Reading Matters: Professional Program Day 2 recap

Here lies my recap of the second and last day of Reading Matters Professional Program (*sniffle*). I really, really tried to piece together a half-decent summary (or at least a small morsel of the deliciousness that was #YAmatters) but I do apologize if I've mucked anything up. If I attributed to the wrong person, totally misquoted or just plain missed the point then, I’m sorry. Please, for those who were at Reading Matters do correct me if I got something wrong. Otherwise; here goes my final recap. 

P.S. - ...and sorry for any atrocious spelling mistakes! 

My life in comics

Raina Telgemeier

Raina was the “first performer on a rainy day” and a nice first burst of sunshine. Her talk was chock full of personal photos, sketches, artworks and was just incredible. I think there might have been a few comic/graphic-novel sceptics in the audience (certainly not me though!) but by the end of her talk I think Raina had even the naysayers converted. At the end of her talk she did say she hoped the Melbourne comic scene grew and was embraced; and I think she went a long way to ensuring that was the case amongst those teachers and librarians. 

Raina began by talking about her inspirations, which can be traced back to her childhood and a love of cartoons. 

She was an especially big fan of the ‘Calvin & Hobbes’ comic strip by Bill Watterson, which were more than just lines on a page; those characters ran and danced and lived for her. She also loved the ‘For Better or For Worse’ comic strip by Lynn Johnston (which ran for 30 years! And chronicled one family’s life – from babies to marriage) – this comic was “like reading about your next-door-neighbours”, and even included a story about the family pet dying. Raina also mentioned her dad buying her a copy of ‘Barefoot Gen, Vol. 1: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima’ by Keiji Nakazawa which looked really cute and sweet, but it ended up that EVERYONE DIED in the end – and that stuck with her, that comics could be so serious too. On her inspirations, Raina said; 'You put all your influences into a blender and create your own style.'

She then showed us some of her earliest artwork, as a “genius two-year-old” and ‘pizza-people.’ She then showed us some of the stuff she was drawing in year 7, and when she was 11-years-old she started drawing comic strips. 

 

Raina graduated from Manhattan's School of Visual Arts, an institution she really loved because she was able to dabble in all art forms, but at the end of it all you got a diploma with a seal on it that said you “graduated from comic school!” 

After graduating she started creating mini-comics, and selling them at zine stores. She also rented booths are various comic conventions . . . and it was because she did that, that an editor at Scholastic found her and spoke about their new ‘graphix’ imprint for graphic novels. But Raina was nervous – she’d previously only written 8-page mini-comics, not a full-length graphic novel! So she decided to adapt a childhood favourite; ‘The Babysitters Club’ (with the help of Ann M. Martin). It was after adapting those books and building her confidence that Raina felt ready to tackle her own book, ‘Smile.’

Then came the (now infamous) teeth photos that everyone had heard about when Raina spoke at the Reading Matters schools day. . . 

‘Smile’ is an autobiographical account of Raina’s dental dramas, after she fell over and broke her two front teeth. ‘Smile’ also became a love letter to her hometown, San Francisco, and to the 90’s (acid wash denim!) 

When she had braces it was a real struggle, her friends teased her and didn’t really understand all that she went through; “There's a very thin line between friend & bully when you're 12” (YESSSSSS!!!) But ultimately she wrote ‘Smile’ “just to get the memories out of my head.”

Likewise, her second novel ‘Drama’ was inspired by her own experiences as a “theatre nut” in school. In writing 'Drama', Raina wanted to capture that electricity right before the curtains part – and she also included two gay characters because they’re based on two friends she had (and okayed the story with them!)

It was mentioned previously that ‘Drama’ was meant to be set in high school –but her publishers wanted her to pitch it younger, to the same 8-12 age range as ‘Smile’. Raina ended up being totally okay doing this because, honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot of graphic novels being written for those young girls and she’d already established that fan base. She also wrote this “for the 13-year-old theatre boys of the world.” 

Raina then went into the finer details of how she draws her comics, and this is her final stack of finished pages (which takes *years* to create). She said it’s hard to hear that someone read her book in half an hour when it takes SO LONG to create (so she, kindly, asked us to read it twice if we get through it so quickly!)

Audience questions and someone asked if winning the Eisner award (“the Oscars of comics”) changed how people perceived her as an author (no more of those “it’s just a comic” comments?). Raina said it was wonderful, but ‘Smile’ won Best Publication for Teens, so lots of people in the industry still saw it as “just a children’s book”. 

Someone else asked; because Raina doesn’t do her own colouring, does she still have any say in the representation of minority characters in her books? Raina said ‘yes’, that’s all up to her. She definitely makes it a point to include characters from all different backgrounds because, growing up in San Francisco, she was the minority and that’s normal to her.

What’s yours is mine

Alison Croggon, Andrew McGahan and Gabrielle Williams explore creation through adaptation.

Chaired by Tim Coronel

Alison Croggon kicked things off, as her ‘Black Spring’ is inspired by ‘Wuthering Heights’. She ‘stole’ the structure of ‘Wuthering Heights’, but didn’t re-read the book while writing ‘Black Spring’ and sometimes she went against Emily Brontë. Ultimately you can’t borrow/steal from an original work unless you hear voices of your own characters that you actually imagined. . . Alison ended on this thought; 'All writers are magpies and steal from all over the place.'

Andrew McGahan said that the young boy running off to sea was a common trope, but he was actually inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe short story. Andrew also grew up in the country and rarely saw the sea, but found family vacations terribly exciting ('even if it was the Gold Coast.’) For Gabrielle Williams, the starting-point of ‘The Reluctant Hallelujah’ was ‘Deltora Quest’, and debating with her fourteen-year-old son about going on a quest at such a young age – she thought her seventeen-year-old would be far better suited to a quest, because you’re “foolish-brave” at that age. 

Gab also spoke about how, when she had the idea for Jesus, she wasn’t intimidated by the Messiah because she’s Catholic herself, and felt confident in treading (not breaking!) a few Catholic protocol toes. Gab later said; 'There is something funny about Jesus in the basement. But I tried to be respectfully irreverent.' At this point Alison Croggon chimed in to say she had to re-read *that* page in ‘The Reluctant Hallelujah’ at least 3 times: “oh, it is Jesus Christ!” 

Gab also spoke about how; 'Aside from the Jesus element, there's no fantasy in my book...' Jesus also has a deliberately minimalist role in ‘The Reluctant Hallelujah’, and the story is more focused on the kids (and their interactions with him).

