tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17245055546136604712012-02-28T12:48:03.516+08:00An eclectic blog that gives news about fiction books and reading in all forms and genres but perhaps with a bias towards publishing for children and young adultsJudiJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02288121862862887118noreply@blogger.comBlogger550125SlightlyAddictedToFictionhttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724505554613660471.post-39294837052415557642012-02-20T10:20:00.000+08:002012-02-20T10:20:00.786+08:002012-02-20T10:20:00.786+08:00

Not on the website yet, but according to this very reliable source the short lists have been announced for the 2012 Australian Publishers' Association.  The best designed cover for 'children's' books will be selected from: Alaska (Sue Saliba, Penguin), designed by Allison Colpoys August (Bernard Beckett, Text), cover design by WH Chong and internal design by Susan Miller Ben &

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Today, at the official launch of the National Year of Reading, the one book that has been voted most representative of its state or territory was announced and here in WA it was Craig Silvey's Jasper Jones. The six WA titles were all strong, but Jasper Jones has won through. Craig Silvey has had such success with this book, award upon award, and now this accolade from his readers. The other

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As with its big sibling the Tournament of Books, it's almost time for the Battle of the Kids' Books, hosted by School Library Journal. Meanjin has picked up an Aussie version of ToB, and I do wish we could have an Australian BoB. Round One for BoB commences on 13 March. Books in contention in 2012 are: Match 1 (March 13): Amelia Lost vs Anya's Ghost* Match 2 (March 14): Between Shades of

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Often a hallmark of, but not exclusive to, YA fiction is the first person narrator. Here, Kathryn Erskine, author of the National Book Award winner Mockingbird*, chooses her best ten examples. You'll need to visit the site for her rationales, but here are the ten with their Australian publishers where available: The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (Pan Macmillan Australia) Catherine, Called Birdy -

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I am sure that I also read Jules Verne, but the SF novels of my youth that persist in the memory are those of John Christopher who passed away yesterday at the age of 89. I didn't know that his name was Samuel Youd, nor that John Christopher was just one of a number of noms de plume. The Tripods trilogy, The Midwich Cuckoos, The Day of the Triffids ... memorable John Christopher storylines* that

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The literary awards held in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival are announced every two years, although whether this will change when the Festival becomes an annual event, I'm not sure. But 2012 is an even numbered year, which means Festival and Literary Awards are both imminent. The official site has not yet caught up, but Twitter (thanks @_boobook_) reveals shortlists in two categories :

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Best British children's book, that is, and the kids get to decide. Viewers of the children's TV programme Blue Peter can vote which book they think is the book of the decade, choosing from this list: Alex Rider Mission 3: Skeleton Key - Anthony Horowitz (2002) The Series Of Unfortunate Events: Austere Academy - Lemony Snicket (2002) Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix - J K Rowling (2003)

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Over at The Guardian James Dawson, a debut YA novelist (Hollow Pike, here with Hachette at the end of the month), has proposed ten - actually, 11 - essential titles that will help young people 'keep their head up when the going gets tough'. What do you think? You'll need to visit the website to read his rationale for each of these titles: There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (Louis Sachar) -

JudiJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02288121862862887118noreply@blogger.com0http://slightlyaddictedtofiction.blogspot.com/2012/02/books-to-make-high-school-just-that-bit.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724505554613660471.post-9157002014181325542012-02-02T10:25:00.000+08:002012-02-02T10:25:06.432+08:002012-02-02T10:25:06.432+08:00

There have been a few awards announcements recently, so time to catch up. The biennial list of outstanding international books from the US arm of IBBY - USBBY - has been released and there are a few Australians to congratulate: Deborah Abela - The Ghosts of Gribbleside Pier, published here by Random House Australia as The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen Gabrielle Wang - The Garden of

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Among the many awards announced at the ALA ceremony earlier this week, were the Alex Awards, ten books written for adults that have teen appeal. The books that made the 2011 list were (with Australian publication details where available): Big Girl Small - Rachel DeWoskin (Text Publishing) In Zanesville -  Jo Ann Beard (Hachette Australia)  The Lover’s Dictionary - by David Levithan (Text

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We know that Hugo is doing well in the Oscar nominations (based on that book, how could it not) but what about this little gem? The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore has been nominated in the Best Animated Short category, which happens to be one close to many Australians' hearts. Let's hope this 15 minutes of whimsy does equally as well as The Lost Thing. The Fantastic Flying Books

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Today marks Australia Day - a time of celebration, mourning and unfortunately at times unsavoury jingoism. The day serves to forge some sort of national identity, but Anzac Day is taking on that role more and more; and the mourning? Well, for Indigenous people there is little to celebrate today, although the Australia Day organisers do acknowledge the difficulties of making this day inclusive.

