Storylines thanks Mike and his plesiosaur!

 

Storylines celebrates 40 years of children's literature!

Storylines held a celebratory afternoon tea in May to celebrate 40 years since the first Children's Literature Association was started 40 years ago.

Betty Gilderdale talked about the origins of the organisations and we welcomed Joan Brockett as a life member. There were many members present from the early days and a fine display was on show of some of the best books from the 40 years. Year books and photographs were also on show and everyone enjoyed the delicious afternoon tea - all based on food in children's books.

Happy 40th birthday!

The birthday cake

Storylines Notable Books List 2009
(for books published in 2008)

 

Betty Gilderdale Award 2008 goes to Tauranga


Lois Rout of Tauranga is the recipient of the 2008 Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award, given by the Storylines Children’s Literature Trust for outstanding community service to promote books and reading for children.
“As librarian and teacher for the Tauranga Public Library and Mount Maunganui Intermediate School, and founding member of Bookrapt, the Bay of Plenty Children’s Literature Association, Lois has worked tirelessly to support children's books and reading in the Bay of Plenty region,” says Storylines Trust chairperson Dr Libby Limbrick.

Previous winners include writers Dorothy Butler, Elsie Locke and Ron Bacon, literary agent Ray Richards and in 2007 Katerina Te Heikoko Mateira.

 

For more info: childlitnz@storylines.org.nz

 

 

 

 

 

Thirty-two young writers from all over New Zealand are enjoying the thrill of seeing their work in print,  with the publication of the 9^th edition of Re-Draft, entitled Fishing for Birds, in Christchurch this month.

The book is an annual publication by the Christchurch-based School for Young Writers, run by Dr Glyn Strange and results from a national competition open to all teenage writers.

‘There’s a wide range of authors aged between 13 and 19,’ says Dr Strange. ‘Other short story and poetry competitions offer cash prizes, but our prize is publication in a book which sells widely into schools and public libraries and places young people's achievements on permanent record.

‘As in previous years, some are committed young writers making a second or even third or fourth appearance, while others are complete newcomers tasting the thrill of publication for the first time.’

Re-Draft is now in its 9th year of publication, ‘and every year the choices become more difficult as the standard rises,’ says Dr Strange.

The judges for the 2009 edition were Christchurch writer James Norcliffe and Aucklander Tessa Duder.  

‘It’s a marvellous experience,’ says Ms Duder, ‘with so many promising voices, so much talent, and clearly, some inspired teaching in entries coming from both state and private schools.

‘The best are quite astonishing, showing a mature understanding of what makes a good short story and memorable poetry. I don’t doubt that down the track, some of them will contribute to the literary scene in significant ways.’

The School for Young Writers was founded by Dr Strange in 1993. From the beginning, the school went national, teaching by mail and email, drawing in many students from all over New Zealand, with a small number coming from offshore. The school also sends tutors out  to run workshops in schools and publishes a twice-yearly magazine, Write-On, which provides further and on-going opportunities for students and subscribers to be published. For further information, please contact 

Dr Glyn Strange

(03) 355 3588

Email: young.writers@xtra.co.nz

Website: www.schoolforyoungwriters.org

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International Kids' Lit Quiz Results

 

The international Kids' Lit Quiz final was held in South Africa in August. Results are as follows:

1st UK

2nd NZ

3rd South Africa (09 team)

4th South Africa (08 team)

5th China

6th South Africa (host school)

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Life members (l-r) Jo Noble, Frances Plumpton, Dorothy Butler, Joan Brockett, Betty Gilderdale, Sarah Metge 

 

 Natural history writer Andrew Crowe wins Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal 2009

Natural history writer and photographer Andrew Crowe is the first non-fiction writer to win the country’s top children’s literature prize, the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal.

The award, given annually for a distinguished contribution to New Zealand children’s literature, will be presented in Christchurch on 28 March.

“Andrew Crowe’s contribution to young New Zealanders’ knowledge of their country’s natural history has been unique and of long standing,” says Storylines Trust chairman, Dr Libby Limbrick. “His many books, both in design and content, are consistently attractive, informative and accessible to young and old alike.”

Emigrating from Britain in 1972, Andrew Crowe published his first field guide to native edible plants in 1981, following an experience of getting lost in the bush and deciding that through books he could show that New Zealand was for him ‘a very special place’.

He has since produced more than 40 titles about native fauna and flora, mostly as series popular with schools, trampers, tourists and natural history enthusiasts. These include the “Which…?” series, the Wild Stories series, Patterns in Nature series (also published in Maori), the Mini Guide, Life-size Guide and Nature Flip Guide series.

Regularly appearing on shortlists, he is a multiple winner of both New Zealand Post and LIANZA children’s non-fiction book awards and was a finalist in the 1998 GP Book Design awards, with The Life-Size Guide to Native Trees. Two books have also featured in the Montana shortlists - Which New Zealand Bird? in 2002 and Which New Zealand Insect? in 2003.

Other texts, artwork and photographs have appeared in the School Journal, the Listener and New Zealand Geographic magazines. His most recent successes have been the Ashton Wylie Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2005 for The Dalai Lama Story – the Making of a World Leader, written with a foreword by the Dalai Lama to coincide with His Holiness' visit to New Zealand in June 2007, and the 2008 New Zealand Post Non-fiction Award for Which New Zealand Spider?

Andrew Crowe lives in the Coromandel, when he is not away travelling through New Zealand, countries like Tibet or Nepal, or going sailing.

 Other winners of the Margaret Mahy Medal since 1991 have been novelists, among them Joy Cowley, Maurice Gee and William Taylor, picture book specialists such as Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop, and one publisher, Ann Mallinson.

 Andrew Crowe's Storylines Margaret Mahy Lecture on 28 March will be published by the Storylines Trust in the yearbook, available March 2010.