A REUNION between two literary collaborators will be the highlight of the New England’s first literature festival for children and young adults held in Armidale and Uralla from 14-18 August.
The program will feature creativity-stimulating workshops, school visits, book launches and panel discussions.
Friends and collaborators for more than 20 years, acclaimed novelist Isobelle Carmody and award-winning illustrator Anne Spudvilas are looking forward to catching up with each other.
Anne’s first break into publishing came after meeting Isobelle at a 40th birthday dinner for a mutual friend in 1991.
“She asked me to do a cover for The Gathering for her to present to her publisher,” Anne said.
“They used it and that was the beginning of my career in children’s publishing after years of graphic design and exhibiting paintings. Isobelle and I have been friends ever since and have published two books together- The Red Shoes in 1997 and Night School in 2009.”
Anne – who is also an established portrait painter and courtroom artist – has illustrated 11 picture books for authors such as Gary Crew, Christobel Mattingley, Nette Hilton and Margaret Wild.
She said a highlight of her career was working with Mao’s Last Dancer author Li Cunxin on the children’s version of his best-selling autobiography, The Peasant Prince.
Although she has written many award-winning novels, Isobelle Carmody is perhaps best known for the young adult fantasy series – The Obernewtyn Chronicles – that she began as a 14-year-old, after her father died in a car crash.
“At 14, for me, writing was a way of surviving and a way to think about and try to make sense of the world and my place in it,” she said.
“I wrote Obernewtyn right through high school and right through university and into the start of a journalism cadetship.
“It was my editor who asked me one day, after seeing a story I had written on the back of letterhead paper during a slow night, if I had ever thought of trying to get published,” she said,
“Within a year I had quit my job as a journalist and sent it off. The first publisher I sent it to accepted it.”
The Booked in! Children’s and Young Adults’ Literature festival includes workshops by Isobelle Carmody (Real Fantasy, Sunday 18 August, 10am-1pm) and Anne Spudvilas (Creating a Picture Book, Saturday 17 August, 9.30-12.30), as well as events featuring local writers and illustrators.
For the full program, see http://newc.org.au/program/events/Booked-In.htm
