News
I'm delighted to announce that all the beautiful new-look Janna Mysteries are now on sale in bookshops around Australia. You can buy Books 1 & 2 (Rosemary for Remembrance and Rue for Repentance) as an omnibus edition, plus Lilies for Love (Book 3) and Willows for Weeping (Book 4). The Janna Mysteries are on the Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge list.
The Janna Mysteries series continues to win praise and accolades. Book 3, Lilies for Love, won the 2007 Society of Women Writers biennial book award for junior/teenage fiction and Willows for Weeping has just received a Highly Commended in 2009. This follows on from the success of Book 1, Rosemary for Remembrance, which was a CBC Notable Book in 2006, and which has sold into Germany, with publication due in 2010.
Thank you
To all the fans of The Janna Mysteries (and my other novels) who have written to me with your comments, a big THANK YOU! I'm always interested to hear from you. Please check my blog for updates on my search for an overseas publisher for the last two books in the series: #5 Sage for Sanctuary and #6 Thyme for Trust. I know how keen you are to be able to finish Janna's quest to find her father, to fulfil her vow to her mother and - most important of all - to find out where her heart truly lies!
NEWS FLASH! GHOST BOY AND THE QUARANTINE STATION, SYDNEY.
I'm delighted to announce that students studying 'Ghost Boy' will be able to book a special tour based on my novel at the Quarantine Station at North Head in Manly (Sydney), where part of the novel is set. It was a great thrill to watch my novel 'come alive' during a dress rehearsal of this unique 'immersion' tour. The tour takes students on a journey back to 1881 at the time of a smallpox outbreak, a time of such chaos and sadness that a Royal Commission was held a year later, the report of which formed the basis of my research into that time. Students will be immersed in Tad's story, while at the same time learning something of immigration, class definition and the role of the Quarantine Station, as well as some of the grisly details of its past history (not to mention perhaps encountering one or other of the ghosts said to haunt the site!) For more information, visit the website of the Quarantine Station: www.qstation.com.au or phone (02) 9466 1551. Bookings essential.
More News
2009 has been a really busy year with lots of wonderful opportunities to speak to students about researching and writing my novels and also conducting workshops for both students and adults in various locations. In addition, some of my short stories have been published or won prizes, events which are always milestones in an author's life. These include a fantasy story for adults, titled Jungle Juice, published in Issue 41 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight magazine; Tracking the Past, part of an anthology titled Picture This! published by Pearson Education (look out for it in 2010, all you Year 7s!) and 1st prize in the Queen of Crime award (special section) for The Bee Keeper - a fantasy crime with an important role for killer bees!
Even more exciting was news of a May Gibbs Fellowship award, which means that I'll be spending June 2010 in Adelaide, with lots of writing time for a new project, plus being the writer-in residence at Seymour College - I'm really looking forward to it. I shall also be giving talks and workshops in Brisbane in March, so 2010 will be a wonderful opportunity for me to visit different states and meet a whole new bunch of people - can't wait!
Finally, it being close to Christmas, may I wish you all a happy and blessed time with your families and a brilliant 2010.