Tim made an interesting parallel, that Jesus is a staggering figure for Gab,  just as ‘Wuthering Heights’ was for Alison Croggon. . . 

Gab spoke about faith as a motif in ‘The Reluctant Hallelujah’, and she wanted to communicate that; 'Sometimes you can go on an adventure that isn't about *you*. Something can be bigger than yourself.' In speaking about how ‘The Reluctant Hallelujah’ has been received . . . Gab admits that (without even reading the book) some people are turned off by the Jesus thing – and, fair enough, they don’t want religion shoved down their throats (not that she does that, at all!) But, Gab said; 'I thought it would be quite a fun one for Catholic schools’ (the audience cracked the heck up at that!) Gab finished off by discussing how she decided to include the drains of Melbourne because she thought it would be quite tricky for kids to transport the body of Christ (without a driver’s licence) and it was her editor who suggested she actually meet the Cave Clan and take a trip down the drains (herein followed a *hilarious* interlude about Gab putting her life in the hands of a 17-year-old.) 

Gender less

Myke Bartlett, Libba Bray and Fiona Wood unbox identity.

In discussion with Jordi Kerr

So, both before and after Reading Matters the topic of sex and gender roles was fuelling discourse in YA land. First, a (terrible) Sydney Morning Herald article came out, written by an MJ Angel called ‘Is young adult fiction too sexy?’ Those of us in the know instantly discredited this article when Ms Angel said YA was a term coined in 2009 (as of a few days ago the article has been correctly amended to replace ‘young adult’ with ‘new adult’ – but that’s not even the biggest issue with this unethical trash). Over the course of the Reading Matters conference, Fiona Wood made it abundantly clear that she was not interviewed for that article (though her “quotes” are the only good part of it). Turns out, Fiona’s “quotes” are actually lifted from a separate pitch she wrote (like a press release) – and they’ve been altered to make it sound like MJ Angel conducted an interview with Ms Wood . . . yeah. Not cool. 

So, that’s one article that brings up a sort-of gender question. Then feminist blog, Jezebel, released this article on how to write a feminist YA novel. I don’t hate this article, but after the ‘Gender less’ discussion I've decided that anyone from the Reading Matters author panel would be absolutely fabulous to write an article or opinion piece on this. 
Exhibits A-Z: 

Libba Bray kicked off the awesome; by saying it bothers her so much when books are categorized as being a “boy” book or a “girl” book. 

. . . And then Libba unfolded a piece of paper she had with her, and seemed to take a deep breath. Libba just wanted to get this little speech she’d prepared right; because at another author event someone once asked her “do you experience sexism in your job?”, Libba replied ‘yes’, and then proceeded to give a very incoherent answer (though I simply can’t believe that of the incredible Libba Bray!). So she spoke to us, saying; “When we talk about these things we get so defensive and we don't end up moving the needle. . . ” She said that boy/girl books, and discouraging boys by saying “oh, this is a girl book” is a problem – because that implies boys don't need to be concerned with the female experience. She said that categorising books as one gender or the other limits each gender from sharing their experiences. It negates them. She said there are real-world consequences that stem from reinforcing gender stereotypes: it’s anti-woman legislation that develops into a “low-level virus for girls.” Libba was adamant; "There are no boy books or girl books. There are just books." Libba concluded her small speech by asking us to; “Push down the barriers of Them and widening the circle of Us - stop - ask - let's change the conversation,” furthermore she asks teens to question the status-quo, question THEIR status-quo. 

*Cue & hold for rousing applause, maybe even a bit of feet-stomping...*

Myke Bartlett spoke about ‘Fire in the Sea’, and how he hoped that writing a strong, female heroine wouldn’t exclude male readers; "I just wrote a story for human beings,not a gender." He said he’d now quite like to write a book with a male protagonist, to explore what it is to be a man... Myke added that, *growing up in small-town Perth as a well-dressed, articulate young man; he definitely saw stereotyping (the word ‘gay’ was thrown at him a fair bit, being used in a derogatory way). 
*Myke then wanted to apologise for always seeming to reference his Perth background like it's an affliction. He also added that one portrayal of an articulate and sensitive young man that he really loved was Michael in Fiona Wood’s ‘Wildlife’. 

The question was then put to Fiona if Dan’s father coming out as gay in ‘Six Impossible Things’ gave her the opportunity to rail against put-downs such as “that’s gay”, or using ‘girl’ in a derogatory way. This was definitely a big deal for Fiona, and Dan certainly brings people to task towards the end of the novel when he starts standing up for his dad. Fiona then said something really beautiful; 'inclusive normality' – which embraces everything; if it's human, it's normal. 

Chair, Jordi Kerr, then asked hot-button topic of ‘gender flipping covers’ – which has been something of a project for YA author Maureen Johnson (Libba Bray interjected that Maureen is “one of the bright lights of YA. SHE WILL SAVE US ALL!”) Myke said the 'Fire in the Sea' cover tries to tell boys that 'it's OK to read even though it has a girl as a main character.’ Libba said the issues of genderized covers is absolutely a big deal, and she wishes that publishers would start moving the needle in this discussion – she threw out the idea of gender-neutral covers. Fiona actually made sure that both ‘Six Impossible Things’ and ‘Wildlife’ had very gender-neutral covers; ‘Wildlife’ is actually based on the idea of selfies, and owning your experiences. Libba practically shoued; “Publishers! Move the needle. Come up with covers that reflect that inclusive normality.” 

‘Why is the gender question still even being asked?’ – Myke Bartlett mused that maybe it’s because young adults are still working out who they are. Libba was disturbed that; “For boys, what is masculine is the absence of the feminine,” in relation to gender-questions. 

Myke then spoke about creative writing at a high school – he found that the boys were so focused on plot and action that he had to steer them towards questions of emotion. ‘How would your character react to that?’ 

On the topic of genderized covers, you can’t go past Libba Bray’s ‘Beauty Queens’ as this perfect trigger-point for discussion. Fiona says ‘Beauty Queens’ is a “ripper read” for young boys (though Libba mentioned an instance of a mother telling her; “my son can’t read that!” because the cover had a VAGINA on it!). At first, Libba about hyperventilated when she saw the ‘Beauty Queens’ cover with a girl in a bikini . . . but then she stepped back and realized the designer was passing commentary on all those headless-female covers that overpopulate YA. She did request something else to communicate the satire (hence, lipstick bullets). 

