Reading Matters

27 May, 2007

So much has happened over the past few days I don’t know where to begin and frankly I’m too knackered right now to go into any detail. The Reading Matters conference was amazing. Lili and Mike did the most incredible job bringing together writers, publishers and librarians from all over. My head is still buzzing with it all.

There were several incredible moments of the conference. The three I can’t stop thinking about are David Levithan’s call to arms to Australian publishers and librarians to do more to support and produce young adult literature about, for, and by gays and lesbians; Margo Lanagan’s fascinating thoughts about what you can and can’t write about in our genre illustrated by examples from her new novel which I CANNOT WAIT TO READ; and Jacqueline Wilson’s keynote presentation about her career and new autobiography. She and David both made me tear up.

I want to sit down and write ten new novels. Sadly what I have to do is loads and loads of laundry. Ah, the glamorous life.

Thanks so much for all the comments everyone’s been leaving here. Sorry that I’ve had no internet access or time to respond. I do read every single comment and when I’m in one place for more than ten minutes I even try to respond to them. Normal transmission should resume in the next few days. It’s been a crazy hectic few months.

PS Apparently the debate went well. It was a draw.

14 comments

  1. Elmo on #

    First comment. I feel special.

    Wow, the Reading Matters conference sounds amazing! I wish I was there. Hear, hear David levithian!

    Have fun doing the laundry.

  2. Andrew on #

    Justine – what were you doing up at 1.49 am blogging. Surely time to go to bed. Lili and Mike did a great job, and David, Scott (and you) were terrific contributors (no, sorry, better than that – definers of the debate…)

    Thanks…

    A

  3. Justine on #

    Elmo: David was amazing.

    Andrew: Actually the blog’s still running on NYC time. I blogged at 3:49PM. Much more reasonable! And thanks for the props.

    Lili and Mike fill me with awe. I don’t know how they do what they do.

  4. Gabrielle on #

    Isn’t it amazing to talk (and debate) with other writers? Sadly, my godmother apparently thinks I need a feather (literally!) and a bottle o’ ink to write, because that’s what she got me for my birthday. Sigh.

  5. Gabrielle on #

    Oh, and Justine, I just finished Magic’s Child yesterday night! I had trouble finding it and I ended up ordering it at the Barnes & Noble. Amazing. You are amazing.

  6. Rebecca on #

    gabrielle! hi. 😀

    i heard something somewhere about a podcast of this debate. is there a podcast? or is this just a big rumor? i hope it’s not a rumor. 😀 😀

  7. jonathan on #

    The podcast will go up on insideadog.com.au sometime. hopefully soon. I suspect lili might chime in with some more info

  8. lili on #

    *chime*

    it might be a week or so before the podcast happens – it all depends on when the sound guy sends me the raw file, and how much cleaning up it needs. but it will arrive! on http://www.insideadog.com.au, in the ‘downloads’ section.

  9. sjh on #

    Hey Justine, it was great to talk to you at Reading Matters. The whole conference was *amazing* – I’m still kind of incoherent with the awesomeness of it all.

    Hope you have a fabulous time at BEA!

  10. Rebecca on #

    i am jealous of all the people going to book expo and ala. i hope they’re as amazing as they sound! 😀

    and thanks for the podcast info, lili and jonathan. 🙂

  12. Justine on #

    Gabrielle: Thanks so much! I’m so pleased you liked Magic’s Child. And, yes, insideadog is a fabulous site. Me and Scott will be blogging there in July.

    Jonathan & Lili: Thanks for the podcast info. Though, to be honest, I’m not sure I could stand to listen to it. I hates the sound of my own voice. Eeek!

    SJH: Great to talk to you too. The whole conference was *amazing* – I’m still kind of incoherent with the awesomeness of it all.

    I feel exactly the same way. I wish it had gone on for several more days. But maybe we would have died from being so over stimulated. That or exhaustion!

    Rebecca: I wish I was going to ALA too. I had a fabbie time there last year.

  13. Rebecca on #

    i’m so hooked on book conferences now. from february through april i met more writers and librarians than i had in my entire life. *sigh* for a brief time, i was surrounded by people who understood me…. lol 😉

    “insideadog is a fabulous site. Me and Scott will be blogging there in July.”

    yay!! that’s awesome. i just started exploring that site today b/c of jonathan’s and lili’s linking it. it looks so cool. 😀

  14. jnw on #

    hanging out with the ya community at reading matters – moving. inspiring. wonderful. affirming. indeed glorious. and a little bit exhausto. love it.

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