For children: after-school creative writing classses

Brainbunny has been running fun and friendly creative writing classes for children since 2011. Tutors Helen Fletcher (a WCBA member) and Mary Dennis are writers who are passionate about their craft, and about sharing it with kids.

If you have a budding writer in your life, visit Brainbunny at http://www.brainbunny.co.nz/ for information about their term 3 classes.

Congratulations Sabrina!

In WCBA-member-success news ... Sabrina Malcolm has been shortlisted not once, but twice for the Storylines Joy Cowley Award.

Full shortlists for Storylines Awards are available at the Storylines website.

Hometime by Holly Gooch

Congratulations to WCBA member and highly regarded storyteller Holly Gooch!

She has released a new book, Hometime. It contains some of her most popular stories, along with beautiful artwork by Alice Moore.

Find out more here.

Jack Lasenby Award 2012 Winner

It was with great pleasure that we announced the winner of the Jack Lasenby Writing Award at our annual Christmas Quiz night.

Unfortunately our winner wasn’t there so we had to wait until this week to catch up with her and hand over the plaque and the winners cheque.

Congratulations Linda Bremford!

This year Judge David Hill had a runner up, Liesbeth Visser.

Well done to all who entered.

David Hill was impressed with the standard of entries and that augers well for the continuation of the competition.

Click on over to the Jack Lasenby page to read David Hill’s Judges Report.

Next year it will be Junior Year for the Intermediate age group.

The annual WCBA Christmas Quiz is turning into quite an event for the Wellington Children’s Literature community. It is our annual office Christmas party...with close to 50 people battling it out for team honours.

This year John McIntyre was the quiz master...and there was hot competition among all the teams. The craft challenge interlude at half time was dress a figure from the Hobbit...courtesy of our design dynamo Fifi Colston who worked on The Hobbit film.

In a first for the Quiz...we had to have a tiebreaker to decide the winner!

If you get some Christmas money this year and you are thinking of a writerly kind of gift...look around for a writing course or a writing retreat to go on.

or start saving towards going to the next New Zealand Children’s Writers and Illustrators conference, which will be held in Christchurch 2013 Queens Birthday Weekend.

Registrations will be open early next year according to Gavin Bishop who is the leader of the conference team. (We'll let you know when.)

The Wellington Children’s Literature Association wishes you a safe and Happy Christmas.

Best wishes for a writerly New Year in 2013.

Maureen Crisp

Convenor

New Residency Announcement for Children's Writers and Illustrators

Wellington Children’s Book Association (WCBA) Inc

New Pacific Studio Working Residency

Illustrators and Writers for Children:

You are invited to apply for a free, seven-day residency at New Pacific Studio, Mt Bruce, Wairarapa, funded by the Wellington Children’s Book Association (WCBA) Inc. The WCBA will also offer a stipend of $300 to cover travel and food costs.

New Pacific Studio, a beautifully restored 1912 villa, is located on a 5-acre property on State Highway 2, just 1 km north of the Mt Bruce National Wildlife Centre, 5 minutes south of Eketahuna and 20 minutes north of Masterton. This is the perfect location to forget everything else you HAVE to do and just get on with the work in progress with no interruptions. 

The residency is self-catering in a communal farmhouse kitchen, with a resident director and at the time this residency is being offered, two Danish artists will also be in residency: a children's book illustrator and a writer. The working spaces in the villa are quiet and private with broadband. There is free pick up from Masterton railway station.

Rules:

Applicants must:

• Reside in the Greater Wellington region
• Be over 18
• Be a current member of The Wellington Children’s Book Association
• Have a minimum of one published work (in a recognised trade or educational publication for children eg: School Journal) or a Writing Award.
• Be available to take the week offered (either 22nd- 28th October or 29th October-4th November 2012)

Applicants are invited to send their Writing/Illustration CV along with either -

• (Writers) Up to 10 pages of a work in progress or previously published work.
• (Illustrators) Colour copies of two illustrations from a work in progress or previously published work.

Please include your name, address, phone, and email contact details in your covering letter and state what you hope to get out of the residency.

Entry deadline:

Please submit your covering letter, CV and sample pages by 24th August 2012 to

NPS Residency

Wellington Children’s Book Association

P O Box 1242

Wellington

The Judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

The successful applicant will be personally notified and may be asked to participate in media publicity.

(Note: Wellington Children’s Book Association committee members and their immediate families are ineligible to enter.)

For more details about the WCBA see:

http://www.the-wcba.blogspot.co.nz/

For more details about New Pacific Studio see:

http://www.newpacificstudio.org/home/home.html

Margaret Mahy Nationwide Read - 11 August

Children's literature enthusiasts around the country are participating in this wonderful tribute on 11 August. See:

http://mmnationwide.blogspot.co.nz/

Coming up …

The Wellington Children’s Book Association Inc. 

Annual General Meeting

When: 7pm,  Tuesday 24 July 2012

Where: Turnbull House, 
Bowen Street, Wellington

Followed by panel discussion:  Publishing – I’ll do it myself!

Johanna Knox (The Flytrap Snaps), Gay Hay (Fantail’s Quilt), and Kevin Boon (Kezia) talk about their successful self-publishing journeys: how they did it, what worked for them, and what they learned along the way.
Chaired by author and WCBA convenor Maureen Crisp.

Entry: Free
Wine and nibbles provided.

All welcome - members, non-members, and prospective members!