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Speaking of awards, Independent Booksellers have announced their Indie awards short lists for the year, winners of which will be known on 10 March: Fiction Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks (HarperCollins Australia) The Street Sweeper -  Elliot Perlman  (Random House Australia) Foal's Bread - Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin) Five Bells - Gail Jones (Random House Australia) Nonfiction Worse

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The British Science Fiction Association has announced finalists in their 2011 awards. The winners will be announced at Eastercon to be held in London during April. Shortlisted titles in all categories can be viewed here, but listed are the novels, with local publishing information provided where available. Best Novel Cyber Circus -  Kim Lakin-Smith (Newcon Press)* Embassytown -  China Miéville

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The Costa Book Award for 2012 has been won by Andrew Miller for Pure, which is published here by Hachette Australia. There has been speculation that the prize (formerly the Whitbread) might go to a poetry title for the third consecutive year, as the Poet Laureate's acclaimed title The Bees (Pan Macmillan Australia) was the bookies' fancy. But in the end, fiction prevailed. Historical fiction at

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The good thing about Twitter news? It's up to-the-second. The bad? Things can slip under your radar, especially when book titles have been disguised. In all the excitement about Jasper Jones in last night's speedy post I totally missed that another Australian was a Printz honoree. Had Christine Hinwood's book been mentioned under its Australian title Bloodflower, I'd have twigged immediately. But

JudiJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02288121862862887118noreply@blogger.com0http://slightlyaddictedtofiction.blogspot.com/2012/01/printz-newbery-caldecott-and-more.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724505554613660471.post-91444686947297712432012-01-23T22:55:00.005+08:002012-01-24T08:17:22.317+08:002012-01-24T08:17:22.317+08:00

Late January sees the announcement of some major children's and young adult literature awards in the US. The Michael L.Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature is a prestigious award in which Australians have previously done extremely well*. 2012 continues the pattern, with Craig Silvey's Jasper Jones being named a Printz Honor Book tonight. Neither this nor an earlier Australian

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Waterstones, the newly de-apostrophised British bookstore, has announced 11 writerly names to watch, and eight of them are women. The writers and their debut books, with Australian publishing information where available, are: Jenni Fagan - The Panopticon* Patrick Falnery - Absolution* Frances Greenslade - Shelter (Hachette Australia) Chad Harbach - The Art of Fielding (HarperCollins Australia)

JudiJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02288121862862887118noreply@blogger.com0http://slightlyaddictedtofiction.blogspot.com/2012/01/watching-brief.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1724505554613660471.post-26812445333763210172012-01-20T16:03:00.000+08:002012-01-20T16:03:24.351+08:002012-01-20T16:03:24.351+08:00

The full program for the 2012 Perth Writers Festival has been announced and can be viewed here.  PWF will be held slightly earlier than usual this year, a week before the long weekend that it usually coincides with. This year the dates are Thursday 23 - Sunday 26 February, and there is the usual mix of free and fee sessions, plus Schools Day on the Thursday and Family Day on the Sunday. Among

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PaperTigers has announced its 2012 Read the World Challenge, so if you are looking to broaden your reading boundaries, this could be a good place to start. Here's the deal: 1. Read a total of seven books. 2. Choose six books from/about/by or illustrated by someone from different countries anywhere in the world, three of which must be in different continents, and at least one of which must be

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Although the lengthy Sunday links of last year are no more, from time to time there are bound to be articles which deserve more attention than a notification to Twitter can offer. In the Huffington Post this week, Assistant Books Editor Madeleine Crum discusses whether 'literary' and 'genre' are mutually exclusive: Genre has become a touchy subject. It indicates a book's place in the market, how

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Will it be Murakami, Barnes, deWitt, DeWitt, Patchett or Obrecht? Or someone else altogether? We won't know for a while who (or rather, which book) will win the 2012 Tournament of Books, but we'll have a lot of fun along the way. Every March, The Morning News runs the head-to-head battle that leaves just one book standing. It's a far cry from the seriousness of the judges' chamber in any real

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If you are one of the few who has not yet seen this delightful video of books after dark made by Toronto Indy bookstore Type, enjoy it now. It's an ad for their store, but it's so much more:

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Seven shortlisted titles for the Man Asian Literary Prize have been announced this evening and Haruki Murakami has not made the cut: Amil Ahmad (Pakistan) – The Wandering Falcon (Penguin Books Australia)\ Jahnavi Barua (India) – Rebirth* (Penguin India/Penguin Books) Rahul Bhattacharya (India) - The Sly Company of People Who Care (Pan Macmillan Australia) Amitav Ghosh (India) - River of

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Most people have young children that they love to purchase books for. Phil Nel, over at Nine Kinds of Pie, has an eight-month-old niece, Emily, and he is in the process of creating the perfect library for her. More than that, he is sharing the titles of the books that he feels should be in Emily's Library. What a wonderful gift for Emily. What a wonderful gift for the rest of us. See the first

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