sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Puzzles and Stuff

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Have just spent a fun half an hour doing virtual jigsaw puzzles of the covers of Toppling and Pearl Verses the World, after fellow shortlisted author, Chris Bongers pointed out that Mrs B has a great interactive website which has puzzles and  other activities for shortlisted titles in the CBCA Childrens Book of the Year Awards for the past three years. How very cool.

The Toppling page has links to teacher’s notes, a cloze passage, a domino topple and a domino game, while the Pearl Verses the World page has teacher’s notes, a cloze passage and poetry activities. And, of course, both pages have a 20 piece jigsaw of the book covers. There are similar pages for all the other shortlisted books in the Picture Book, Younger Readers and Early Childhood categories of the awards.

What a fun way to get kids interested in the shortlisted titles – and a great help for teachers and librarians  wanting to focus on the awards! Well done Mrs B for putting so much work into creating this resource – and thanks for challenging me with the Cloze passage. Was very relieved to get 100%

Why I Write Sad Stories

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I was asked recently why I only write sad books. I was quite taken aback by this question, because I don’t think of myself as someone who writes sad books. But at the same time I knew where the asker was coming from. After all, this person may have read some of my more lighthearted stories in the past, but most recently she had read both Pearl Verses the World and Toppling, both of which deal with some pretty weighty issues.

While perhaps this person’s question stopped me in my tracks a little bit, it really isn’t unusual for me to be asked why I write stories that make people cry. Whenever I visit a school and talk about Pearl or Toppling, a child will ask a similar question – especially if they have not actually read the books. And there’s the crunch for me. If you haven’t read the books, you could well hear about them and think they are going to be overwhelmingly sad. After all, Pearl Verses the World deals with issues of dementia, death, and loneliness, whilst Toppling focuses on childhood cancer. These are not light topics, and when I wrote both of these stories I was really confronted with my own emotions surrounding these issues.

But I hope, I really hope, that when young readers read these books the overarching feeling they are left with by the end of each story is not one of sorrow or helplessness, but one of hope. Without giving too much of either story away (I do try hard to avoid spoilers to my books), both stories focus not on easy solutions to these problems, but on young characters finding hope, finding ways to deal with the tough stuff that arises in their lives.

I really strongly believe that kids need books that allow them to cry (if they feel the need to), that allow them to relate to harsh life experiences, to empathise or sympathise with characters of their own age as they go through tough stuff. But I also believe that they need to see that no matter how hard life is, there is always some glimmer of hope.

Does every book need to be sad/serious? No. Whilst I’m really proud of these two books, I am equally proud of my books about frogs that float and bears that sing, and kangaroos that pull Santa’s sleigh. Kids need all kinds of stories, and I’m grateful that I’m able to write them.

Awards, Speeches and Thankyous

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Phew. I’m home, and have a little time to sit down and blog. My apologies to regular followers for my recent silence – my life has been a whirl!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to fly to Brisbane for the announcement of the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Awards. Pearl Verses the World was shortlisted and, to my delight was named an Honour Book.  I travelled to and from Brisbane with the lovely Rebecca Cool, illustrator of the picture book, Isabella’s Garden, also published by Walker Books, and also named an Honour Book.

As well as attending the Book of the Year announcements, held at Brisbane’s Custom’s House, I also attended the Queensland Branch’s Bookweek dinner. Both events were fun, and exciting and even a little overwhelming. This was my first ever trip to Brisbane, and I must say  the Brisbane  hospitality, and the sunshine, and the award, made it a wonderful place to visit.

Back home only briefly,  I then headed to Perth for Bookweek,  visiting the  Altona Park library and Guildford Grammar Preparatory school. I love speaking to kids about my books, and about the writing life and about reading in general.  I always come away more inspired than the kids, I think.

 Home again home again for another catch up with my family, and two days at my day job before I headed off again – back to Brisbane. This time I was attending the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. To my delight, Toppling won the Mary Ryan’s Award for the best children’s book. What an honour!

Another flight and I was back in Perth in time to attend the WA Premier’s Book Awards where Pearl Verses the World was shortlisted, though not the winner. I was happy just to be on such an outstanding list, with Margaret Wild and Freya Blackwood the deserving winners for Harry and Hopper.