Congratulations ...

This is a belated congratulations to the shortlisted writers and illustrators in the LIANZA Children's Book Awards announced last month! 

The WCBA is very well represented by members including: Jack Lasenby (also our patron), David Hair, Fleur Beale, Barbara Else, Johanna Knox & Sabrina Malcolm, Gay Hay & Margaret Tolland, Moira Wairama, and Juliette MacIver.

The full list of finalists - and more info -  is here at the LIANZA site.  The winners will be announced on Monday August 6 at Caffe L'affare.

The Nature of Ash launch

You are warmly invited to the launch of Mandy Hager's new novel, The Nature of Ash,

When: Thursday 14 June @ 6pm

Where: The Children's Bookshop, Kilbirnie Plaza, Kilbirnie

Ash McCarthy thought he finally had it made: away from home and all its claustrophobic responsibilities, he's revelling in the freedom of student hostel life. But life is about to take a devastating turn, when two police officers knock on his door. Their life-changing news forces him to return home to his Down Syndrome brother Mikey, and impels him into a shady world of political intrigue, corruption, terrorism and lies ...so many lies. As if this isn't bad enough, the whole country is imploding, as the world's two greatest super-powers start a fight that leaves New Zealand 'piggy-in-the-middle' of their deadly games. While trying to protect Mikey, along with strangers Travis and Jiao, his fight to uncover the truth turns into a nightmare race to save their lives and stop the destruction of all the principles he holds dear. 'The Nature of Ash' is a fast-paced thriller that also explores love and loss, assumptions and prejudices, truth and fiction, and the many faces of 'family'.

Little Witch launch for children

Congratulations to WCBA member Juliette MacIver on the publication of 'Little Witch' (Walker Books). This delightful chapter book for younger readers is launching today (Saturday 26 May)!

You and your children are welcome to come along at 2pm to the Titahi Community Chapel, 25 Mana Ave, Titahi Bay, where there will be delicious food and Juliette will give a children's reading.

Books are $14 and no eftpos is available, so if you would like a signed copy, coinage is required. 

Congratulations Jack Lasenby, Barbara Else, and all!

Those of us who went along had a great time at the NZ Post Children's Book Awards last night. NZ Post and Booksellers NZ know how to throw a party!

We're thrilled that WCBA Patron Jack Lasenby won the Young Adult Fiction award for his book Calling The Gods (HarperCollins).

We are also delighted for WCBA member Barbara Else, who took home an honour award for The Travelling Restaurant (Gecko Press).

Other Wellingtonians who did the region proud last night include Chris Szekely who won the top award in the picture book category for Rahui (published by Huia, with illustrations by Malcolm Ross who passed away some years ago), and Ant Sang who won an honour award for Shaolin Burning (HarperCollins).


It's also wonderful to see the Wellington publishers doing well in the awards - Huia and Gecko.

Congratulations to all winners and finalists, here in Wellington and around the country!

See the Booksellers press release here.

Panel Discussion: Children, Grief and Literature

The Museum of City and Sea is hosting a fascinating and important free panel discussion, as part of the 'Death and Diversity' programme of events.

The discussion, chaired by John McIntyre of the Children's Bookshop, aims to explore how to guide children through dealing with grief, funerals, and bereavement, with a strong emphasis on the value of literature.

Panelists: Tricia Irving-Hendry (Skylight);  Alex Collins (Editor, Learning Media); Chris Szekely (author of Rahui); Mandy Hager (author of Tom’s Story).

When: 
Sunday April 22 @ 2pm

Where: 
The Museum of City and Sea,
3 Jervois Quay,
Queen's Wharf, Wellington

Free entry.

More information:
http://www.cablecarmuseum.co.nz/assets/PDFs/Media-Releases/2012/DD-events-April.pdf

Congratulations ...

... to WCBA committee member Sabrina Malcolm, who has been shortlisted for the Joy Cowley Award. Wonderful news!

You're invited to The Red Poppy launch

Come and meet author David Hill, illustrator Fifi Colston, and charming dog model Molly (who will be available for pats and photo opportunities).

Wednesday 14 March, 6pm, at The Children's Bookshop in Kilbirnie.

All ages welcome!

RSVP The Children's Bookshop: 04 387 3905 or childbkwgtn@xtra.co.nz 

(Click on the invitation to enlarge.)

Blood of the Lamb trilogy to be published in the US

Congratulations to WCBA member Mandy Hager on selling the rights to her Blood of the Lamb trilogy to Pyr - an exciting fantasy and science fiction imprint of Prometheus Books.

You can read more at Mandy's blog.

We wish Mandy all the best as her books sally forth to win over US audiences!

2012 NZ Post Book Awards finalists announced

Congratulations to all finalists, including the strong Wellington contingent.  See the Booksellers NZ website for the full list.

Discover the world of paper engineering (from 'The Titanic' to 'Spot')

Congratulations Fleur!

Wellington writer (And WCBA star!) Fleur Beale has won the 2012 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal for her outstanding contribution to New Zealand writing for children and young adults.

The award, given annually by the Storylines Children's Literature Trust, is New Zealand's top award for achievement in children's literature.

Read more here.

Aunt Kelly's Dog

Congratulations to WCBA member Helen Vivienne Fletcher on the publication of her book 'Aunt Kelly's Dog' as an App.


It's getting good reviews in places like this and this.

True Stories Told Live