At one point Libba Bray said this wholly perfect line; ‘being a southern female is the kabuki theatre of femininity.’ She said this in the context of discussing how drawn she was to Holden Caulfield in her youth . . . because he was *so* angry, he tapped into an anger that she couldn’t express (until she started writing herself). 

Mention of the ‘frigid or lezo’ conversation between the teens of Myke’s ‘Fire in the Sea’ – which he said he actually overheard while travelling on the tram one day.

Discussion about young feminist, Sibylla, in Fiona’s ‘Wildlife’; particularly how she rails against misogynistic rap lyrics. 'Girls in the readership are surrounded by these message that are hateful towards them. They need an antidote to those lyrics.'

*interlude: for Libba Bray to give high-fives to both Myke and Fiona for writing utterly believable characters. To Myke, Libba also said “I’m a girl and I loved your book!” * 

Libba ended the talk by noting the TENSION in the audience, after very heated gender discussions . . .  but she said that was a GOOD thing! 

I sing the body electric 

Paul Callaghan

Paul’s talk was inspired by a Walt Whitman poem.

This talk was so interesting, and the same way I think there were a few naysayers in Raina’s audience on comics, I think there were some gaming-sceptics in Paul’s audience . . .  but he definitely got them thinking differently by the end! Especially when he said this: “We temporarily fuse our bodies with technology, the same way that we share ideas with books.”

A lot of Paul’s talk was based around this idea of Steven Shaviro’s: “We tend to equate virtual with disembodied, even though it would be more accurate to use it as an equivalent for prosthetic.” The prosthetic imagination is such an interesting concept – and as an extension of ourselves. Paul said that with technology “we lose a little bit of ourselves – but again, like with books, we come back to reality.” 

Also, in Paul’s previous session (“is there an app for that?”) the question was asked where *good* games can be found. Well, Paul gave some fine examples – and these were further examples of how gaming does create empathy. 

First was ‘Proteus’ – this is a virtual island where children are encouraged to become explorers in a new world. 

‘dys4ia’ is an abstract autobiographical about a trans-woman. 

‘Unmanned’ is a game in the day of the life of a drone pilot. 

All of these games were, to some extent, unsettling but compelling. Paul pointed out that all of the above games “ask questions that I didn’t know to ask.” 

Outsider, outside

Garth Nix, Tim Sinclair and Vikki Wakefield navigate the outside perimeters. 

In discussion with Lachlann Carter

Noted that in Garth Nix’s ‘A Confusion of Princes’, the protagonist is from a position of power and privilege, until he finds himself an outsider. All of Garth’s books are about outsider existence – all his characters are outsiders, and maybe that’s a default of fiction. Tim Sinclair notes that Dee in his verse novella ‘Run’ is a white Australian – so is he really an “outsider”? Tim says that Dee deliberately pulls himself away. 

Tim Sinclair then defined Parkour (for those not in-the-know) as 'moving through the landscape using nothing more than your body ... and your mind.’ Garth Nix, rather beautifully, summarized it as; ‘never going the easy way.’

On her novel ‘Friday Brown’, Vikki said she thought about it in terms of; ‘When you lose someone that you love, who was instrumental to who you are, you ask yourself: “who am I now?”’

Garth Nix pointed out that 'you can be an insider/outsider, depending on context' – and he gave the *great* example of, when he was a publisher, receiving many manuscripts from disaffected, middle-aged male lawyers. These were people with privilege and probably wealth, but something was missing from their lives – something they’d probably been working towards for most of their life just didn’t satisfy in the end (so writing was an escape?); "What you think you want when you're growing up changes completely the closer you get to it - an insider wants out." Garth also pointed out that you can be an outsider for all of 3 minutes in your life (getting picked last for sport!) and that can affect you in very deep ways.

On the flawed characters in her books, Vikki said 'we're attracted to flaws because we all know we're not perfect...' (audience shuffled uncomfortable in their seats – she was certainly on to something!) She added that writing is one of the few creative endeavours where people strive for imperfection

Garth as a 'white, Anglo-Saxon, educated male' isn’t necessarily an outsider, but that doesn’t mean he can't draw on things he's seen or felt for an outside perspective. Tim Sinclair chimed in that he lived in Japan a bit as a child, and that experience of being a usual insider turned into an outsider was valuable. 

Vikki had such an interesting story about what kick-started the idea of ‘Friday Brown’ for her – when she uncovered some family history that proved she was related to a great Welsh warrior; 'you find out something that happened centuries ago to your family, and that affects how you see yourself...' Suddenly her life “seemed bigger.” Garth then pointed out that there’s a bit of the mythic to ‘Friday Brown’.

Garth Nix says he’s selfish and writes stories for himself, what he’d like to read. Tim Sinclair said "I write these stories half for myself and half for my characters. Once they are half drawn they demand to be written,” which was so beautiful. 

Garth and Tim concluded by giving thanks to libraries (Vikki said she ought to give penance, because in her youth she stole books from libraries!) 

Inkys Longlist

Then came the interlude to announce the titles longlisted for Gold and Silver Inkys! I had so much fun judging the 2012 Inkys, and this year’s longlist is absolutely phenomenal – I’m glad I’m not tasked with choosing between them!

I thought I'd sneak in a hero-pose with longlisted author, Myke Bartlett; 

Unleashing YA

Gayle Forman, Morris Gleitzman and Keith Gray on adult encroachment in YA

In discussion with Adele Walsh 

First question was “Who does YA belong to?” Morris came back with his usual eloquence; 'Whoever is YA at heart!' But he then wanted to point out that he was at Reading Matters under false pretences – because he has not, and will never be, a ‘young adult’ author – he’s a children’s author.

When it was pointed out that Keith Gray has previously said he writes books for boys (clashing with the previous ‘Gender less’ panel and Libba’s call for “no boy/girl books!”) Keith then made the bold statement that he thinks boys are underrepresented in publishing industry & YA in general . . . a show of hands from the (few) male audience members certainly seemed to confirm this. He gave a further example, when he said that one year a press release for the Carnegie Medal highlighted the fact that they were having a male on the judging panel – because it was such a rarity. Keith concluded; 'I write for boys - I hope I don't alienate women but the 13 to 14 year-old boy is my ideal reader.'

Gayle Forman then lobbed back, saying; 'There is acceptability for girl readers to enter a boy book,' but not necessarily the other way round. She further asked us to think how different Harry Potter would have been if Hermione had been the protagonist (she later clarified on Twitter that she is a Harry Potter fan)

Also, can’t go past this quick discussion I Twittered (?) with Myke Bartlett after Gayle said that.

