Thomas Keneally interview on BookTV.nz

A delightful interview with author - and doting grandfather from the sound of it - Thomas Keneally at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival - about happiness, worries, standout book from his childhood, choice of author to be stuck in an elevator with ...
http://activitypress.com/2010/05/20/booktv-nz-set-to-bring-video-book-reviews-author-interviews-to-the-web/

BookTV.nz http://www.booktv.co.nz/ is New Zealand's channel for watching and sharing web video book reviews, book trailers, author videos, video book readings, new book news, and anything book-related...

Emily Gravett

Emily Gravett - her books are wonderful! If you don't know them, track them down - Spells, Wolves, The Odd Egg, Meerkat Mail, Little Mouse's Book of Fears, Apple pear orange bear, The Rabbit problem... Each one so different from the last, so inventive, original and clever, from picture books for the very young to more sophisticated which might have a dark edge or a twist in the tail.
Here is her website http://emilygravett.com/
Lots of information, some activities, and check out the video of creating the artwork for The Rabbit Problem - blend of drawing talent and IT skills...

Here is an interview with Emily from The Bookseller - as it says, "Emily Gravett's path to pre-eminence has not been smooth; in fact it makes J K Rowling's rags-to-riches tale seem cosy by comparison. "
http://www.thebookseller.com/in-depth/trade-profiles/48682-emily-gravett-travelling-far.html

Brian Selznik - author illustrator

Here is an author interview with Brian Selznik - about his influences, where he lives, how he works, etc http://www.indiebound.org/author-interviews/selznick

He is also asked about his favourite bookshops - some places I'll add to my wish-to-visit-one-day list - they sound wonderful :

• Books of Wonder, 16 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011
• Fairy Godmother, 319 Seventh Street, SE, Washington, D.C.
• Politics and Prose Books & Coffee, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
• Children's Book World, 17 Haverford Station Rd, Haverford, PA
• Chris' Corner Books, 1940 Pine St, Philadelphia, PA 10103
• Aladdin's Lamp, 126 West Broad Street, Falls Church, VA

This interview must have been done before Brian Selznik's amazing book The invention of Hugo Cabret but go here for the official website of that book -

http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/about_hugo_intro.htm

which has information about the character Hugo Cabret, inspirations for the book - pioneering film maker Georges Melies, and author /illustrator Remy Charlip and also about Brian himself - including some links to his friend's websites and "weird websites I like" which are full of gems - pavement artists, miniature books, optical illusions...

I loved this one about moving sculpture by Arthur Ganson - a blend of art and engineering - another TED talk
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/arthur_ganson_makes_moving_sculpture.html

Author / illustrator studies

The wonderful Reading Rockets website, mentioned before in this blog, has a great new Author study toolkit which you can browse online or download as a PDF.
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/authorstudy

The toolkit contains :

• 10 reasons to do an author study
• How to do an author study
• Set a purpose and goals
• Choose an author
• Read and respond to the books
• Research the authors
• Culminating projects
• Author study resources

How about focussing on a particular author or illustrator - maybe one a week, or a few a term, selected by the teacher, librarian or students, and spending time reading their books closely, visiting their website if there is one, sharing favourites amongst the titles, identifying common themes or styles... It would mean that over the course of a year students would be exposed to a wide range of literature in more depth than reading a single title as well as taking part in regular book discussions about literature and becoming part of the wider children’s literature community...

“It may be that children’s books will always be only a modest province in the Republic of Letters… but remember that it controls the port of entry.” Jill Paton Walsh, author

Author interview videos

Here is a website which has interviews with authors including Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson, Jon Scieszka, Tamora Pierce, Laurie Halse Anderson, Avi, Gail Carson Levine...
http://www.abookandahug.com/books-alive

NZ Book Council

Sarah Maxey, mentioned in the previous post, has also designed the NZ Book Council's new newsletter for schools, called The School Library at this link... http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Education/Whats%20New/School%20Library

The Book Council's redesigned website has an Education zone... "Teachers and school librarians can use our Schools channel to learn all about our Writers in Schools programme, book an author, give us their feedback and find additional resources to use alongside the programme. Pop into the Kids' Zone for fun with reading, with competitions, word and reading games, and news about great new books. Head over to the Parents channel if you are looking for New Zealand book recommendations for children of all ages and other useful material for supporting your children’s reading."

While visiting the Book Council website, secondary school teachers and librarians should check out Wordspace http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Education/Writer%20Interviews/Wordspaces
"WordSpace is a series of video conference discussions between secondary school students and leading New Zealand writers. It provides a forum for inspiration, education and the exchange of ideas, and is offered as part of the New Zealand Book Council's Writers in Schools programme."
There are DVDs available for purchase http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Products/DVD
with a range of authors discussing creative writing, journalism, script writing, poetry, reviewing, playwriting, YA fiction, fantasy writing etc according to their speciality...