Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

This coming weekend, I will be off to Western Australia for an AWESOME time, thanks to an invitation from Writing WA.

A few months back, National Arts Council contacted me to say that Writing WA had requested for me to attend their AWESOME International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things as their Singapore guest author. Was I interested?

“Awesome!”I cried and immediately burst out into the Lego Movie Song. Okay, I didn’t sing that out loud but the song is seriously stuck in my head.

I’m looking forward to my week of giving book talks and readings at the AWESOME Festival, recognised as one of the top 25 events in the world for young people.

I also hope that the blue skies and fresh air will spark some good writing moments in this hazy writing year, where  community commitments have taken priority.

Getting ready to Fly Over to Down Under…

Jair Hernandez, one of the founders of Bab’l Books, is using his Harvard Business School degree to fill a need: bilingual children’s books for bilingual families, in both eBook and print formats. Bab’l Books was recently chosen for LearnLaunch Accelerator, a program to help educational technology startups grow and thrive. We’re thrilled that Jair agreed to be interviewed for Writers’ Rumpus. Jair is hoping to hear from authors and illustrators with universal stories that children from any culture can relate to. He’s also giving away one bilingual starter set in any language Bab’l Books has available. Enter at the end of this post.

Marianne Knowles: How did Bab’l Books get started?

Jair Hernandez: Bab’l Books came out of my own background. I grew up in Houston, but I was born in Mexico. Growing up, there was a strong desire to keep our language in our family. We…

This weekend marks the second annual Global March for Elephants and Rhinos. In cities across the world, people will be gathering, uniting to raise their voices against the poaching and destruction of two of our most iconic species.

But what’s the point?

In key consumer cities and areas of transit of ivory and horn, there will be MOUs (Memorandum of Understanding) obtained and delivered to the embassies; like  South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Vietnam, and China.

In other cities like San Francisco and New York, groups are writing petitions to be delivered to local and state agencies on the on same day.

And at the very least, creating education and awareness for local communities and schools is vital to the future of not only these two species, but our wildlife in general.

In a nutshell the Global March seeks to:

• ask for political will and leadership to…

I’ve whined before about dreadful “Oirish” accents.

I came across a great video on Facebook, via Hairy Baby, a great Irish tee-shirt company: I sing their praises here.

source: hairy baby.
If you don’t get the joke, you need to watch ‘Father Ted’

The video does a pretty good job explaining some of the different regional accents you’ll hear in Ireland.

And there isn’t a begorrah to be heard.

Everyone knows fairies love spring flowers and summer sun, but what happens when autumn comes and the days get shorter and colder? Now, Liza Gardner Walsh, (author of Fairy House Handbook and Fairy Garden Handbook), explores the matter in a children’s picture book of rhyming questions. Combined with delightful illustrations by Hazel Mitchell (Imani’s Moon, One Word Pearl, Animally), this whimsical book helps children discover just where fairies go when it snows and offers a subtle lesson about the importance of helping one another.

Both Liza and Hazel happen to live in Maine, a state in the northern U.S. where it snows A LOT! So it’s appropriate that they got together to create a book with a winter theme. Liza is pretty much an expert on fairies and fairy houses. And Hazel is from England where fairies really do exist! Here’s what they have…

Recently as many people were mesmerized by the Blood Moon, the event indeed lived up to its name in South Africa, when at least half a dozen rhinos were slain. More casualties in the war on poaching.

The rhinos were slain in Kwazulu-Natal in a private reserve. With rhino poaching stats well over 700 now, 85 have been in the Kwazulu-Natal area alone.

Six rhino carcasses. An amazing feat. In a park the size of the state of Michigan , in alternating open and hilly terrain; to find and dehorn just one of the elusive rhinos would be difficult, perhaps with the right team two would be lucky. But six?! To have entered undetected, located the rhinos, slain them, dehorned them, AND left unscathed is obviously an organized inside job.

Rhinos in KZN. photo: unknown

Although some private reserves are doing what they can to obtain funding for anti-poaching efforts and implement strategies; others…

by Nicole Melanson ~

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending the inaugural Writers in the Park, beautifully organized by Susanne Gervay. The festival didn’t get to make the most of its lovely location at The Residences, Centennial Park, on account of rather crummy weather, but neither the participants nor the attendees let the rain dampen their spirits.

The first event on the adult stage was Publishing: What’s on your mind? – a panel discussion with Shona Martyn from Harper Collins, Jane Curry of Ventura Press, Helen O’Dare representing Hinkler Books, and literary agent Rick Raftos, moderated by Bem Le Hunte.

Shona Martyn and Bem Le Hunte

Shona spoke to the current popularity of coloring books saying that they do a great job of drawing people into bookstores, where hopefully books with actual words will catch their eye. She is currently seeking strong…