On the previously talked-about ‘gender-swap-covers’, Gayle asked us to note that a John Green book cover looks very different from a Melina Marchetta cover (and we should question that!) The chair for this discussion also pointed out that between them; Gayle, Morris and Keith have very different covers . . . asked for a show of hands from the male audience members who’ve read Gayle’s book (*no hands went up – all but confirming that there is a barrier in the gender packaging of women's books.)

* Not true - Kevin Lee can attest to being one of the male audience members who put his hand up as having read (all of) Gayle's books. My apologies!

Morris chimed in that this notion of love stories only being for girls is wholly wrong; "There is not a boy on this planet that does not understand love gone wrong!" 

Aaaaaaaand then talk segued into this newfangled ‘New Adult’ (something I've very recently written about – and am still no closer to grappling). Gayle summarized perfectly, saying it’s basically ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ (I think I felt the entire building shudder at that one!) Morris chimed in; 'New adult is a totally useless and meaningless piece of media jargon I've met plenty of 11 yr olds who are new adults.'

Then talk moved on to ‘click-bait’, and how many articles written about young adult books often get it so, so wrong (Exhibit A). Normally they’re about fear-mongering on topics like ‘dark-lit’ and ‘sick-lit’ and the cycle continues over and over again (next year it will swing back to ‘is young adult too sexy?’ like clockwork). Gayle pointed out that; 'Youth literature is always scary for adults, but then also so many adults are reading it now.'

Talk then shifted onto the online nature of YA. Gayle said this is something adult authors just don’t ‘get’, that fans of YA are evangelical about their books (and she thinks that’s *lovely*). Morris actually discussed the power of YA bloggers – citing an example of one UK author who was able to sell international rights to their book because of the hype the blogging community provided (that mainstream media then paid attention to!). 

Asked asks 'why do you love YA?', Keith Gray said that he thinks teenagers are fascinating creatures. Keith also said this: “YA is the HBO of fiction.” I think the audience was stunned by the sheer awesomeness of this statement (I, for one, would quite like it on a t-shirt). Keith also admired the fact that, while adults read books that bolster beliefs they already hold, teenagers study/read books to argue/challenge/deconstruct; 'It's rare for adults to read books we don't want to read, whereas teenagers are forced to every day at school.’

Gayle said what she writes about are issues she’s currently grappling with; ‘but the people I want to tell these stories to are 17 to 25.'

One of the final questions was ‘where would you like to see the needle of discussion move to next?’ Keith would quite like acceptance of children’s & YA; “'We're all just writing about humans” (gave the example of him not being allowed to sit on Writers Festival panels with adult authors). Gayle argued that YA is the readership that’s continually moving the needle; 'Maybe because we operate outside the boundaries, and always we need to push those boundaries, but we do a good job' (gave the example of David Levithan, whose new book is ‘Two Boys Kissing’). Morris wants that needle & dial taken away completely, and for us to all stop worrying about what kids are reading; "When we trust the story and we are available for the conversation afterwards, then we are doing the right thing for readers."

Question time – and Morris hinted at something HUGE . . . UK television company has optioned ‘Once’ for miniseries. OH MY GAWWWWWD!!!!! 

Gayle had BIG news too – the ‘If I Stay’ movie is a GO! Chloë Moretz is cast, R.J. Cutler is directing (Gayle said she knew he was the right man for the job, when he told her; 'God is everywhere in this book. Not God, but spirituality') 

•••

That was a wrap. 

 I did not want it to end . . .  and, in a way, it didn’t because I was thinking on all those panels for days afterwards (still am). HUGE thanks to the Centre for Youth Literature. In particular; Anna Burkey, Nicole Armstrong, Jordi Kerr & Adele Walsh – because they Rocked the Casbah!  

The 2013 Reading Matters Professional Program was incredible, and I hope I've managed to communicate in these recaps what a pleasure and privilege it was to hear these people speak – and if you have any take away from these posts, I hope it’s that you’ll go to the next conference in 2015 because it will be worth it. I found it to be an invaluable experience; I made new friends (BLOGGERS UNITE, Jess!), got to put faces to Twitter handles (*waves at Zac!*) and this happened . . . 

Reading Matters: Professional Program Day 1 recap

The 10th biennial Reading Matters conference kicked off with some wise words from Anna Burkey, manager of the Centre for Youth Literature and Sue Roberts, CEO and State Librarian. They welcomed “writers of today, and of the future” and stressed that this conference was about valuing the voices and views of Australian teens, and focused on what young people like to read. Further to that, the official Twitter hash-tag of the conference was #YAmatters (and at several points it was trending worldwide, right alongside #BEA13).

Action!

Gayle Forman, Tim Sinclair and Raina Telgemeier discuss the highs and lows of teen life. 

In discussion with Adele Walsh.  

The first question out of the gate was “why write about the teen experience?”, and Tim Sinclair very quickly said “grownups are boring.” He expanded on this, saying that all adults seem to do is ‘angst’, but when you’re seventeen-years-old everything matters and you feel everything more powerfully for it. Gayle Forman perfectly summarized her books by saying “I write for young people, but not young stories,” while Raina said that while other points in her life are somewhat hazy, she “remembers every detail of [her] teen life.” It was certainly a spectrum of response which perfectly summarized why more than just teen readers are drawn to YA (and why some adults who refuse to read it are missing out). Furthermore, Gayle said if she wrote about her life right now, it’d be boring; a book about a 42-year old mum is dull (and wouldn’t it be dull if all middle-aged women just wrote about being middle-aged women?) 

In writing responsibly for their teen readers, Gayle said she only had a responsibility to write an authentic story . . . though she did admit to having a ‘daughter test’ that not all her characters would necessarily pass. 

Tim Sinclair actually took Parkour lessons to help him write the verse novella ‘Run’ (and he has the physio bill to prove it!). And when asked about writing responsibly, Tim pointed out that sometimes teachers/librarians/parents don’t like the swearing that appears in his novels; “poetry is about playing with language, and if swearing isn't language then I don't know what is!”

The authors were asked to name a moment when they had to make brave decisions in their career or storytelling. Tim said “when you're writing you don't think decisions are brave, you just write what the book needs.” Gayle said that when she was working on ‘If I Stay’ she didn’t think it was a viable book to get published, but she wrote it regardless and that was an act of bravery in itself. Raina had a similar story; everyone told her that comic books for young girls would never, ever sell . . . she persevered, won an Eisner award and proved everybody wrong. But Raina wondered if her publishers were brave, because they stuck by her and never asked her to remove two gay characters from her novel ‘Drama’ (two characters, she noted, who are based on friends of hers).  

