrkala in 2007, Arnhem Land – and discovering that she could have an adventure in Australia after growing up thinking adventures happened anywhere else but here.

I loved Sean Williams line about, "The world is not permanent. You can change it, and it changes you,” and discovering as a teenager that the world is impermanent.

Hashtag Teen: Engaging teens and young adult advocacy 

– Amie Kaufman, Tom Taylor, Kyle Hughes-Odgers, Will Kostakis 

  

This was an incredible panel, moderated by the fabulous Adele Walsh! I think she best summarized this whole panel halfway through, when she said "Being along for the journey is much more important than telling them [teens] what the journey is." YES!

Amie Kaufman said she prefers the back-and-forth interaction of Twitter. “Go to where the kids are - that's how engagement happens,” Amie said.

Adele said Will probably does the most school visit of any Aussie author, and he said he levels with kids by being honest, admitting to them that when he was their age: "I couldn't catch a ball to save my life, but I could hold a pen and sort of form a sentence!" But he’s always a little deflated by teacher’s attitudes to how he connects with kids – they’ll turn around and congratulate Will on getting the kids to write so much, but in the next breath they’ll chastise him “because you said ‘crap’ and that’s unacceptable.” You’ve gotta give a little, is Will’s message to teachers.

On the inherent engagement of comic books, Tom Taylor said; "You turn the page and something happens EVERY SINGLE TIME!"

Adele put some images up on the big screen – showing all the authors interacting with kids in person and online. Will Kostakis actually had a great story of an English teacher who couldn’t afford to bring him out for a school visit, so he did a creative writing class via Twitter with the kids – it got to the point where the teacher couldn’t type fast enough for how many questions the kids were firing at him … that was great, but Adele made a point of reminding the audience to ‘Pay the Writers’ (and don’t bombard Will for freebie online tutorials! lol)

Adele threw up a lot of social media logos on the screen and asked the audience to consider how many of them they recognized –Twitter, Instagram, Facebook were some obvious ones – but others like AO3 Status were a little more obscure for the audience (all about fanworks – fanfiction and fanart!) Educators need to know the importance of these online communities to teenagers. But Adele also reminded us that not every teenager has acsess to a personal tablet, iphone, laptop – which is why libraries are so important!

Tom told us about the awesome Stan Lee Excelsior Award - the UK book award for graphic novels and manga - where kids aged 11-16 decide the winner by rating each book as they read it. Would be great to get something like this in Oz! 

There was a big shout-out to Penguin Teen Australia for how they’re engaging teen readers online – especially through the weekly #PTAchat that happens on Twitter! Amie name-checked Dear Teen Me, as a great website full of truly heartfelt letters from YA authors who were teens once too. And the Centre for Youth Literature has developed an invaluable resource in ‘Shift Alt Story’ – a unique way to engage with storytelling in the digital era!

The End 

In conversation: Continents collide 

– Sally Gardner, Laurie Halse Anderson

 

Listening to these two literary heavyweights talk was a real treat. Again, I didn’t live-tweet because I just wanted to listen and let it all soak in.

A big take-away from this talk for me was:

#1 – Laurie Halse Anderson hates the term “reluctant readers” (they’re just "readers with very high standards")

#2 – Sally Gardner says the way we teach (in Australia, US and UK) is "We teach for accountants basically." (tick-boxes, anyone?)

#3 – Sally and Laurie differed on the age at which they think children are turned off reading. Sally guesstimated age 2 (possibly because of her horrid experiences, compounded by dyslexia) while Laurie guessed it was around age 12 that kids no longer read for pleasure (which is when they start to be told “read this – not that!”). To combat this, they both agreed that you should never tell a child “you can’t read that!” or “you can’t write that!” Laurie in particular addressed the room of “gatekeepers” and said she understands there will be times when you pause, and question a book or an author and whether or not children should have access to it. That’s okay – fear is okay, but just sit with it for a little while and ask yourself what it is that’s scaring you about this topic/author etc. Laurie stressed that it’s often when these decisions fall on one person’s shoulders – with nobody to turn to for a second opinion – that those fears double. So she encouraged everyone in the room to have a “conference buddy” – someone you met and connected with and can reach out to in the future to talk these things through. And Laurie also said that she understands wanting to have some say over your child’s reading habits (and you absolutely should!), but there’s no way in hell she’s going to have somebody else telling her kid what they can and can’t read.

