New Publications

A few contributions to new anthology publications:

Along with a number of other Australian creatives, I was invited by a teenage girl named Grace Halphen to give advice to my own 13-year-old self, given that people usually have a particularly difficult time at this age. A terrific and somewhat therapeutic project that will be launched in Melbourne, September 11, you can find out more about it here: http://affirmpress.com.au/publishing/letter-to-my-teenage-self/  

A variety of Australian writers were asked to contribute short essays on influential books, particularly those read while young. My own contribution covers my favourite novels, short stories, picture books and comics that either set me on my path or irrevocably derailed me, depending on how you want to look at it. More about it here.

For German readers only, Was ist los an meiner Tür? – What is outside my front door? – is a collection of short stories by winners of the young-people's literature prize, the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (I won an award once for a translation of Tales from Outer Suburbia). I've contributed two original short stories to this collection, 'Pig' and 'Parrot', and enjoyed the rare opportunity to have my writing illustrated by another artist (Aljoscha Blau). More about this anthology here.

And of course, The Singing Bones has just now been published in the UK (Walker Books) and the US (Arthur A Levine Books), featuring a new foreword by Neil Gaiman (who I've known for a couple of decades now, thankyou once again Neil!). Walker UK has also produced a limited boxed edition which includes two signed prints, all wonderfully designed by Nghiem Ta, with whom I've worked on a number of other projects. More about The Singing Bones here.

And you can hear me prattling on about origins and inspirations here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKAdkCc90Ng