Gayle then spoke about how the (beloved) secondary character, Dee, was actually transported from another novel she was working on and he just worked better in ‘Just One Day.’ But after writing him for a bit she grew concerned at having written this gay, homosexual ‘sassy’ black sidekick stereotype – she grew concerned at this, especially, when she and her husband adopted their black daughter. She didn’t want Dee to be a stereotype – so she made his character smart, gave him a very interesting background and elevated him above stereotype. 

On the topic of what ‘labels’ the authors hate being pinned with, Tim quipped that he didn’t like the label ‘poet’ and his books being called ‘poetry’; “Because that's where books go to die in a bookshop.” Raina hates the line; “Oh, it’s just a comic.” All three authors constantly get asked if they’ll ever write a “real” novel (for Gayle, this means fantasy). Gayle, at least, is resigned to the question and no longer minds people asking it (though she may fudge a bit and say “maybe” when what she really means is ‘most likely never’). Tim actually revealed that he’s working on a novel right now, but would say no more other than “the words will go right to the edge of the page and everything!” 

The question of whether YA was a “genre or readership” was put to the authors, and Tim Sinclair gave the best response; “It’s just awesome.” 

Raina spoke about how her novel ‘Smile’ was inspired by the look of Wes Anderson movies, and came from just wanting to have fun in writing a middle-grade novel (and though some middle school children have called her out on certain points, she doesn’t care – she had fun and the book is meant to be fun!). She also warned that if she ever looks at you funny and intently, it’s because she’s deciding how she’ll sketch you later. . .  Gayle complimented Raina, saying she was transported to her own drama days youth with the novel. And on the topic of what each author loved about each of the books. . . Raina loved having a romantic relationship that's not the main character's relationship, in Tim Sinclair’s ‘Run’. Tim loved how Gayle’s ‘Just One Day’ was twisting the usual 'girl meets boy' plot and being about a young girl finding herself by being herself

To cap things off; Gayle said she’s finished ‘Just One Year’ (written crazily, back-to-back with ‘Just One Day’) and it’s due out in September this year. She also mentioned the brand new book she’s working on, ‘A Code Unknown’, which is a ‘suicide, mystery, love story. . . ’ (the audience was most intrigued). Raina is working on a companion novel to ‘Smile’, called ‘Sisters’ and due out in 2014. And Tim’s aforementioned ‘novel-novel’, with words right to the end of the page. 

Question time and Raina spoke about people wondering if she’ll run out of ideas (since ‘Smile’ and ‘Drama’ are semi-autobiographical) but Raina will never run out of ideas because “emotions are ageless.” 

On the topic of ‘what are you reading now?’ Raina highly recommended Lucy Knisley’s graphic novel ‘Relish’, about growing up in a food-obsessed household. Tim Sinclair is reading Riddley Walker (which he’s convinced would be YA if re-released, since there’s a 12-year-old protagonist.) And Gayle Forman is excited to read Fiona Wood’s ‘Wildlife’; normally when she’s asked this question any place else in the world, she recommends Melina Marchetta (but everyone in the audience already knows to read her!) 

Raina Telgemeier has the best author signature. Seriously. 

Before the next event got underway, the brilliant cartoonist Sarah Howell showed us how she draws the 6 basic emotions. She also showed us 'Grimace' - the facial expression simulator. 

Is there an app for that? 

Paul Callaghan, John Flanagan and Fiona Wood talk stories and communities in a brave new world.  

In discussion with Jordi Kerr.

  

Fiona spoke about ‘agency’, saying “I write a book that I would love to read.” She doesn’t write for a target market, but hopes that when the book is finished it finds a readership. 

In talking about writers online (on Goodreads, Twitter, Tumblr, author websites) Fiona finds it very hard to construct a persona that’s her, but also for 12-year-olds. She can’t talk about politics, can’t swear . . . so the online space gets smaller and smaller for her. Posting a million blogs about ‘how to write’ also doesn’t interest, and she feels like she’d be disingenuous if she did so. What really horrified Fiona is when she spoke about publishers wanting authors to partake in ‘platform building’, marketing adjunct and how to (at this point, she physically shivered as she said the words) “grow your brand” (then adding “that hurt me more than it hurt you”). Fiona mentioned John and Hank Green and the online phenomenon of ‘Nerdfighters’ – and now publishers see that as THE ULTIMATE in author’s with online presence. While the Green brothers do a lot of good (like encouraging young people to vote), Fiona admits she wants to see a movie in which the Green Brothers turn evil. 

On the topic of authors and their online presence, John Flanagan (jokingly) said he had no idea about his Australian publishers running a 'create your own custom-built shield' feature on his awesome ‘Brotherband’ website (which is a fantastic interactive and educational tool – though he did need to ask his publisher’s to put a different web support email up, since kids were emailing him with questions that he had no idea about!). The topic then moved on to John’s ENORMOUS fan-base in places like the Netherlands . . . where a battle-field is rented for major ‘Brotherband’ cos-play by some very serious individuals (cue photo of John looking at a photo of himself presiding over one of these ‘Brotherband’ slaughters). 

The authors then moved on to discussions of audiences maybe having too much say in how stories turn out. John said that Hollywood basing narratives on focus groups doesn't work, and if Casablanca was made today it'd have a happy ending – but the very fact that Rick doesn’t get the girl at the end (despite audiences wanting him to!) is what makes that a great film. John Flanagan says to write what you want to write, don't try to fit an audience or expectation. On that topic . . .  John hinted that “a movie is probably going to happen” – though he did muse that the highest compliment paid to him is when kids say reading his books is like “reading a movie” – and he loves the idea that all these kids have different movies playing in their heads when they read his books. 

When asked ‘are apps the death of imagination?’ there was silence from the audience – but Fiona and John both admitted to some concern. John spoke about how moved he was when a boy emailed him to say he used to always be an avid gamer, until he read his books and found a bow & arrow – now he spends majority of his time in the backyard, pretending to be in the ‘Brotherband’ universe. Ultimately though, John said “what counts is emotional connection. And it has to be real.”  Paul Callaghan (freelance writer and game developer) conceded that “in the wrong hands, games can be detrimental to imagination,” but he also said that we’re witnessing the birth of an art-form right now, during a time of great experimentation. 

Social gaming was then discussed, and Paul said these are about giving people a framework in which to tell stories. 

