Books Illustrated Touring exhibitions: Are We There Yet?

Are we there yet? : A journey around Australia Date: Saturday 19 September 2015 - Sunday 13 December 2015 Cost: Free Venue: Hurstville Museum & Gallery 14 MacMahon St, Hurstville This exhibition, curated by Books Illustrated, is based on this classic award-winning picture book, written and illustrated by Alison Lester. The display contains Alison Lester's original illustrations along with preliminary work for the making of this book, including ideas and sketches, her children's travel journals and family photographs taken on their journey around Australia.

Alison Lester's Kids' Antarctic Art

Kids' Antarctic Art exhibition, curated by Books Illustrated, is being shown at the Newcastle Region Library from 17 January to 23 February, 2013


In late January, Alison Lester had an inspiring day at the Big Draw Newcastle, with 400 kids coming through the foyer to take part in her Antarctic mural. Activities were also going on in the Lovett Gallery inspired by her Kids Antarctic Art exhibition, see the beautiful watercolour illustrations above.

If you'd like to hear more about the exhibition and the Big Draw listen to Alison Lester and Julie Swane from the library on ABC Newcastle Radio.

City Library, National Year of Reading and Australian Children's Literature Alliance event

On Thursday Nov 29, (the hottest night in Melbourne for one hundred years!) The City Library hosted a wonderful event to mark the last showing of the Are We There Yet? Exhibition that has been touring Australia for this National Year of Reading. It has been a privilege for Books Illustrated to be involved in this tour. Check the NYoR website for the winners of the National competition which has been associated with this tour.

The highlight of this joint event between National Year of Reading, The Australian Children’s Literature Alliance and the City of Melbourne Library Services were talks by our Australian Children’s Laureates Alison Lester & Boori Monty Pryor. Both gave a taste of their first year in this new position, as well as  their personal projects, that they will continue to develop during 3013. You can learn more about the laureate position, projects and how to become involved on the ACLA website.

A bonus highlight for the audience was a presentation by Ann James on behalf of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) to Bob Graham. The presentation was a certificate of his 2012 nomination for the prestigious Hans Christian Anderson Award. This award is presented each two years to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children's literature.

Inverloch 'Magic Beach' National Year of Reading exhibition

In November Books Illustrated curated an exhibition of Alison's work from Magic Beach at Inverloch Library to celebrate the success of National Year of Reading. In true Australian Children's Laureate style Alison took to the surf before joining the event at the Inverloch Library. There were fish n' chips, Zart Art kids workshops, and of course, Story Time with Alison. Thanks to the Inverloch Library team, Swellmamas, and the National Year of Reading for organising this event!

Exhibitions opening this November

Exhibitions 

Are we there yet?: A Creative Journey

The last venue for this tour for the National Year of Reading.Don’t miss the chance to see this great exhibition of Alison Lester's art celebrating the diversity of Australian life - in the heart of Melbourne!
The Gallery @ City Library, Melbourne, Nov 12 to Nov 30253 Flinders Lane Melbourne (close to the CAE)03 9658 9844   www.melbourne.vic.gov.au 

Mirror

Books Illustrated has been assisting Jeannie Baker tour her Mirror exhibition around Australia for three years. The last venue is Blacktown Arts Centre, NSW where it will be shown from 
November 12 to February 2, 2013. The Opening will be held on November 24. www.artscentre.blacktown.nsw.gov.au 
 

New prints from Alison Lester's classic 'Magic Beach'

We are excited to announce three new prints from Alison Lester’s picture book Magic Beach (Allen & Unwin).This well loved classic celebrated it’s 20 year anniversary in 2010 with a special edition with a limited edition wall frieze. This hardback edition, signed by Alison, is available at the special price of $19.99.

'...we walk when it's cloudy and grey' $250

`...we swim in the sparkling sea` $250

'...we bask in the glow of the fire' $250

Books Illustrated at Paju Book City

September Exhibition - Books Illustrated in Korea  

• Paju Book City Booksori Festival

Books Illustrated has been invited to present an exhibition of Australian Children’s Book Illustration at the inaugural Booksori Festival which will run from Sept 16 to 23.  The festival is the largest Book Festival in Asia and is being developed as a mecca for the international publishing Industry.

 

The heart of the exhibition is a series of promotional prints curated for the Bologna Book Fair this year. It will be augmented with other sections promoting Australian Literature including Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing DVD and a promotion of the inaugural Australian Children’s Laureate position held jointly by Alison Lester and Boori Monty Prior. As well as events with publishers we will be running illustration workshops with visiting children.

Paju Book City is an amazing concept in itself –‘A place where people, books and culture are in harmony’. It is a specially designed city focussing on books. To celebrate producing books, in 2011 the city started creating bookstores with libraries, exhibition spaces and book cafes in publishing houses under the name of Check Bang Geo Ri (Street of Bookstores). As a result, 42 bookstores have been opened and the city has become a member of the IOB (International Organization of Booktowns). We are excited that representatives from Australia's own booktown, Clunes, will also be at the festival. 

We look forward to being part of this festival and sharing it with you soon!

Ann James at last year's opening ceremony.

One Word One Day

One Word One Day is a fun initiative of the Australian Society of Authors this year to celebrate and promote our illustrator community.  Collaborating with Micador (art materials) and the ABC we will raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation through a series of fabulous hand-on workshops in major cities around Australia.
Each workshop has a single word as its theme. The first one was "Fly".

