Garth Nix, interviewed by various readers of The Times, who bowl him a mixture of long-hops and googlies. No registration required. We learn that NIx is very behind schedule with Drowned Wednesday, the third book in The Keys To The Kingdom series.
Highly recommended
The Blogosphere - an essay by Sophia Masson, published in the Junie issue of Quadrant, an Australian review periodical, and now available online.
Seeking the child inside - Books - www.theage.com.au
"Children's author Morris Gleitzman wants to reach the indignant 11-year-old in all of us, writes Jane Sullivan."
Highly Recommended - long biographical feature about Morris Gleitzman
The Australian: Vanstone attacks children's author [July 03, 2004]
IMMIGRATION Minister Amanda Vanstone has attacked popular children's author Morris Gleitzman accusing him of using his books as political propaganda... ...
The Australian: The dragon slayers [July 03, 2004]
Highly recommended Australian feature article about the relative merits of fantasy and 'reality' writing, with comments from the likes of John Marsden, but I particularly enjoyed this:
"I think it's pretty infantile stuff, generally, and I think most kids'll grow out of it," says Phillip Gwynne, the award-winning author of Deadly Unna? (made into the controversial movie Australian Rules), its sequel Nukkin Ya and his latest, the very funny Jetty Rats, about children, families and fishing at the fictitious town of Dogleg Bay. "Even the good [fantasy], when I read it, seems bad," says Gwynne. "And the bad stuff sounds like pages and pages of vomit. My main problem with it is that it exists in a social vacuum. We live in a world that's rapidly going down the shithole and my duty as a writer is to make sense of that world. But with the fantasy writers, every story is a battle between good and evil, with no specifics at all. "I'm always glad to see kids reading and I desperately want them to read, especially boys, but I think they'd be far more socially engaged if they spent their time watching South Park and The Simpsons."
