How to Find Posts that Interest You

It is seven weeks since this site went live and there's a lot of material here already - 51 posts and 25 guest authors. Lots of books to read and lots of ideas to consider.  So I thought it might be helpful to list the featured author posts here and provide an overview of the topics covered:

Kids' Lit Quiz

In his Welcome post, Wayne Mills provides an overview of the Kids' Lit Quiz competition over the last 22 years.

South Africa, 2013: Marj Brown outlines the program at the Kids' Lit Quiz World Final in Durban, South Africa in July and introduces us to a number of South African authors who write children's and young adult fiction.

In Lucky, Nicole Deans takes us through the (short but glorious) history of the Kids' Lit Quiz competition in Australia - how far we've come in just two years!

Anyone who'd like to find out more about the Kids' Lit Quiz should read these posts. 

Film, Television and Plays

In Nowhere Boys C.S. McMullen compares the process of making a TV series with that of writing a book and gave us an insight into a new TV series for kids.

From Finnish to Navajo: Alexa Moses looks at the differences between writing for film and television and writing books.  It is interesting to consider what works in one medium doesn't necessarily translate well to the other. 

Telling Stories: Fraser Corfield, artistic director of the ATYP, talks about the differences between reading play scripts and reading books. Fraser lists his top 5 adaptations of books to plays.
   
Travel and Place

Meeting Hazel Edwards: Hazel Edwards takes us along on some of her research trips including one to the Antarctica, observing that,  "when things go wrong it's called research".  

Kids love Stories - and Dogs!: Meredith Costain shares her writing trip to the Pilbara region in north-west WA and the stories she created with the children of the Warralong community. 

5 Reasons I Love Canberra: Imogen Saunders tells us about her 5 favourite things about Canberra (home of the 2013 Australian team) and invites you to comment on what you like best about where you live.
   
Memories and Reflections

E-books v Real Books: Justin Garrick compares the experience of reading e-books with paper books.
  
Bush Bash:  Nette Hilton tells us about the books she loved as a girl growing up in the Australian bush and introduces some classic Australian children's books.

Why Eating Books is not a Good Idea: Jackie French on the influence of books in her life.  

My Shelf of Memories: A peek at Bernadette Kelly's bookshelf and the memories evoked by Bernadette's books.

Boy Soldier: David Mussared reflects on his grandfather's wartime experience during World War I.  

Animals

Anthony Eaton puts dog lovers through an emotional wringer in his post on "On Killing Your Characters" .

My Favourite Illustrated Book: Mice, cats, pigs and dogs feature in Adrienne Doig's review of Maus, her favourite graphic book, raising interesting discussion points on both children's literature dealing with the Holocaust and on the artform of graphic novels.

In Dogs, Fish, Cats Steven Miller looks at the lessons we can learn from our animal friends, both fictitious and real.  Who knew that fish have exquisite manners?

In Books About Guinea Pigs, Ursula Dubosarsky tells us how guinea pigs stole her heart and crept into her books.

On Being a Writer

Why I Love the Baddies: Jacqueline Harvey shows us how important bad guys are to many, many stories we love. 

Why Writers are like Superheroes: Simon Mitchell's take on reading and writing superpowers.

Making Book Trailers: Tristan Bancks gives us his 5 top tips for making book trailers, shows us book trailers he's made and a couple of his favourite ones of books you may know. 

So You Want to be a Writer: Georgia Blain gives aspiring writers some useful tips. 

Writing Stories - are you a real life thief?: Charlotte Calder provides an insight into how authors use real life experiences in their work. 

In Beware of the Cliff(hanger)! Deborah Abela writes about her love of cliffhanger endings.

The Worlds of Fantasy: Paul Collins details the mythic journey that forms the underlying structure of most successful fantasy novels.  Originally built as a workshop for writers, Paul reworked his 12 point structure to include texts which are familiar to most of us.

Of course, all the posts are about books and reading in one way or another.  So, if you're interested in books, I encourage you to read them all - in any order you choose.  And to leave a comment if you wish.  If enough people comment we'll have a discussion or two on our hands.

Happy reading everyone!