Reading Matters 2015: Professional Program Day 1 Summary

This weekend I went to my happy place – the 11^th biennial Reading Matters Conference. 

 Created by the Centre for Youth Literature, the conference is ‘Australia’s premier celebration of literature and storytelling for teens’ spread across 2 days and featuring some 15 writers, illustrators and creators from Australia and overseas. And on the third day they opened the conference to the public (for free!). 

 So I’ve come back rejuvenated from a very bookish weekend listening to some of the sharpest minds in our industry talk about books, writing, stories and teenagers and now I’m going to attempt to give you a brief run-down of the awesomeness that was #YAmatters!

Day 1

The Inheritors of Language 

– Abe Nouk

Abe Nouk is an author, slam poet, spoken-word performer, and hip hop artist. He is also the Director of Creative Rebellion Youth Enterprises.

Abe helped open the conference with a slam poetry performance and talk – he left the room in collective chills after his poignant and fearless poem, and then when he shared some very wise words with the audience.

Abe started out by telling us a bit of his background as a refugee from South Sudan – and how he couldn’t read or write just a few short years ago. It was a book of Disney stories that prompted him to want to learn to read, and now he’s a national award-winning poet. "I don't think you become a writer, you've got to earn your story,” he said.

Abe is also Director of Creative Rebellion Youth Enterprises, which has the ethos of “youth taking actions, speaking for themselves rather than being spoken for,” and that’s the best thing ever. Abe says that his experience from teaching creative workshops, he always gets people telling him; "If you teach me something I'll forget it, but if you tell me a story I'll remember it."

Abe Nouk’s poem book Dear Child is currently available to buy at Readings Books and I cannot recommend it highly enough; "Speak child. Tell your story."

I also suggest you check out Abe Nouk on YouTube and prepare to be blown away. 

Young Adult Panel of Teens 

– Talking to the Experts

The first panel of the conference belonged to teens – as it should – Kellie, Chris, and Ina tackled some tricky questions and spoke about their reading habits.

The books they’re currently reading (and loving) are:

·      One True Thing by Nicole Hayes
·      The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey
·      Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

And on another note, these were some of the titles bandied about throughout the panel that the teens had much love for:

·      The Sky so Heavy by Claire Zorn (who got a kiss blown at her when one of the teens realised SHE WAS IN THE AUDIENCE!)
·      The First Third by Will Kostakis
·      Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
·      One True Thing by Nicole Hayes (seriously – much love for this one! Must read ASAP!)

The majority of their reading recommendations come from online (much love for Goodreads), book-tubers, vloggers, bloggers, school librarians & English teachers. And with these teens in particular, they found that they’re the ones recommending books to their friends – rather than the other way round. One of them said; "If it's not the library, it's the bookstore for me,” and said getting reading recs is, “a solitary activity.” They also had much love for Inside a Dog and local bookstores (like Robinson’s!)

Onto more nitty-gritty discussions of books – one teen said they would love to see more books where there doesn't have to be a love story (serious *applause* for that one!). Generally romance doesn't need to be central or there for the sake of it (because it’s trendy to have love-triangles, for example).

There also seemed to be a lot of fatigue around Dystopians (with the exception of Claire Zorn’s more realistic take in The Sky so Heavy). The teens also said they were over the bandwagons that are created when one book does well and then there are a slew of similar reads (i.e.: the Dystopia trend created after The Hunger Games).

