I enjoyed #ABCRN's The Bookshelf conversations at the #SydneyWritersFestival with #GraceChan (her Every Version of You was one of my favourite books of 2022) and #ShehanKarunatilaka (his 2022 Book Prize-winning The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is in my TBR pile). And especially the American poet, novelist and creator of graphic stories, #JasonReynolds' response to host Cassie's question about getting young people into reading (approximately 20 minutes into the episode):

We have to figure out what we're more interested in when it comes to kids. Are we interested in them having relationships with literature? Or are we interested in them having relationships with literacy? For me, it's literacy ... Because literacy is what's going to save their lives. A novel will not if you're coming from certain places that I'm coming from. We can push the ideas about empathy, but everybody in this room knows someone who has read all the books and who is a jerk. So ... I'd like [our children] to read anything, whether it's poetry, magazines, video games manuals, I could care less what they're reading because I need them to understand that through the act of reading, one builds concentration, discipline, consistency, persistence, imagination, a broader vocabulary, and the ability to listen to themselves. Now, if we can do that, then we can get to Shakespeare. 👏👏👏

#books #literature #literacy #kids #children

Link to episode: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-bookshelf/the-bookshelf-swf-shehan-karunatilaka-jason-reynolds-grace-chan/102338758

A question about a #WritersFestival (imminently perhaps #SydneyWritersFestival but any really)...

I've long wanted to go to one, but am unsure how/what/why... what does a person who is ostensibly just a reader (admittedly with chronic, unsubstantiated, (im)posturing, delusional daydreams of being a "writer") do? Is it something a "reader" can enjoy? How do you plan it? How do you enjoy it? What's the go, Joe?

[fwiw, this is part of my "solo adventure" and "living my youth" emotionally/psychologically/pathologically remedial themes, for those that may know where I'm at at the moment. For others, it's about a highly-repressed 50+ yo version of "self-care", if you're looking for a trigger to enjoy social media with with one of its two innate polarities: compassion or contempt].

#Writers #Writing #Australia

During the #SydneyWritersFestival this year, I sat waiting for a session and someone joined me. Her name was Alicia Thompson and she worked out I was gay and pimped her book to me.

It turned out we were both with the same US based publisher and the novel she's holding is promoted in the back of the novel I'm holding.

This was her sneaky publicity pic at #SapphoBooks where we met for lunch yesterday.