In this issue:

COVID-19

The Coronavirus is posing many challenges for many people and organisations including schools, libraries and teachers as well as Speakers Ink Speakers.  To adapt to the new norm, we wanted to remind everyone of alternative ways that our Speakers are able to present what they do!

Perhaps a Virtual Visit from an author, poet, illustrator or other speaker could fit in well in this strange set of circumstances we now all face? Many of our speakers have successfully delivered wonderful presentations remotely via the technology available in classrooms and libraries. Please be sure to contact our office via a website enquiry, email or phone call to book a virtual session.

As a new initiative, we have also been exploring Video Recorded Sessions.  These sessions would be customised to each client who made a booking - personalised intro, general author talk and final question and answer session (answering 10 questions provided in advance by the students).  These sessions would either be 1-hour or 45-mins in length.

Each video recorded session would be made available for 1-week to enable it to be viewed by small groups or individual students from their homes.  The client (school/council/conference etc) would be asked to agree not to download, copy or record the session (to protect the Intellectual Property of the speaker).   Costs would be quoted based on the number of students who would view the presentation.  This initiative may not be offered by all speakers, but if you are interested, please contact our office to make an enquiry.

Finally, our speakers are adapting very quickly to the changing circumstances we now all face, and many have started to offer free online snippets for all to enjoy.  We are updating speaker profile pages on a daily basis with what they are offering.  These range from free how to draw segments and exercises on developing a family story from photos to videos of animals in the wild - and the list goes on!  If you would like to see what your favourite speaker is up to, be sure to check out their profile page on our website.

These are difficult times for all involved, and we are doing what we can to ensure that schools and speakers can adapt to new technologies moving forward.

If you would like to pursue a video recorded session, virtual visit or need to reschedule a current booking to a new date, please contact our office.  Please also note that current bookings can be adapted to video recorded sessions or virtual visits if needed. 

Therefore, I encourage you all to check out the wonderful speakers that we represent.  All have something valuable to offer!  
 

Book Links - The Centre for Children's Literature

Tuesday 2 June 2020 6:00 PM at ZOOM Online

In this session Jackie French and James Moloney will be talking about the challenges of introducing Holocaust education to young readers.

To participate, we ask you to make a tax deductible donation to Book Links as you register.

Jackie French is the patron of Book Links and the 2014-15 Australian Children's Laureate, 2015 Senior Australian of the Year, Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to literature as an author of children's books, and as an advocate for improved youth literacy. Her novel Hitler’s Daughter won the CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers in 2000 and she followed that up with Pennies for Hitler in 2012 and Goodbye Mr Hitler in 2017.  In this series of novels Jackie poses the question ‘Do things that happened a long time ago still matter?’

Brisbane author, James Moloney, is one of Australia’s leading writers for children and young adults. He has published more than forty books, most recently a best seller for adults titled The Love That I Have. Equally suited to YA readers, the novel is set in a concentration camp during the final year of WWII and shows that the horror of Nazism wasn’t focussed solely on the Jews.

You may wish to read some of their books prior to the event. Books may be ordered online from Riverbend Books who will be offering 10% discount for this event. https://store.riverbendbooks.com.au/c/book-links-event 

For more information and to register click here. https://www.trybooking.com/BJNVK

The Spotlight is on Jess Black

Following on from our article in the last e-Bulletin, we would like to advise that Jess Black has now developed a video presentation suitable for primary audiences.  Further details can be found on her profile page on our website.  Some further background on Jess is as follows:

Jess Black is the author of over thirty books for children. She has written the Mr Walker series, Keeper of the Crystal Series, Little Paws series and is the co-author of the highly successful The Kaboom Kid, The Bindi Wildlife Adventures series and the RSPCA Animal Tales series. The Tales of Mr Walker was longlisted for the ABIA Awards and the INDIE Awards for 2019 and is a CBCA Notable book for 2019. The Keeper of the Crystals Series, Animal Tales, Little Paws and Mr Walker books are on the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge booklist for 2019 for year 3-4. Jess has written two picture books. Moon Dance is a celebration of our native flora and fauna. The Bold Australian Girl is a story about an Aboriginal mother and daughter. Mum tells her every night that she can be anything she wants, especially Bold! Jess has worked as a writer and director in children’s theatre, a writer and editor in children’s television; a book seller and a book buyer.

To protect the Intellectual Property of our speakers, there are strict guidelines that need to be agreed to prior to these videos being made available.  If you are interested in finding out more about these video presentations, please make sure to contact our office by website enquiry, phone or email.

Dates for your Diary

"When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.” – Erasmus
 

Yours in promoting literacy from all at the Speakers Ink team,

Sandie, Margie, Jan, Lia, Rob, Matt and James