In discussing the label of “Young Adult”, one teen said; "My mum reads more young adult fiction that I do! ... Does that make her not an adult?" Another observed the broadness of the readership now; "Harry Potter is read by eight-year-olds, if they can handle it ... and people as old as they can get." The general consensus was there's no longer a label needed for Young Adult because we all read all books, and 'YA' is less a definition of readership and more a definition of protagonists/issues/content.

The topic of young adult non-fiction was bought up and how unpopular it’s perceived to be to young readers. "I don't read much young adult non-fiction but I don't see a lot of it for us,” one teen said, while another explained; "I go to school for six hours, I don't want to learn more stuff!" on her dislike of non-fiction.

One of the #1 things the teens would like to see less of in YA is “perfect people protagonists”. "It's upsetting, makes me feel bad,” observed one teen – who queried that because she’s not blonde-haired, blue-eyed, tall and skinny does that men she won’t ever get a boyfriend (on unrealistic expectations these sorts of characters convey in YA). The teens love imperfect protagonists – they’re drawn to them first and foremost it seems.

The teens are also very anti making-out in survivalist stories where the romance feels forced; "You're making out in a life or death situation? There's more important stuff ... Like finding food!”

A question from the audience was about “suicide books” which the questioner said “seemed to be in a genre of their own now” – she wanted to know how the teens felt about them. One perfectly observed; "I don't read books about suicide. They don't make me happy. It never ends well ..." Overall there was varied response from the teens about the topic, and an acknowledgment that it's both a serious issue and a very real one for lots of teens, but a concern that maybe portrayals in so many YA books normalises the issue. But when it came time to get reading recs, one of them “apologised” but said she’s like to give a shout-out to a “suicide book” in Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock.

I actually think the questioner was veering towards talk about a lot of death in YA books and her perception of too much darkness … which, for what it’s worth, I have written about my thoughts on the faults of such debates.

This teen panel was one of my favourite things at Reading Matters, and they had so much insight and quick wits to boot! Listening to them talk got me thinking about how so many programs about youth literature are lacking in – y’know – actual young adults. Teenagers are so goddamn clever – I think adults who write for/about them forget that sometimes and it’s better to come from the mouth of babes, so to speak. 

The Hard Stuff: Courage and the real conversation 

– Laurie Halse Anderson 

  

Laurie Halse Anderson – one of the queens of YA. If you want to read one of the most inspiring interviews with Ms Anderson, check out this 2014 one from Book Riot and pay special attention to the mention of a Penguin Imprint being created in honour of Laurie’s debut novel Speak – because that is AMAZING!

I did not live-tweet Laurie’s presentation because I was too busy absorbing her words and being inspired. I seriously suggest everyone go and watch/listen to her talk when CYL make the recording available, because she was brilliant and had some real zingers, like; “Teen fiction, or as I like to call it: Well written literature …”

Laurie spoke about her not always happy childhood, and teenage years and what got her writing books for young adults. She spoke about her father who was a soldier and suffered the demons of his time in the army, and how when she was a teenager she went on an exchange program to a pig farm in Denmark (she suggests to any teenager not happy with their life to “get out of dodge”!)

She described her debut young adult book Speak as a “funny rape story,” which publishers/booksellers/teachers in America did not like, but it’s true. She said that teenagers use wit and humour as weapons against the world – and making sure her very serious story of a girl learning to speak about her rape had to include a lot of humour, because that’s communicating to teens on their wavelength.

Laurie said one question she gets asked a lot is “why don’t you write a Dystopia?” to which she thinks, “teenagers lives are Dystopian enough!”. So true. But her 2000 novel Fever 1793 is as close to a Dystopian as she’ll probably get, and it’s based on real events.