Melbourne (Wed March 14) theme word, FLY

Perth (Wed 18 April) theme word, NIGHTLY

Brisbane (Fri 11 May) 

Hobart (Wed 23 May) 

Darwin (Wed 6 June) 

Sydney (Wed 20 June)

Listen to Ann James and Alison Lester being interviewed during the Melbourne One Word One Day.

To find out more or be involved, go to the ASA website.

To check out art created so far and read the artists' profiles go to Micador Group's website.

To support the initiative please LIKE us on the ASA One Word One Day Facebook page.

Artists' paintings will be auctioned on-line on July 11 - proceeds to go to the ILF

A Touching Speech by Children's Laureate Alison Lester

At the Darwin opening of the National Year of Reading 2012 Are We There Yet? exhibition, Ann James read out a touching speech on behalf of Alison Lester, who was unable to be there in person.

We thought you'd enjoy reading it too...

I love darwin, it always feels like coming home when I get off that plane and drive down the wide palm-lined streets into town. I've had family and friends to stay with for a long time, in Parap and Nightcliff, so I know those parts well. 

I love sitting in the roma bar, running out to east point, having a laksa at the Parap market, swimming in the Nightclif pool, dancing at Shenanigans and the beautiful art gallery. In 2005 I nearly died in the darwin hospital so i'll always be grateful to darwin for saving me, it was a great place to get my wobbly legs going again, I hope you enjoy the show, I wish I could be there, x, Alison.

To read more about the Are We There Yet? touring exhibition please visit our earlier blog post.

The Opening of the National Year of Reading 2012 Touring exhibition

Books Illustrated are excited to announce the opening of the beautiful Are We There Yet? National Year of Reading exhibition in The Northern Territory Library, Parliament House, Darwin.

The exhibition was first curated by Books Illustrated in 2004 to celebrate the launch of this famous picture book by Alison Lester. Since then it has travelled widely around Australia and even gone as far as Tokyo.

The exhibition shows both the original illustrations as well as the preliminary and developing stages in the making of the book - from Alison's children's actual travel diaries, through text, illustration and design drafts, to the final published book. It includes a number of folios of developmental drawings.

An fascinating addition to the original exhibition is a special display and range of activities for the braille version of the picture book published by Vision Australia.

The exhibition will tour to 8 venues in 2012, one for each state and territory.  Starting in Darwin from the 1st - 22nd of February and the exhibition will end in Victoria in December 2012.

As the curators of the exhibition the Books Illustrated team, Ann Haddon and Ann James, were thrilled to be invited to the opening in Darwin on Wednesday 1st February. ( A detailed itinerary will posted soon on this blog and on the National Year of Reading website).

Award-winning Darwin author and National Year of Reading ambassador, Marie Munkara, was invited to open the exhibition. Her first book Every Secret Thing was awarded the 2010 Northern Territory Book of the Year.

There is a National Year of Reading competition based on the book Are We There Yet? where children are encouraged to write and/or illustrate about their own town or special place they've visited in Australia. Visit the NYoR website to find out more.

A proud Cathy Hilder, I Manager, Public Library Services Northern Territory Library, who managed the opening and exhibition installation. 

Marie Munkara, author of "Every Secret Thing" who introduced the Are We There Yet? exhibition at the opening. 

Ann James from Books Illustrated explained the history of the Are We There Yet? exhibition and spoke on behalf of Alison Lester. 

Visitors at the opening (Cowboy Grace in the background).

Enjoy a sneak peak at the impressive map of Australia surrounded by Alison's family photographs. 

Photographs from the official Laureate Launch

We thought you like to see some of these charming photographs from the Australian Children's Laureate Launch at Carclew Youth Arts in Adelaide.

An Australian magpie was chosen as the symbol for the Children's Laureates and illustrator Ann James designed the logo.  In the photographs below you can see Alison and Boori accepting their own magpies as inspiration for the 2 years ahead.

The statues were individually carved by West Australian artist Andre Van Niekerk and painted by his wife Cathy Van Niekerk. They have a lovely website showcasing many other interesting bird carvings if you would like to see more. The Laureate's magpies were purchased from the Australian Woodwork Gallery in the Hunter Valley - which is definitely worth a visit!

Alison and Boori accepting their magpies at the presentation

Alison signing copies of her book "Running with the Horses"

Boori signing copies of his book "Shake a Leg"

Boori telling the story of "Shake a Leg" at the launch

Congratulations to Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor - the first Australian Children's Laureates!

We are thrilled that 2012 will see the beginning of the first Australian Children's Laureates 2-year projects.


The inaugural Children’s Laureate role for 2012 to 2013 is shared by two eminent and much-loved children’s authors, Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor. 


The fun-packed launch was held in mid-December 2011 at Carclew Youth Arts in Adelaide. 


The first part of the launch included a keynote speech by Noni Hazlehurst, followed by the official announcement of the Laureates by Hon. Grace Portolesi, Minister for Education and Child Development. Afterwards the crowd moved outside to the lawn for a special welcome dance by the children of the Kaurna Plains Primary School, and special story readings by Alison and Boori.


The establishment of an Australian Children’s Laureate to promote the importance of reading is based on the successful implementation of this idea in the UK and US.


The Children’s Laureate will be an Australian author and/or illustrator of children’s and/or youth literature who is making a significant contribution to the children’s literature canon of this country. The Laureate will be appointed on a biennial basis and will promote the transformational power of reading, creativity and story in the lives of young Australians, while acting as a national and international ambassador for Australian children’s literature.  (Taken from The Australian Children's Laureate website).

If you would like to find out more about Alison and Boori's individual projects and how to get involved, please visit the website and "like" the Australian Children's Laureate page on facebook!