Our June meeting presenter was Mel Armstrong, one of the authors of Star Dreaming. Read about the book in our minutes; see the cover image below; plus a photo of some of the New England and North West members with Mel having lunch after the meeting.
The New England and North West Sub Branch now has a bookplate! When our wonderful authors and illustrators present at schools during Booked In!, they can take pre-signed bookplates with them. This will allow school copies of their books to be autographed, while permitting us to move between school visits on schedule. Very talented illustrator Kathy Creamer designed the bookplate for us. See below:
Our November meeting included a presentation by our Sub Branch president, Sophie Masson, who is also one of a team will be producing a great new book in mid 2022 – Inside Story: the wonderful world of writing, illustrating and publishing children’s books.
You. can see a video of the workshop where the idea for the book began, and more information about the book here: INSIDE STORY the Book : https://www.newc.org.au/inside-story-book.html
We are pleased to announce that the dates and visitors for Booked In! have been organised for 2021.
Gabrielle Wang and Sandy Flett will be our school visitors for the 2021 edition of Booked In! See the poster below for more information.
Michelle Wheatley of Reader’s Companion was our guest presenter at the November meeting. Our Minutes provide details, but here is a photo of Michelle with a favourite book of hers. Always a pleasure to have Michelle at a meeting.
Our guest speaker for the September meeting was Sandy Flett, illustrator of the Juno Jones and Evie’s Experiments series. An engaging presenter, she showed us how she worked, brought her portfolio, copies of her books and some drawings. Here are a few of Sandy’s drawings….
Unfortunately, as with so many things at the moment, we have had to postpone Booked In! At the time of this post, we have moved Ursula and Margrete’s visits to October. This will include all school, library and bookshop visits, as well as the workshop organised by the New England Writer’s Centre.
Ursula Dubosarsky, one of our Booked In! guests has been announced as Children’s Laureate for 2020-2021, so we are very pleased to have booked her visit before her diary completely filled. Our other visitor is Margrete Lamonde of Dirt Lane Press.
The workshop to be held at the New England Regional Art Museum organised by NEWC, a visit by Ursula to the Armidale Regional Public Library, and an event at Reader’s Companion Bookshop with both Margrete and Ursula have all been postponed until October. Check the library and bookshop websites for more information.
In the meantime, check out the Children’s Laureate website for activity ideas from Ursula, and a terrific article by Margrete about Endpapers in children’s books, mentioned in our April meeting minutes.
The Sub branch is continuing to meet – virtually. We had our first meeting via Zoom on April 4, and it worked very well.
Our next meeting will be May 2. Join us! If you aren’t on our regular email list, contact the Honorary Secretary to be included.
February 1 was the date of our AGM, as well as our planning meeting for 2020 themed presentations. What we have planned for 2020 are the following:
7 March: the Beach;
4 April: Endpapers in children’s books;
9 May (postponed by a week from our usual meeting time to permit CBC members to attend Booked In! work shops if desired) – Young adult crime and spy fiction;
6 June – may be postponed – Watch this space – Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
1 August – CBC Shortlist;
5 September – Sandy Flett, Sub Branch member and book illustrator;
7 November – Michelle Wheatley from Reader’s Companion bookshop;
5 December – Refugees in children’s literature and Christmas lunch. Theme to be decided.
Do join us at any or all of these meetings: 10 am, Upstairs Meeting Room, Armidale Memorial Public Library.
Booked In! 2020, our children’s literature festival, which we co-present with the New England Writer’s Centre is in the planning stages and will happen April 29 – May 2. You can read about it in the minutes of our meeting.
At our December Sub Branch meeting the dates were set for 2020 meetings. The first meeting of the year will be Saturday, February 1, at 10 am which will also be our AGM, and programme planning meeting to be held in the Armidale War Memorial Library upstairs meeting room. Join us and participate in our planning process. Other meeting dates for your diary as follows:
1 February (AGM and programming meeting for the year’s activities)
7 March 1 August: CBCA Shortlist
4 April 5 September
9 May: post-Booked In! activities 7 November
6 June 5 December
Note that meetings are generally the first Saturday of the month except during school holidays, and that the May meeting has been moved to accommodate our Booked In! Festival to take place April 30, and May 1 and 2, in association with the New England Writers’ Centre.
New England and North West Sub-branch 