AGENCY NEWS
AGENCY NEWS
July August 2008
Congratulations to Gerald Murnane on receiving the 2008 Writers' Emeritus Award from The Australia Council for the Arts which was also awarded to Christopher Koch. Gerald also won a Special Prize in the 2007 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. A new edition of Tamarisk Row, Gerald's first novel, was published by Giramondo Publishing in February 2008 and launched by Carrie Tiffany at the 2008 Adelaide Writers' Week. Gerald’s Velvet Waters will be published by Albert Bonniers Ferlag in Swedish in the Northern Spring of 2008.
Wendy Orr is back in Australia after travelling in the USA during March and April 2008 to coincide with the premiere in LA of the Walden feature film based on her book Nim's Island. See www.myspace.com/nimsisland for the latest news on the movie. Jodie Foster plays reclusive author Alex Rover, Abigail Breslin is the feisty Nim and Gerard Butler is Nim's father. Filming took place at the Warner Roadshow studios on the Gold Coast, and on location at Hinchinbrook Island, North Queensland, Australia. Nim at Sea, written by Wendy Orr was published in Australia by Allen & Unwin in June 2007. A new edition of Nim's Island, first published in 1999, was also reprinted in June. Movie tie-in editions of the book have being published by Allen & Unwin in Australia and Random House in the USA in March 2008. It has also been published in Germany, Spain, Italy and Korea, with new editions in the UK, France, Brazil, Japan, the Netherlands, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Turkey and other countries to coincide with the screening of the Film around the world in 2008.
Curly and The Fent, by Sally Morgan, Ambelin, Blaze and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, was published by Random House Australia in July 2008. Sally (best selling author of My Place) has recently been doing a lot of writing for children and several projects she has undertaken with her children, Ambelin, Blaze and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, are in production. This is the first book in a new series full of imagination, mischief and adventure, perfect for boys aged 7 to 9.
See Danne Bates' latest book, Crossing the Line, published in August 2008 by Ford St. Dianne has authored over 90 books for young readers including the prize-winning The Last Refuge which sold into Europe. This is a moving and sensitive story dealing with the topic of self-harm, obsession and stalking. 'Drama, pathos, nail-biting stuff – this is Dianne Bates at her best,' Margaret Clark.
Watch out for Octavius O'Malley And The Mystery Of The Criminal Cats, by Alan Sunderland, which will be published by HarperCollins Australia in September 2008. This is the third book in the Octavius O'Malley Mystery Series and follows Octavius O'Malley And The Mystery Of The Exploding Cheese (2007 APA (Australian Publishers Association) award for Best Designed Children's Fiction) and Octavius O'Malley And The Mystery Of The Missing Mouse. Praise for this series includes, 'Compusive reading' from Magpies and 'Gripping, warm, thrilling and suspenseful' from Reading Time.
Allan Nixon's, latest book The Outbackers, published this year by ABC Books is now available in all good book stores.
100% Wolf, by Jayne Lyons, was published by Random House Australia in January 2008 and rights for the USA and Italian markets have already been sold. Freddy Lupin is from a noble family of werewolves. But his first Transwolfation is a disaster when Freddy turns into a yapping poodle instead of a ferocious werewolf. Now his snooty Uncle Hotspur will hate him even more. Just when Freddy thinks life can't get any worse, he's thrown into dog prison. Will he and his new streetwise dog friend, Batty, escape? Who is the sinister man following their every move? Can Freddy prove that he is still 100 percent wolf and save the werwolf pack from disaster? This is a fun story for 8 to 12 year olds that will have boys and girls laughing out loud. A sequel to 100% Wolf will be published by Random House in Australia in 2009. Jayne is currently also working on an adult novel.
A new book on copyright by Colin Golvan, was published by Federation Press in late 2007. Peter Rose, Editor, Australian Book Review said, 'Copyright is rather like poetry in one respect: definitions and true understanding are often nebulous. Anything that demystifies copyright is wholly welcome, and Colin Golvan SC is well equipped to clarify matters. This important new book will be useful for anyone involved in literary or artistic production, as it will be for the legal profession itself.' For reviews see the Federation Press web site at www.federationpress.
Macmillan in Spain have published a series of books by Gordon Reece, about Pepe, a Spanish boy who visits England and introduces young Spanish readers to the English Language.
GOLVAN ARTS MANAGEMENT • PO Box 766, Kew, Victoria 3101 Australia • golvan@ozemail.com.au