Her 2007 novel Twisted she wrote for boys she encountered on her school tours talking about Speak. She said there’d always be one boy who’d put his hand up and say he didn’t “get” why Melinda in Speak was so upset – to which a very smart girl would always whip around and yell “WHAT?!” So Laurie spoke to some very smart scientists about the testosterone levels in boys as a way to get into their head – to know why they go from ‘0 to 1000’ on the aggressor scale when puberty hits, and writing in that mind really made her realise “she didn’t understand boys.”

Wintergirls – her 2009 novel about anorexia nervosa – came from the realisation that anorexia is the most deadly mental illness. And Laurie always thinks she’d rather have a kid that’s a drug addict than anorexic – because society has done a pretty good job of telling us “drugs are bad!” but advertising, film and TV is constantly telling young girls in particular to “be thinner, you’re not pretty enough, buy this product to make yourself prettier” etc. It’s a lot more insidious.

Laurie shared some of the communication she receives from young readers about all her books – but in particular Wintergirls has been the one that young people write her and tell her reading that book prompted them to seek help, and that’s incredible. What more could you ask for as an author? She shared one beautiful photo of a tattoo one of her readers got, with the last lines of that novel – “I am thawing” – written in her mother’s handwriting, across her collarbone. Heartbreakingly lovely.   

Laurie’s Seeds of America was borne from the realisation that her “history boyfriend” Benjamin Franklin owned slaves. She didn’t believe it – so went looking for primary source material that confirmed the horrible truth, and when she found ledgers that included the names of his slaves they became real to her and she decided to write a trilogy about Northern slaves. Laurie said that in an audience of predominantly white people, talking about the shame she feels for America’s history of slavery has them wishing she’d “go back to talking about rape” because it’s still such an uncomfortable subject for lots of Americans.

Laurie’s pointy end of the talk was about censorship (her books are pretty much constantly banned). And she just wanted all the librarians in the room to know that they’re angels because, for her personally, she probably wouldn’t be here today if it hadn’t been for libraries giving her a safe space to explore. She said the rule in her household with her kids has always been “we can deal with anything except you dying” – which is why she’ll never freak out about anything less than that.

Laurie concluded by saying she doesn’t think she writes dark or depressing books for teenagers – she said; "I write resilience literature."

I had tears in my eyes throughout Laurie’s talk. She’s one of the best bullshitter-cutters I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to, and she’s just so generous with the giving of herself and her arguments/thoughts/feelings. I really think that if a Laurie Halse Anderson talk was required-listening/reading for every human being we’d all be a lot better off.

I got my books signed, and Laurie was also happy to chat to everyone in her signing line (no, seriously – can Australia just keep her?) so we spoke about what books kids are being taught in the classroom, and I came away with a reading recommendation from Laurie Halse Anderson which is very good for the soul - From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. 

The Weight of the World: Adult responsibilities, teen sensibilities 

– Erin Gough, Jared Thomas, Sean Williams

 

This panel was brilliant and included;

Erin Gough is a Sydney-based writer whose debut novel, The Flywheel, was a winner of Hardie Grant Egmont’s Ampersand Project. On a side-note, I first encountered Erin in writing this essay for Kill Your Darlings: ‘We Read To Know We Are Not Alone: Examining the Lack of LGBTQI Characters in Australian Youth Literature’ and I just can’t say enough good things about her – was so happy to finally meet her in person at Reading Matters!

Sean Williams is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, who has written over 40 novels for readers of all ages. His latest is Crash, book two of the Twinmaker series.

Jared Thomas is a Nukunu person of the Southern Flinders Ranges. His novel Calypso Summer was shortlisted for the 2014 Victorian Premier’s Award for Indigenous Writing.

Erin kicked off talking about The Flywheel and how she set out wanting to write a YA book with a lesbian protagonist because she didn't have a lot of those books growing up. Erin reflected on a childhood in which the one instance of homosexuality in her life was a friend of hers whose dad came out and subsequently left the family – so there was an association of trauma and heartbreak with being gay – from a young age Erin was led to believe there was something not right about it. For Delilah in The Flywheel, she wanted her protagonist to be comfortable in her own skin and to have a healthy and safe family environment in which her homosexuality was accepted. Erin wants The Flywheel to speak to kids who don't necessarily see diverse sexuality normalised in their society. About Delilah, Erin said; "I wanted her to be self-determined, fierce and flawed."

