On an autumny Saturday morning I
went to Storyline’s Margaret Mahy Day in Auckland.
Storylines works really hard for
children in New Zealand. I took my girls to the Auckland Family Day for years
and came away feeling inspired .. full of talk, stories and books.
Here are my highlights from
Saturday (apart from catching up with all the writers, librarians, Storylines
people and fans of children’s books!)
1. There is always an
awards part and I was delighted to see Jenny
Hessell, the author of the fabulous Grandma McGarvey books, got the Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book.
When Jenny made her
‘thank-you’ speech, she said she woke up with the first two lines of Grandma
McGarvey in her head, and that it was like a gift. And then she went on the big
Grandma McGarvey adventure. The books are all illustrated by Trevor Pye.
See Scholastic page about news here.
2. Emma Vere-Jones was awarded the Joy Cowley Award for a Picture Book. The book will
be published by Scholastic. Her book is called Stan
and the Van.
I loved Emma’s speech. She
thanked her parents for ‘giving me the gift of reading,
it is truly a great gift.’ She also admired teachers that help children find
books they are really passionate about.
3. There was the launch of
last year’s Tom Fitzgibbon Award Winner, Juliet
Jacka‘s book Night of the Perigee
Moon. It is a novel about a 13 year old.
In her speech she said she
gets easily distracted — but that when you get past the distraction you transform
yourself into what you want to be. Here is Juliet with the fabulous Fleur Beale
(lots of writers made special trips to be part of the occasion!).
4. Terrific news! Tessa
Duder announced that thanks to the Walker
Books Australia, The
Tessa Duder Award for a YA novel would be run again.
Entries have to be in by October. .
For photographs and rest of post: http://nzpoetrybox.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/the-margaret-mahy-day-at-storylines-a-splendid-morning-all-round/
Paula Green, PO Box 95078,
Swanson, Waitakere 0653 Auckland
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