Dim's Write Stuff

Full confession: I adore the writing style of Susanne Gervay. Her picture books resound with lilting emotion. Her junior novels entertain and engross. Her young adult fiction, gripping and gritty. So, while I’m being upfront and honest, her latest YA , The Edge of Limits was a more exacting reading experience than expected. In Susanne’s own words this novel, delves into adolescent relationships and consent looking into the complexities of boys as they confront sexuality, power, and relationships. Teenage boys are not a species I admit to understanding in great measures. I have never lived with their unique drives, language and emotional tropes, their male ‘smells’. So, reading about 17-year-old Sam and his testosterone imbued school mates as they plough their way through self-actualisation and a school survival camp, was not the proverbial walk through the park. The park was the confronting physical and mental terrain of the Aussie bush. The walk, a challenging journey of re...

I've tootled on about winning the 2019 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award  before so won't bore you with details of emotion gone wild. Sufficed to say, it's truly humbling to the point of mortification - I really don't know how to articulate my gratitude eloquently enough anymore. THANK YOU  is just two little words that must shoulder so much meaning. As part of the spectacularly successful inaugural SCBWI QLD Story Craft State Conference held last weekend, members of my dear SCWBI family presented me with the sparkly trophy that comes with an accolade like this, an actual crystal kite no less! So pretty It is a thing of glittery beauty. Rainbows of light dance from its many faces reminding me of the little girl who dances with rainbows at the end of Holyrood Lane, the namesake and reason this book was chosen above all brilliant others to win this award for the Australia NZ region . Without Flick and her story, a story that sadly mirrors so many other young people a...

Sammy is sad. His eyesight is not the best but worse is his dented sense of self-esteem and identity. Forced to wear big blue glasses to enable better sight, Sammy feels they now segregate him from the rest of the world: his peers and family. All he wants is to feel like his old-self again. He does everything he can to bypass wearing his glasses but they always find their way back to him. Despite assurances from the grown-ups in his life that the glasses make him look more handsome and heroic than he's ever looked (their acclamations only serve to define his difference), Sam is unconvinced, feeling lost, alienated and alone, even more so when one disastrous school day, his best friend, George is away sick. Then, after a few innocent digs from his classmates persuade him to clean his glasses, Sam discovers a whole different world within his classroom and his way of viewing his situation dramatically improves. Gervay's considered story from a small boy's point of v...

Well, another book baby has been successfully birthed. The launch of my latest picture book with Nicky Johnston , At The End of Holyrood Lane , was memorable, moving and fun for reasons too numerous to mention.  For those who were there to share the joy, those who couldn't make it and those who simply love celebrating the love of kids' lit, this is for you. Massive thanks to Susanne Gervay for hosting and officially launching this special book for me. Jacqui Halpin without whose cupcakes the event would not have been as sweet. My mother and Alena Lemon-Scott for bringing Nicky's visual interpretation of my characters to sublime, vivid reality. Uni and Flick, you rock. Maria Parenti-Baldey and Dr June Perkins whose affinity behind the camera lens ensures every heartfelt moment is captured, along with some goofy ones to boot. To the wonderful book shops who continue to support and nurture children's stories and story tellers. And most es...

So this will be happening soon. I'd be two-cows-over-the-moon happy if you could join me in the celebrations. #AtTheEndofHolyroodLane #picturebook #booklaunch #newrelease #NickyJohnston #EKBooks #DomesticViolence #dosomething

When I lived in London, what seems like a lifetime ago, I had the good fortune to observe many ritualistic ceremonies, one of them being Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park . This public-byo-soapbox-forum, dating back from the Victorian times was an eclectic gathering place to share one's view point and generally have a bit of a rant. It was and still is a melting pot of political debate and more importantly, a symbol for a free and democratic society. And with the need to expound arises the necessity to create, something people of the pen know only too well. To better celebrate creative life, the good folk of the Centennial Parklands Foundation , Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators SCBWI , and the historic Residences Centennial Park have joined forces along with dozens of writers, storytellers, publishers, arts associations, performers, illustrators, poets, and literacy advocates to present Writers in the Park . This one day festival is choc-block full of ...

It's the last month of winter. Almost four weeks since I had to dig out my gloves and wraps for the first time this year. They accompanied another 'first'. An experience I had been secretly yearning for, aspiring toward for years...my first SCWBI Conference . And, unlike a few other 'firsts', it exceeded all expectations. Much of what went down, who was there and what we got up to has been magnificently covered both on the official SCBWI Australian/NZ web and blog sites , and featured in several sensational personal accounts, not least of which is Tania McCartney's SCBWI Wrap Up post . Be you author, illustrator, industry professional or just interested passer-by with a fondness for Kids Lit, you're bound to unearth some awesome insights on your favourite artists, books and literary gems. Here are a few recollections and choice tip bits of my own, along with the mandatory blurred snapshot to seal the moment. Feeling like a kid allowed to go to her firs...