Audience then asked questions, and someone put it to Paul that they simply didn’t know where to find *good* games for their kids. To which the chair asked if we needed a “librarian of games” – Paul said an emphatic, YES, and said he’d compile a list to be accessed via the Centre for Youth Lit website – so keep your eyes peeled!

An older audience member then expressed concern that games don’t teach kids empathy the same way a novel can. Paul was quick to defend, and said that games simply communicate empathy differently than novels – they still explain that actions have consequences, and saying that games have no empathy presumes that kids only go in one direction . . . though Fiona did agree, to an extent, that ‘shooting games’ taught an all too easy empathy that’s not really lasting or impacting.

Gatekeepers – the good, the bad and my mother

Keith Gray

Look, this was one of my favourite Reading Matters talks and I know I won’t be able to capture Keith Gray’s sheer awesomeness in this blog post. I just can’t – because Keith is such a quick wit and he spoke with such impassioned eloquence that had the entire audience in stitches one minute, and then shaking heads in dismay the next. And part of the enjoyment of this talk was being in a room with other people who just *got* it – we were all right there with Keith, championing him and vowing to never be gatekeepers ourselves. Both Jess (The Tales Compendium) & I loved this talk so much, that we totally fangirled to Keith afterwards and got our photo taken:

So, this is my (poor) attempt at explaining Keith Gray’s excellent ‘Gatekeepers’ talk – but, truly, if you ever have the opportunity to hear Keith Gray speak – TAKE IT! He’ll change your world, truly.

Keith’s discussion began with an anecdote about a 5-step ladder that came with 19 instructions and safety precautions . . .  which led him to talk about a bigger cotton-wool, condescending world.

Keith trusts his reader to deal with big, tough issues, saying; “The best books are those that let you think on your own two feet.” That’s why he was quite taken aback by a letter from a 76-year-old grandfather about his book ‘Warehouse’, which he was just disgusted with for the language (the F-word appears twice in 68,000 words) and deemed it unsuitable for younger readers. Now, Keith could have taken this as simply ‘gatekeeper malarkey’ – which mostly presumes that young readers read a book the exact same way that adults do.  But then he got to thinking that before his ideal readers can even get their hands on a copy of his book, they have to go through a number of gatekeepers who could potentially keep it from them;
• Publishers – sometimes too timid to tackle tough topics
• Librarians – could bring private agenda to public bookshelves
• Teachers
• Parents – who have the least amount of knowledge about kid’s books
All of these people, at the slightest offence, could close the gate and say “You Shall Not Pass!” to his books. 

Keith mentioned that a big perceived problem in kid’s books is language, particularly profanity. But, really, young people these days “don’t give a fuck about the F-word”, it’s not an insult to them (they use it to insult elders). Furthermore, Keith said he “didn’t need to read books to learn how to swear” – you learn that in school. 

A big question running throughout Keith’s talk was “do you write a book for the gatekeepers or the readers?” 

He then spoke about a Catholic school who had invited him to speak to their students, but two days before his talk was scheduled the librarian called up, asking him to not make mention of his ‘Losing It’ anthology; A collection of fiction short stories by leading teen writers about losing your virginity. Keith then spoke to the principal, saying he’d feel disingenuous if he omitted speaking about his latest book (it’s not rude or violent, it’s just a very honest examination of love and sex). But the principal was adamant that because the book didn’t conform to the Catholic moral perspective, it shouldn’t be mentioned. Keith pulled out of the talk altogether – and now he reflects and wonders why the principal was only concerned with parent’s reaction to ‘Losing It’; no mention was made of the kids’ potential reactions. 

This, Keith said, was an example of how “the gate usually eases shut with a whisper, not a clang.” 

He’s disheartened to think that books get banned or censored because, GOOD LORD, young people might think too much or don’t think the way we want them to, or read books that aren’t Approved/Sanctioned/Authorized. Keith said to always ask: “for whose sake would these books be banned?” because it’s certainly not the kids. 

Then came a very funny interlude about how if banned books were so bad, surely it’d be because they lead to criminality . . . that there would be research that proves prisons are overrun by people who read banned books as children. 

I can’t stress this enough – Keith asked; "Who are the best gatekeepers? I'd argue it's the readers themselves." We just need to have a bit of trust in young people to deserve good books (*great* books, even) that teach them empathy, respect and that use fiction as a safety net. 

Everyone’s a Critic

Myke Bartlett, Alison Croggon and Morris Gleitzman on setting their stories free.  

In discussion with Annabel Astbury.

First up, Myke Bartlett spoke about his podcasting background – that for a little while he was writing a novel and after completing a chapter, doing a podcast reading. This was a balance between private writing and instant feedback – and at one stage he was writing a chapter a week. While he wouldn’t necessarily write like that ever again, it did teach him what people want from a hero, and how to write for an audience. It also highlighted his tendency to write in the very Australian “spiral of despair” style. 

Morris spoke to Myke’s experience and said he could never do something like that, because as human beings we want to avoid delaying gratification . . . which would result in a happy and concluded book in three chapters. But as a novelist pain and suffering develop and grow characters. In fact; "We identify with our characters best when we share their pain or doubt with them."

Alison Croggon spoke about the amnesia that comes after writing a book. That it’s this very intense and solitary experience, but once the book is out there in the world you just forget – then it belongs to everyone else. She had an experience of a family member discussing the intricate details of one of her ‘Pellinor’ books with her, who wanted to talk about secondary characters and minor plot points . . .  and Alison had no memory of them (this reminded me of an author quote I heard once; that writing a book is like labour – and it’s a good thing you forget the pain or else you’d never want to do it again!) 

For Morris, when he’s finished with a book he’s okay with the end. Because all of his characters stay with him, that the details of the plot may vanish, but those characters are forever. He said that you want that character to go out and find their way . . . even in a hostile world (full of critics and mean reviews!) For what it’s worth, Morris also never dreamed of writing epic anything, because he gets sore wrists. And ‘Once’ was meant to be a stand-alone book, Felix’s story just wasn’t over yet.

. . . on the topic of the stand-alone versus the current YA appeal of trilogies, Morris said some very wise words. He wondered if “because young adults are seen as tribal, they’d like their books to be tribal too?” 

Then the topic moved to the online discourse between readers. Morris spoke about a story-sharing Mandarin website, which (like every other book list in the world has a ‘top 10’, ‘top 100’) and how that was “imposing conservative democratic taste” – that some really fantastic books don’t get read because of these lists that perpetuate popularity. 

