Reading Matters conference-Day 2
May 30th, 2011 § 2 Comments
Rebecca Stead in conversation with Pam Macintyre
Rebecca has a unique perspective on the world. She intrigued me and I’m adding her books to my to read list. When You Reach Me, her newest novel, deals with time travel-something that I’m instantly attracted to. She shared a beautiful anecdote that made me tear up.
Her mother worked as a secretary for years and got her dream job as an editor. Her father passed away a few years earlier and it was a source of regret to her that he couldn’t see what she’d achieved. Her mother didn’t want Rebecca to feel this sense of regret and told her, ‘I don’t want you to ever fear that I won’t share your achievements, because I have already imagined everything you could achieve with your life.’ What a beautiful sentiment and an amazing mother.
Brenton McKenna was featured. He’s the author of graphic novel Ubby and the Underdogs which a homage to his grandmother, a woman who had an incredibly tough life and came out fighting. This is the first indigenous graphic novel published. The setting is Broome post world war II and he said Ubby was a legend in Broome and everyone knew her. He talked about having reading difficulties and how it was only when he discovered graphic novels that he was able to embrace the written word. It really brought home the role of graphic novels in bringing troubled readers to the fold.
Two great panels that really stood out
Dangerous Arrangements: Jane Burke AKA J.C. Burke, Kirsty Eager, Denis Wright
The topic was violence in books and the discussion was really interesting about responsibility to young people about depicting violence.
Kirsty Eager-Raw Blue-deals with sexual abuse, and her latest Saltwater Vampires
Kirsty was of the view that we shouldn’t patronize to young people. They are exposed to and are victims of violence. By depicting this in fiction we are giving them tools to be able to process and deal with this. In answer to the question is there a line that she wouldn’t cross, Kirsty said that she purposely did not include details of the sexual assault in Raw Blue. She said that when details are included in the media it is disrespectful to the victims and is feeding the violence. She received a big round of applause for this.
Denis Wright’s debut novel is Violence 101 and the character is a sociopath. He read an extract where the character attempts taxidermy and let’s say that it was not for the fainthearted, but what saved it from a true horror fest is the wry and self-aware tone of the protagonist. Denis is a teacher and the character is an amalgam of students he’s worked with. He wrote the book because students were telling them there was nothing that they were interested in reading.
Jane Burke’s latest novel is Pig Boy about a young boy who seems to be blamed for something he didn’t do and seeks a job as a pig hunter. In a later panel she shared the research she undertook for this novel, including photos of her gutting a pig. Quite full on. Her novel is intriguing as it features a different take on redemption.
Three very interesting novels that I’ll be reading.
The second panel that really got me going was
Love and Other Bruises featuring Melina Marchetta, Cath Crowley, Laura Buzo, Lilli Wilkinson
Cath Crowley talked about wanting romance to feature the awkward moments that happen. She shared a story from a school visit. She retreated to a room between sessions and a young man followed her, complaining that his girlfriend had just broken up with him and that it was such a shock. A few minutes later his girlfriend turned up, covered in eggs and flour. It seemed that the boyfriend was the culprit, but he didn’t see the correlation between egging her and being dumped. Hysterical.
Lilli spoke about how falling in love is the universal theme we all share and it should be celebrated and not criticised. She writes female characters who can rescue themselves.
Someone shared the story that how these awkward moments are being eroded by technology. They witnessed a young girl walking up to a boy and handing him her mobile. He keyed in his number and she left. This was done in complete silence. A good point. In my day and age it was sending the best friends to negotiate the terms of going out and then doing the ceremonial public walk where everyone witnessed your communion to the kissing place.
They had a discussion about sex and all the authors were of the less is more leaning, although Laura Buzo made the point that when she was young she was obsessed with reading sex acts in books because that was her only point of reference. It brought back memories about my obsession with romance novels in my teens and why exactly I was obsessed with this.
They also touched on the movement by some female authors to start a female prize for literature because all of the shortlisted authors are skewed toward the male persuasion. Someone made the point that this is not the case with YA and this year’s Prime Minister’s YA shortlist featured all women, with three authors who were on the panel.
Conclusion:
Overall it was a great conference. There were a few more sessions in the afternoon that I had to miss to get home early, but I really enjoyed myself. It was lovely just to relax and soak in the atmosphere and inspiration. Now I have a list of books to follow up and read.
Thanks for the conference updates – I was hoping to attend, but couldn’t. I enjoyed reading your comments and thanks for sharing.
Best of luck with your new book!
Thanks Ida. I really loved it. It was my second time. The first time I wasn’t able to enjoy myself as I had a 4 month old bub, my debut novel and was on a panel was I was super stressed, so this was a wonderful second chance.