sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Looking Up and the Great Big Kids Book Read

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What’s better than a book launch to celebrate a new book? A big book party to celebrate not one, but five new books! I was lucky enough to be part of the Great Big Kids Book Read run by Fremantle Press and hosted at the State Library of WA.

With six creators: Ezekiel Kwaymullina, Moira Court, Kyle Hughes-Odgers, Cristy Burne, Yasmin Hamid, Deb Fitzpatrick and myself,

Waiting to start.

celebrating five books between us all either recently released or about to be released,  we shared a stage and read from our new works to a full house.

Reading under a big book!

There was laughter, food, book signing and a lovely sense of community.

 

 

 

 

 

My favourite moment was a young girl telling me she would treasure my book forever. When I asked if she would like a photo with me, she hugged me so warmly I thought my heart would overflow.

 

Life is great, isn’t it?

Happy Happy Day!

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Welcome to my website! You’ve arrived here just in time for  a party.

First things first, I always like to welcome my guests with a refreshment. Here’s a nice cold glass of virtual bubbles (alcohol-free of course, if you’re under 18) for you:

Keep an eye out for the wandering waiters who have a wonderful array of virtual nibbles, too. The best thing about virtual food is that it’s calorie free, so you can eat as many as you like and still have room for dinner.

Right, now that we’ve got that sorted, on to the formalities: the launch of my new book, 1915. Let me just mount the stage so you can see me a little better.

PWF12 gesticulating

(Excuse the happy dance, I find it hard to stand still when I’m excited).

Now, can everyone hear? Good! Let me get started then (clears throat nervously).

Thank you all so much for coming. 1915 isn’t just my newest book – it’s the product of two years of research, writing, crying, rewriting, crying some more, rewriting some more, worrying that I wouldn’t be able to do justice to Stanley’s story, lengthy phone calls with my editor, Claire, writing some more, and finally looking proudly at my author copies and wondering what all the stressing was about.

When I was asked to write this book, I said yes, even though I also knew it would be a big challenge. The story of Gallipoli has been told many times, by writers far more talented than I. How was I going to find a way to tell it that was fresh, that would appeal to young readers, but that also told a story which needs to keep being retold because it is an important part of our history?  I had never written a historical novel. I wasn’t even sure why Scholastic had asked me. Amidst all that doubt though, I was determined to have a red hot go. When the character of Stanley came to me as a teacher from Bunbury, where I currently live, he came as a very real young man. I found myself looking at the events of Gallipoli and asking myself, over and over, what would Stanley think? When I realised he had a twin sister, Elizabeth, back in Australia, worrying about her brother even as she carries on teaching his class, I asked the same questions from her perspective. Many times I had to remind msyelf that these two weren’t real – that I’d made them up. And many more times I reminded myself that even though that was the case, people like Stanley and Elizabeth were very very real, and I owed it to them to get the story right.

So, here it is: 1915, a book I’m proud of, and which I hope will play its own small part in sharing the story of Gallipoli.

1915

I’d like to thank Claire Hallifax and Scholastic for believing that I could write this book, and helping to take it from a very raw story to a finished novel. I’d also like to thank Tara, my agent, and my family, who have to put up with a lot of angst when I’m writing any book. I’ve talked a lot about this story with lots of friends and family – so thank you for listening, and for being interested. Thanks to you, too, attendees of this launch, for taking the time out of your busy day to attend my virtual celebration.  But mostly, thanks to Stanley and Elizabeth Moore, for letting me tell their story.

Thank you.

Phew. Well, that’s the speech out of the way. Now there’s just the celebrating to do. While you’re munching on those virtual sausage rolls the waiter is passing round, I’d love if you’d leave a comment to let me know you were here.  To celebrate the release of 1915, I’m going to give one  away a signed copy of the book to one lucky commenter who leaves a comment by  the end of Sunday. The winner will be chosen at random from all who leave a comment about the launch or the book.

1915 is available now from all good bookstores in Australia (if they haven’t got it, ask them!), or online here.

Want to know more about the book? I’m answering ten questions over at the Aussiereviews blog today and will be posting more on this blog, and on Twitter and my facebook page in the coming weeks.