Myke spoke about how he doesn’t like that the online space is becoming more personality-based for criticism (and he’s not a huge fan of the first-person review).  This was a topic that was very close to Alison’s heart, having established the first theatre critic blog in Australia and she emphasised that criticism is part of the cultural conversation and very important. Morris said he’d much rather a long, trashing review of his work than a quick but glowing paragraph in a mainstream paper – and it’s just a sad fact that children’s fiction doesn’t get much page-time either way. Morris finished on this thought; "Everyone's a critic, but people confuse criticism with venting" – which is evident in the comments section. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Myke did approach both myself and Jess after his talk and made it abundantly clear that he didn’t mean to sound like he was criticizing bloggers. He loves bloggers – truly. Phew! 

Challenge Accepted

Ambelin Kwaymullina, Andrew McGahan and Garth Nix debate conflict and tension in YA.  

In discussion with Miffy Farquharsen. 

Ambelin kicked things off, discussing tension topics in YA. She said that you don’t write about war the same way for 8-year-olds, 13-year-olds and adults . . .  but that doesn’t mean you don’t talk about it. Garth Nix said a book without tension would, by definition, be limp – and “I don’t want to write a limp book.” 

A question for Ambelin, on the significance of the bad guy in ‘Ashala Wolf’ being called Neville Rose . . .  Ambelin said that was no accident, and the name is based on Auber Octavius Neville who was Chief Protector of Aboriginals in Western Australia, and responsible for the stolen generation. His name has awful connotations for the people of WA. On a personal note, two generations of Ambelin’s family were removed during the stolen generation.

More from Ambelin, who said that young readers who have experienced horror in their own lives respond most strongly to Ashala Wolf – often bullied and refugee kids. Ambelin appreciates this, since she wasn’t writing ‘Ashala Wolf’ for the teens with the happy life. She wanted to write about healing and triumph, not hurt – because those same kids don’t need any more helplessness in their lives.

Andrew McGahan spoke about tropes, and while the young man running off to live a sea-faring life is a common story, ‘Ship Kings’ is a very uncommon book. The main character is really the ocean, and that’s where the magic is meant to be. Andrew is not, nor has he ever been a sailor himself, but he did some sailing research . . .  only a little though, so that it wouldn’t bring too much reality into the book. Andrew also stressed that he hasn’t felt like switching from writing for adults to young adults has been much of a change – the YA world may be more daunting, but there’s no difference in the writing, and the craft is just as hard.

All three authors came to writing YA fiction from very different paths. Garth Nix has worked in a bookshop, was a book publicist, editor and publisher’s sales representative before becoming the incredibly popular YA writer he is today. Andrew was a highly successful and award-winning adult writer before switching to YA. And Ambelin wrote picture books first - and she said “I needed the picture books to get to the novel.” Ambelin’s first picture book about a crow actually came to her in a dream – and her people, the Palyku, believe that elders come to you in dreams so she thinks that set her off on the ‘write’ path. 

The topic of book adaptations was bought up, and I loved that Andrew said “adapting books into movies doesn’t really add anything to the book. Just leave it alone,” (despite the fact that his first book was adapted into a very successful movie). Garth said there has been only one perfect adaptation, which is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ (the audience hummed agreement). 

Then the conversation segued into ‘labels’. . . Ambelin said ‘Ashala Wolf’ has been called fantasy and sci-fi. She doesn’t really care – you just write the best novel you can, and then other people can put labels on it. At this point Andrew and Garth pitched an idea about Killer Rainbow Faeries . . . you had to be there.

Discussing ‘taboo’ topics in YA, Garth said “you can put anything in YA – violence, sex. But like sex, it depends on how you do it.” He mentioned Keith Gray’s earlier discussion on gate keeping, and said he was very annoyed at books being banned based on the perception of who the book is for. 

Andrew McGahan mentioned that in the third ‘Ship Kings’ there will be a sex scene . . . not at all graphic, but these are two 19-year-old characters, a boy and a girl, it’s very organic. At this point, Ambelin said that the second ‘Ashala Wolf’ has lots of revelations but only a little romance, and there won’t be any graphic sex scene . . . to which Garth commented that *not* including sex is also very important (I 100% agree – Ashala is a kick-ass heroine in her own right. Her next book won’t be made more interesting by including more romance) 

. . . I should also mention that throughout this discussion both Andrew and Garth continually praised ‘The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf’. They clearly just LOVED the book and wanted Ambelin (and the audience!) to know it. 

You Can’t Say That!

Parental guidance recommended with Libba Bray, Vikki Wakefield and Gabrielle Williams.  

In discussion with Kim Kane.

I loved all of the Reading Matters events, and I tried my best to take notes and/or Tweet as much as possible. But some sessions were just so batshit awesome, that rather than note-taking I really just wanted to absorb. ‘You Can’t Say That’ was one such session. So I do apologize, but I really can’t summarize the sheer awesomeness of hearing Libba Bray saying; 'And that sums up the “Jesus rode in on a dinosaur carrying an AK47” mentality that's part of American culture.’ All I can offer is my best recounting of an amazing session that I felt (as I’m sure everyone in that audience) very blessed to be in the presence of, as these three amazing writers bounced their badassness off one another. So, here goes;

The question was asked about modifying work for international audiences – and Gabrielle Williams has a WHOPPER of a story about this. But to understand the sheer lunacy, a huge SPOILER ALERT for her novel ‘The Reluctant Hallelujah’. . . Gab’s US publishers told her that the book would never, ever be released in the US because of the Jesus in the basement thing. Gab clarified, for those who hadn’t read the book; “he’s not alive or anything – it’s not stupid.” Still, her US publishers were adamant that it wouldn’t work – and the only way it could is if she replaced Jesus with Elvis (“our alternate Jesus,” quipped Libba). The audience ROARED with laughter. I don’t believe the US version of ‘Reluctant Hallelujah’ will be happening. 

About writing within boundaries, Vikki said that she just writes full-on, until she makes herself laugh or cry. Someone else needs to tell her that she’s gone too far. And if she has any self-imposed limits, it’s that (despite having a dirty mouth) she’ll never use the C-word. Ever (because there’s no male equivalent). Libba added; "I can't order toast without sounding like I'm in a Scorsese movie." Vikki also spoke about other people’s thoughts on boundaries – like the fact that she has written two Aboriginal characters in both ‘All I Ever Wanted’ and ‘Friday Brown’, and there’s often this fear of a white writer writing Aboriginal characters (Vikki and I discussed this in a recent Kill Your Darlings article). Now, Vikki would never write from the perspective of an Aboriginal character (because she doesn’t have the right to do that) but she communicates a view on Aboriginal characters from a white perspective, and you can’t discount that (and you can’t just not have any Aboriginal or diverse characters – that’s not true to life). 