Jared Thomas in discussing his character of Calypso in Calypso Summer said he wanted to examine the appropriation of plants and medicines, have him engage with culture and carve a space of subculture. He also wanted to explore masculinity & identity of young men in Aboriginal communities. He spoke very eloquently about how he sees people in his own family being treated differently to him because they have darker skin.

Sean Williams said he wanted to explore embodiment with teenagers in first book Jump of the Twinmaker series, and wanted to present teen readers with a viable alternative to the world we're currently living. Williams also said; "I like writing girls because I don't understand boys," and he wanted to write a non-superhero girl whose "power" is that she's stubborn and loyal. And some parting wise words on writing from Sean Williams were to strip back the orchestra to one good song - same goes for writing - take out the explosions & good story should still remain; “play it acappella!”

Nowhere Boys: Interactive Storytelling Engaging teen audiences in new ways 

– Beth Frey, Harry Ravenswood, Matt Testro

Nowhere Boys is an Australian teen-oriented television drama series created by Tony Ayres. The series was first broadcast on ABC3 in 2013. It follows the adventures of four mismatched teenage boys – goth Felix Ferne (Dougie Baldwin), nerd Andrew "Andy" Lau (Joel Lok), golden child Sam Conte (Rahart Adams), and alpha jock Jake Riles (Matt Testro).

This was a really interesting panel discussion about the TV show Nowhere Boys and the interactive storytelling it has borne – in the form of an integrated computer game and TV tie-in books. We also learnt that a TV-movie is also going to be screening very shortly.

My big take-away from this session (and there were lots of brilliant ideas being bandied about, so my live-tweeting was abysmal trying to keep up!) was how much the show’s creators pay attention to fan talk online. The producer said she reads people’s conversations about the show on Twitter and in fan-forums, and she even said that one 21-year-old “super fan” who writes extensively about the show was invited to sit in the writer’s room and brainstorm for season 3!

I also loved that the creators (and actor Matt Testro) noted how the four protagonists started out as clichéd archetypes – jock, goth, nerd – but have become subversive as their back-stories emerged, which really made audiences question their judgments and assumptions.

Love Me, Love Me Not: love lust and heartbreak 

– Sara Farizan, Amie Kaufman, Will Kostakis 

 

Sara Farizan (US) is the daughter of Iranian immigrants, living in San Francisco. She is the acclaimed author of If You Could Be Mine and Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel.

Will Kostakis is an author and freelance journalist. He was 19 when his debut novel Loathing Lola was released. His latest release, The First Third was shortlisted for the 2014 CBCA awards (Older Readers category) and won the 2014 Gold Inky Award.

Amie Kaufman is the co-author of the Starbound series. These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) won the Aurealis Award for Best YA Novel, was shortlisted for the Gold Inky Award, and was the Huffington Post’s Best YA Book of 2013.

After the readers on the teen panel were so down on romance, Amie Kaufman wanted to put a finer point on it and say she agrees with their dislike of "insta-love", but that there's a difference between insta-love and "insta-lust". She said growing up she totally felt the insta-lust, and often for more than one person at a time (pointing out that love-triangles are not that bizarre). 

Will and Sara started talking about how they got into writing romance … for Sara, she said she’s not a romantic person generally ("romance looks better on other people”), but she wanted to write books that she couldn't find easily in her library growing up - lesbian romances in particular.

For Will, writing starts; "I always go to the place of 'okay, when have I made a huge ass of myself'?" and it just so happens to normally be around romantic endeavours. He also loves the "YA readers are on the edge of the rest of their lives,” so emotions – especially love – are so heightened.