Now I’m back at home, with loads of inspiration to keep doing what I do.Pprobably the best part about all these recent successes has been all the lovely feedback from so many different people. Family, friends,  writing colleagues, industry people, teachers, librarians, locals, complete strangers – all have been so wonderfully happy for me and with me. At times I have been quite teary by such demonstrations of all round niceness.  So, to those who have shared in my happiness – a huge thankyou.

And, if you are interested, here is what I said in accepting the Mary Ryan Award (except, because I spoke without notes, this is a slightly tidier version than the real thing).

Premier, Ladies and Gentlemen

Wow. I’m delighted. I’ve been writing and submitting for about twenty years and, like most writers I know, it’s been a tough journey to get my writing to publishable standard and to actually get published. But suddenly, in the past couple of years, it all seems to have come together.  Only 20 years to become an overnight success!

So I’d like to say to everyone else trying to balance day jobs with writing, or parenthood with writing, or struggling to stay focussed and positive in the face of rejection after rejection, that dreams can and do come true.

I’d like to thank my family back in WA, especially my husband and children – it isn’t easy living with a writer. Also, the two women to whom this book is dedicated – my sister and my sister-in-law who, like Dominic, have fought their own battles with cancer. My fellow writers, especially the children’s writing community, which is filled with supportive, lovely people. And Walker Books, who have shown such belief in me and in my stories. Of course, I’d like to thank the Premier and the Queensland Government for making this writer so very happy. An award like this is very affirming of what I’ve been trying to do.

Lastly, I’d like to remind every adult here tonight that children’s books are not just for kids. They are for the child inside each and every one of us.

Thank you.

What a Week!

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A couple of years ago I went through a period where I seriously contemplated giving up on writing as a career. I’d had books published, and was proud of that, but I had a very long spell of rejections, while the publisher of my first trade title went out of business, and the books I had had published didn’t seem to be selling.

What kept me going was a combination of the inability to give up (I write because I can’t not write), the support of a wonderful bunch of writer friends and my family, and pure stubbornness. I kept writing and submitting and learning, and eventually more acceptances came and things got back on track.

So why am I telling you all this now? Because I have just had an amazing week, a week I would not have had if I had given up on that dream.

Firstly, on Monday night, a little piece of fortuitous camera placement meant that Pearl Verses the World inadvertently appeared on the ABC News. The Prime Minister was interviewed in a school library and there, behind her, was a copy of my book. Although I missed seeing it, a writer friend saw it and let me know – and I was able to Google it and find this still image. It’s a little less clear here because it’s just one shot, but still way cool for me to see my book over the Prime Minister’s left shoulder.

On Tuesday, as I read the West Australian newspaper at breakfast time, I was surprised to see the cover of Toppling in the Ed Magazine (the schools supplement), and, below it, a lovely review, describing Toppling as ‘a verse novel which simply and movingly tells the story of a boy’s battle with cancer.’

On Wednesday came the announcement that Pearl Verses the World had won the Family Therapists’ Literary Award for Younger Readers. This is a lovely thing to win, with the judges saying: ‘Pearl draws on both previous experiences and generational insights to assist in the grieving process and to hone her self-reliance, which helps her negotiate peer relationships and school.’

And on Thursday, as if there wasn’t enough good news coming my way, the shortlists for the 2009 WA Premier’s Literary Awards were announced – and Pearl Verses the World is shortlisted in the Children’s Books category.

I’m not sure I’ll ever have another week with so much good news so close together, and that’s okay – because this week will keep me going for a long time. To all who have tweeted and emailed and messaged me on Facebook, or simply smiled as they’ve heard my news – thank you.

I’m glad I didn’t give up, not that I’m sure I really could have. Life is good.

A Lovely review

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It’s always nice to read a good review of one of my book-babies, so I just had to share this review which says, in part,: “This touching free-verse novel shares a wonderful story of friendship as a young boy deals with his friend’s serious illness.”

I’m smiling.

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Just a quick post this morning, as I don’t often blog between sending the Murphlets off to school and heading out the door to my day job. But my Google alerts led me to find a wonderful review of Toppling over at a site called MC Reviews and it brought such a huge smile to my face (and my heart) that I just had to share it. There is nothing nicer than when someone ‘gets’ your book baby.

Have a lovely Tuesday. I know I will.

http://sallymurphy.com.au/2010/04/172/

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