Again, thank you for coming to my launch!

 

 

A Weekend to Treasure

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What a weekend!

I’m just back from four days in Canberra, where I attended the CBCA National Conference. The CBCA is a not for profit organisation dedicated to fostering a love for and awareness of literature for young Australians. And, in a time when bookstores are closing, funding for the arts (including literature) is being cut, libraries are under threat, and we hear lots of doom and gloom about the future of books, let me tell you that the future of Australian children’s books is looking bright, if this weekend is anything to by. The conference was full of authors, illustrators, publishers, librarians, teachers, academics and more, all passionate about putting good books into kids’ hands.

Highlights, for me:

  1. The above. Spending time with so many friends, old and new, with the common love of children’s books. I think I’ll blog some more about friends in the coming days.
  2. The launch of Roses are Blue, during morning tea on Sunday. The book isn’t due out till July 1 so there will be another launch closer to home a bit later on, but seeing the book in print, and sharing it in that environment was fabulous. It was espgesture2ecially wonderful to share the moment with my special friends (again, I’ll say more about this in another post), and to also share the moment with the delightful Choechoe Brereton, whose debut picture book A House for Donfinkle, was launched at the same time. We’d not met before, but I know we will meet many more times, and after a short time together I felt like I’d know her forever. Gorgeous gorgeous lady.
  3. Andy Griffiths‘ session where he discussed whether Humour is Really Necessary in Children’s Books. He had the audience laughing and nodding and laughing some more. His answer? In brief – not every book for children has to be funny (think A Bridge to Terabithia, for example) , but yes we need humorous children’s books, as well as humour within books which are not completely funny. I agree whole-heartedly.
  4. A session celebrating the wonderful work of The School Magazine.( In a wonderful piece of serendipity, I didn’t know my poem Rain was in the new issue of the magazine, so that was a lovely surprise, as was the fact it was illustrated by Matt Ottley. Then, in another lovely coincidence, my first email this morning was an acceptance for another poem for the magazine.) But back to the magazine itself. This wonderful set of publications is produced monthly, and has been around for almost a hundred news, sharing stories, poems, articles, puzzles and wonderful illustrations with school children in NSW and around Australia. Significantly, it is basically the only publication which purchases and publishes poetry for children, something which is very close to my heart, not just as a poet but as someone who adores poetry and wants to see it on every child’s reading menu.
  5. Anne Bell. She is covered also as one of the friends I refer to above, but she is a highlight all on her own. This wonderful wonderful lady is a poet and an artist whose work I’ve long admired, and who is a stalwart of the Dorothea MacKellar Poetry Competition, which I judged for three years, and which encourages children from around Australia to write poetry. She’s also very good for my ego, as she told anyone who’d listen (and probably some who didn’t) how wonderful she thinks I am for focussing on children’s poetry for my Doctoral studies. She even offered to come over and wash my dishes if it would help me get it done! I adore the energy, the dedication and the wonderful spirit of this lady, as well as her humour, and it is an absolute privilege to call her a friend.

I could go on. And on. But I’m still processing the wonders of the weekend. Luckily I have two years to plan for the next conference, in Sydney, 2016.

What is a verse novel?

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I write verse novels (among other things) and one of the questions I get asked a lot is what is a verse novel? Sometimes, trying to explain gets complicated.

Fortunately for me, sometimes other people say things much better than I do. In this instance, the delightful Paula Green explains the form well over on the Poetry Box blog. She also has some lovely things to say about two of my verse novels. You can see her post here.

(After you’ve read it, you might want to add the blog to your favourites because a blog all about children’s poetry isRoses are Blue well worth following).

Then, pop over to The Reading for Australia blog, where I talk about my verse novels, and what it is that compels to me write sad stories. You can see that post here.

If you happen to be heading to the CBCA Conference in Canberra this weekend, you are warmly invited to come along to the launch of my third verse novel, Roses are Blue, to be launched during the conference on Sunday. I’ll be the nervous, smiley looking one up the front, so do say hello.

 

 

sallymurphy.com.au