About the spectrum of sexuality, Sara said; "It's not one thing for every person.” But at the end of the day; "A soul is a soul, and a crotch is a crotch." (can I get that on a tee-shirt?) Sara also spoke - hilariously - about her Kylie Minogue appreciation, saying that watching her play Sergeant Cammy in Street Fighter was one of her fondest memories (Cammy's go-to move was to disable people by wrapping her thighs around their head ... which Sara thinks is not a bad way to go, all things considered). 

Will’s secondary character of Lucas ‘Sticks’ in The First Third is a gay teen who also has cerebral palsy – he’s actually inspired by a friend of Will’s who, upon first meeting (and realising he used crutches) Will thought “I’m glad I’m not his friend,” and he was so disgusted with himself for thinking that, that the character of ‘Sticks’ was written to try and atone for that mistake he made.

Sara spoke about how she doesn’t want her characters to be a mouthpiece – she’s writing about Iranian lesbians and there are just not a lot of characters like hers out there – but she doesn’t always want to be the only writer of them; “There's an internal universe going on that we don't always share.”

Amie and Will both said that romantic plots are not in their books for the sake of it (as Will said, it's not as though they're chortling over getting away with putting "a boner" in their books). For Amie in particular who writes grand space-opera books, romance comes in to explore differences in cultural and societal status between her characters (who really are star-crossed in so many ways). And she uses romance as another way to create her ideal future - where there's more marriage equality, for instance. 

The Talk That Will Lead to Where 

– Sally Gardner  

Sally Gardner (UK) is a multi-award winning novelist whose work has been translated into more than 22 languages. Her novel Maggot Moon won both the Costa Children’s Book Prize and the Carnegie Medal 2013. She is also an avid spokesperson for dyslexia.

Sally’s talk is another one – like Laurie’s – where I didn’t live-tweet because I was busy admiring the words. Like Laurie’s, Sally’s talk was about her not always great childhood struggling in school as she had dyslexia (and on that note – she hates the word ‘dyslexia’ because it’s hard to write/pronounce/remember so the worst possible word to describe people who have it!)

Sally’s talk was also very emotional – I had tears in my eyes – as she said how teachers made her feel worthless and stupid because she wasn’t seeing the world the way they wanted her to. She stressed that dyslexia is not just about mixing up letters – it’s a different way of seeing the world entirely. And it’s not a fucking disease, just because you don’t see the world the same way as everyone else!

Sally’s “agenda” (if she has one – “leftist agenda”) is to question the age at which we send children to school instead of letting them be children for a little bit longer. Sally said she would have been a lot happier if she didn’t have to go to school until she was 14 – which was also when she eventually learnt to read. She really excelled when she left high school and got into arts school – that set her on a path to becoming a set designer.

The only reason Sally started writing and illustrating books was because her husband went on a trip to America and never came home – she had to support herself and her children.

Sally finished up with a brilliant poem she wrote for Dyslexia Awareness Week – you can read it at The Guardian, but hearing Sally recite in person was really something else! Here’s a snippet;

I challenge you – see the words as I do

feel them sting your skin

the meaning often shocking

the way the nib goes in

to relish discombobulate not to moderate your passion

not to murder language in an artificial fashion

words are our servants

we are not their slaves

it matters not if we spell them wrong it matters what they say

But I don’t like the little words they always disobey me

the does doses dope and is higher than a dough should be.

Speaking Stories: Oral storytelling culture: different ways into words 

– Creative Rebellion, Youth poet Jayden Pinn, Stig Wemyss, Fresh Ink, ATYP

Following Sally’s poem it was fantastic to listen and watch some oral storytelling – from hip-hop slam poetry artist Jayden Pinn’s spine-tingling honesty, to a performance piece and talk from audiobook narrator Stig Wemyss about Bolinda Audio.