It then shifted to Libba, who has a black character called Memphis in her new book ‘The Diviners’ . . . and he’s there because she really wanted to discuss the Harlem Renaissance in this 1920s book. And, she was writing ‘The Diviners’ in a post-9/11 world, in the wake of Barack Obama as president . . . these characters have to be represented. Furthermore, she’s in the business of creating human beings. 

. . . Um, this bit gets hazy after Libba said nobody had thus far criticized her for writing a black character in the first-person – to which she quipped that she must be like Mariah Carey, living in a bubble of constant praise. And this was the first of many times that the audience just lost it over Libba – just, constant laughter and giggles.

And on the topic of humour, Libba admitted that it’s double-edged. “You either get away with a lot, or people come to your house with pitchforks,”  - on the lampooning satire of her incredible ‘Beauty Queens.’ 

Gabrielle Williams said that she doesn’t try to approach “ISSUES” necessarily, but rather issues come to her characters. 

Vikki touched on something really interesting, and was the first gender kick-off question. She said that contemporary fiction seems to be held to a higher standard with regards to what’s ‘politically correct’ etc, but a genre like fantasy gets away with a lot more – particularly violence, and especially violence against women. SO TRUE! 

Libba said that she “writes book with questions, not necessarily answers.”

. . . And another interlude that I can’t quite capture in this summary. Basically Libba said that “the past disarms the reader the same way humour does” (on her rather scary 1920s novel ‘The Diviners’) and then she segued into talk about BUNNIES! BUNNIES WITH HATCHETS! And how you can lure people in with “Oh, the cute rabbit!” ← I’m sorry; I was too busy laughing to jot my notes down. Just know that it was awesome.

Asked if there are certain topics they won’t write about, Vikki said she once started a list of everything she wouldn’t write . . . then she asked herself ‘Do I have some past experience with this?’ – if she did, then she could explore it. She ended up crossing everything off the list – because everything was up for exploration. And then Vikki said that when she’s writing and something doesn’t feel right because she has crossed a line; "It's never the subject that makes me cross the line - it's always the tone" Libba LOVED this. 

Libba admitted to being a little creepy as a child, and said that when children are anxious they’re drawn to dark things – as catharsis. She described herself as “cheerfully anxious.” But Libba saw a lot of darkness growing up – she admitted to having one friend whose mother abandoned her and another who was sexually abused by both her father and brothers. For a long time, by comparison, she had a very normal and stable home life – her father was even a Presbyterian Minister. . .  and then the day came that he came out as being gay. Her mum and dad told her that she had to keep it a secret though, because he could lose his job. So Libba found herself with this very big secret when she was quite young, and that was kinda fun. 

This was another recurring theme of Reading Matters, when Libba mused that the reason adults are so scared of teenagers is because they’re at the point of tearing down the veil and developing a bullshit-detector. 

Asked if she’s in the “YA saves!” camp, Libba amended to say she’s in the “YA sure doesn’t hurt,” camp.

About advocacy in your writing . . . Gabrielle Williams spoke about the relationship that Beatle’s sister, Winsome, has with her English teacher in ‘Beatle Meets Destiny.’ Gab says she knows that’s immoral – but she spoke about the influence for that, and a friends of hers who graduated from teacher college very young (21) and he was very good looking. One night they were out to a bar with him, and some teenage girls were there – his students (there illegally, obviously) – and Gab mused that those girls would be all over him if he was up for it, she told him he must have a “penis of steel” – CUE LAUGHTER. This then became a running joke between the three, and Libba said that ‘Penis of Steel 3’ was working title of her next book (actually, ‘Diviners 2’).

Libba spoke about Theta’s rape in ‘The Diviners’, and how it’s very subtly mentioned because in the context, it’s a painful past memory – versus the murders that are happening in real time. Speaking of the almost-rape in ‘All I Ever Wanted’, Vikki said that lots of people were frustrated that there was no justice/redemption offered – but that’s the wrong assumption to make in YA (and real life), that justice is guaranteed. 

Vikki wondered why it was easier to get away with violence than sex when writing YA, especially since love and sex are vital and so important to our relationships and what makes us, us. But Vikki did admit that violence doesn’t shock her, because she grew up seeing it; “people who had a gentler life” are more shocked by it. But she writes it because people living with violence need to read it too. 

At this point, Libba Bray spoke beautifully about the “Tyranny of the Happy Ending” – she said book endings dictate themselves, and you can’t force happiness for the sake of happiness. You can certainly have shades of hope though, “like the glimmer of dawn” (I thought that was so beautiful – that’s why she writes the books, people!) Gabrielle spoke about the not-so-happy ending in ‘The Reluctant Hallelujah’, explaining that she was following the biblical story to an extent, and a sacrifice was required. Vikki said that ‘Friday Brown’ ended abruptly because she had nothing more to say. 

Then we spoke about what they’re all working on next . . . Vikki said she’s writing a love story (the audience then AWWWWWED – and Vikki clarified that because it’s her, it won’t all be good.) 

Gabrielle is working on a YA novel set in 1986 (the year that Picasso’s ‘Weeping Woman’ was stolen from the National Gallery in Melbourne). There’s 4 characters: two are 17, two are 23 and it’s about ‘crime, intrigue & romance.’ You guys – I spoke to Gabrielle about this book and it sounds AMAZING. Seriously – I want!

Libba is working on ‘Penis of Steel’ (now, was it Gab or Vikki who quipped “I hope it’s not a flop!”. . . Hmmm)

Question-time, and I asked all three authors how they came to be readers – what their childhood reading was like (and if they had any ‘parental guidance’). Vikki said she didn’t grow up in a household of readers, but her grandmother told her stories. Vikki believes that everyone takes a different pathway to reading – but once you start, you never stop being a reader. Libba said her mother was an English teacher, and she vividly remembers reading ‘Charlotte’s Web’. Libba also said that when she read ‘Catcher in the Rye’, it was a bit of a revelation (her school librarian told her about it, whispered that it wasn’t available at the school library – but it was at the *public library*). Sure, ‘Catcher’ is the preferred reading of serial killers and social misfits, but that was Libba’s “bible.” Libba concluded by saying “thank you to everyone who ever put a book in my hand.” Gab also grew up in a house of readers, and stressed that “if you have something in your hand and it has text – more power to you!”