The How of Reading Now: The changing reader in the 21st century 

– Sally Gardner, Abe Nouk, Jaclyn Moriarty

Abe and Sally came back to the stage – joined by the wonderful Australian YA legend Jaclyn Moriarty, bestselling author of novels for young adults and adults, including Feeling Sorry for Celia. Her latest acclaimed series is The Colours of Madeleine.

One of the big things discussed was how authors have been forced to change with increased social media. “There’s a lot of asking authors to give a lot more than their books these days,” said Jaclyn. Sally agreed and said that though she is on Twitter she really has no time for it.

Abe and Sally spoke very eloquently about how they came to reading – Abe, as a refugee who couldn’t read/write or even speak English, and Sally for how her dyslexia saw her unable to read until the age of 14 (when she discovered Wuthering Heights!). In a very different case, Jaclyn came from a family of readers and writers (um, the Moriarty’s are kinda a powerhouse now!) and her sisters grew up passing stories amongst themselves.

This was such an interesting session for how all three of them came to reading and writing via very different pathways – Abe’s words were ringing in my ears – “If you have something to say, say it! If you have a story to tell, tell it!”

… I also just want to share a little factoid I learnt while at Reading Matters when I got my (very old, beaten-up and beloved copy of Feeling Sorry for Celia signed) Jaclyn told me that’s actually her sister (now author, part of the Moriarty powerhouse!) Nicola Moriarty on the cover. From the time when she wanted to be an actress. Rumour has also been confirmed via Twitter (not that I didn’t believe Jaclyn!)

 

Fresh Meet: The household names you don’t know yet 

– Clare Atkins, Erin Gough, Priya Kuriyan 

 

Erin came back on stage for a session with …

Clare Atkins’ debut novel Nona & Me was written while living in Arnhem Land. She has worked as a scriptwriter for successful television series including All Saints and Home & Away.

Priya Kuriyan (India) is an independent animation filmmaker and illustrator based in Delhi. She has directed educational films and a short animation film for the Children’s Film Society of India, and illustrated many children’s books and comics.

Priya spoke about her illustrating Kate Constable’s short story in Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean, of envisioning a feminist utopia. She made it a point to illustrate women of varying ages and body-types, because we see such little diversity of women’s bodies everywhere else. Priya left off by saying her one wish for readers everywhere is; “I want more people to read comics!” Amen.

Erin said it might have been a childhood spent watching Cheers (where everyone knows your name) that influenced her creating a café setting in The Flywheel. Erin said she’s had readers telling her she can’t have “a straight boy character who likes musicals” in her book – why not? She wants to dismantle that and many more stereotypes in her writing. And she said she wanted to write a YA book with a lot of humour in it, mixed with serious stuff, because two of her favourite YA books growing up – Looking for Alibrandi and Hating Allison Ashley – did that so well.

Clare Atkins wanted to transport young readers to a remote Aboriginal community – an experience many adults won’t even get to experience in their lifetime. She said that growing up she’d always imagined having adventures overseas in faraway lands … but was pleasantly surprised to find one of the greatest adventures of her life happened in Australia, in Arnhem Land.

  

State of Play in YA: 

Reflections on the industry

 

This session was interesting, but I have very little memory of it beyond the mood-shift when Sean Box, Curriculum Manager of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) was asked if he could “speculate wildly” on a time when young adult books could be set-texts on the VCE list … to which he replied, “No.”

Okie dokie then.

Seriously – I think there’s a lot more to it and Sean probably could have been in a session all on his own to cover how big a topic this is. But he did tell the audience that if they want to be on the selection panel (and help to make changes!) they can do so by visiting: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/bulletin/03octli2.pdf

But the best drop-mic response to what Sean was saying of course came from Laurie Halse Anderson (best bullshitter-cutter there is, remember?)

Shelfies: 

Glimpse into teen reading habits

It was so great to hear from teens again, but by this point my brain was overcrowded with all the Day 1 goodness, so my predominant memory from this video was a spatula and …