You can now view the slideshow presentation from the YA Showcase. All the information our publishers presented on the night is now available for you to browse at your convenience.
You can also download the list of titles our publishers announced will be released in 2019 here.
With the launch of our new and improved Inside a Dog, some of you may have noticed that the teaching resources have disappeared form the site. Our primary goal in redesigning the website was to create a teen-focused space that will give young readers agency over the way they engage with books and reading. We want to encourage them to interact with their peers, to exchange ideas and share skills. We love that teachers and librarians use Inside a Dog as a teaching tool, but in order to give teens a sense of ownership of the space we want to make the teaching aspect of the site less visible. This is why we have restricted users to people aged 12-18 years-old, and why we have removed the teaching resources from the site.
But of course we appreciate the vital role that teachers and librarians play in developing literacy and cultivating a love of reading in young people, and we love that you want to use the Inside a Dog website in your classrooms and libraries. We want to continue to support teachers and librarians, and so our learning resources will be available for download here on the Read Alert blog.
Over the past five years, we have posted a variety of learning resources on this blog, which you can find by searching the ‘Resources’ Category, and various post tags, such as teacher resources and teacher’s notes.
The learning resources that were available on the Old Dog site were created in 2010 or 2014, so they need a bit of an update, too. We are currently assessing all of our resources, rewriting and redesigning them where necessary. We will add resources as they are updated. All available resources can be found below.
If you have any questions, or would like to provide feedback about our past, current or future resources, please contact the Centre for Youth Literature team on 03 8664 7014 or via youthlit@slv.vic.gov.au
IAD Book review tips_student Nov2018
IAD Blogging Worksheet_student Nov2018
IAD Book Review Assessment Sheet_student Nov2018
IAD Book review prompt_student Nov2018
Our online home for bookish teens, Inside a Dog, is now live and ready to be used by the young people of Australia.
The redevelopment has transformed the site into a bright, fresh place for sharing reviews, creative writing, book news and more. The much-needed facelift has been the hard work of a large team of people, all of whom have worked hard to create something wonderful to engage readers all over Australia. Most central to this was our panel of teen advisors, the Dog’s Advisory Board, who spent over a year meeting at State Library Victoria to develop the site.
The goal of Inside a Dog is to be a virtual home for Australia’s bookish teens. There are lots of spaces where book lovers of all ages can come together to share their love of YA, but few which are for the ‘young adults’ the category is all about. This is part of the reason only 12-18 year olds can be registered users of this site. But adults can still read all published content on the site, keep up with Inky Awards information and general news, but you won’t be able to write content, comment or enter our competitions.
We hope that Inside a Dog is a website you’ll champion to young people and help them use. We’re sure you’ll find many ways to use the site to support students to engage with books and reading. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter to hear more about how schools, libraries and teens are using the site.
If you have any questions about using the site with young people, contact us.
The Inky Awards are Australia’s only YA award completely selected by teenagers. The shortlist is created by our dedicated team of teen Inky Awards judges, which is then open to voting by Australian teenagers aged 12-19.
Here are the titles they have selected as the Inky Award winning books of 2018:
Paper Cranes Don’t Fly – Peter Vu
For Adam Auttenberg, hospital is like a second home. With Tess, AJ, and Rachael by his side, it’s even bearable. Facing the toughest challenge of his life, all Adam has to help him are his friends. But will they be enough? This story describes the life of a cancer patient in a way that few other young adult books do, focusing not just on living with cancer, but going through it, with the help of patience, love and friendship. Paper Cranes Don’t Fly isthe debut title from Peter Vu. Peter was six years old when he was diagnosed with a brainstem glioma. It was after the life-changing experience of his last surgery in Year 10 that he was led to write Paper Cranes Don’t Fly. He is currently a student, living in Melbourne with his parents and three siblings, and has ambitions of one day becoming a full-time writer.
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
The Hate U Give is the debut title from US author Angie Thomas. Angie was born, raised, and still lives in Jackson, Mississippi. A former teen rapper, she recently won a Walter Dean Myers Grant, awarded by the We Need Diverse Books campaign. The Hate U Give is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, and is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl’s struggle for justice. It is now a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox due for release in Australia on 1 January 2019.
Many thanks to our tireless Inky Awards judges – Thi, Fahma, Thomas, Sylvia, Alina, Siyan, Luca and Charlie – for all their hard work creating the shortlist. The biggest thanks of all goes to the teens all over Australia who voted on their favourite #LoveOzYA and international YA titles of the past year.
We have two major YA events remaining for 2018.
Inky Awards Ceremony
The Inky Awards winners will be announced at the State Library of Victoria on 2 October at State Library Victoria. Voting by teens 12-19 years old is open until September 16.
YA Showcase
Join us on Tuesday 11 December as Australian publishers share their most highly anticipated YA releases for 2019. Each attendee will receive a collated list of next year’s releases and materials straight from the publishers. Save the date and stay tuned for booking details soon.
We also have an update for you on our bi-annual Reading Matters event.
The next conference has been postponed from next year to mid-2020 when we will be able to welcome visitors to the newly renovated State Library Victoria after completion of the Vision 2020 redevelopment project. We look forward to having the opportunity to share our beautiful new spaces with you all.
The shortlist for the 2018 Inky Awards for young adult literature – chosen by a teen judging panel – was announced today at Bendigo Writers Festival schools program, Text Marks the Spot.
The 2018 Inky Awards shortlist, selected by a judging panel of nine teens from across Australia, includes 10 titles across two categories: the Gold Inky for Australian fiction and the Silver Inky for international fiction. The Gold Inky winner takes home a $2000 prize.
The announcement of this year’s shortlist was made by the Centre for Youth Literature at State Library Victoria, in partnership with Bendigo Writers Festival, City of Greater Bendigo and La Trobe University.
Centre for Youth Literature Reading and Literacy Development Manager Rebecca Henson said the longlisted titles that the shortlist was chosen from addressed themes of mental health, racism, LGBTI+ and family dysfunction, without moralising to teen readers.
“With a longlist of such a high calibre it was a difficult challenge for the judges to select a shortlist for the Gold and Silver Inky Awards. The nine teens took the weight of this responsibility very seriously, debating their selection over many hours and showing an admirable dedication to the task,” Ms Henson said.
Teen judge Sylvia said agreeing on a shortlist wasn’t easy, but the decision-making process was a lot of fun.
“Being part of the Inky Awards was one of the craziest yet most rewarding experiences of my life! Not only did I get to read 20 books, which is a book lover’s dream come true, but I made so many friends from all around Australia,” Sylvia said.
Text Marks the Spot Program Coordinator Sarah Mayor Cox said it was exciting to host the Inky Awards shortlist announcement at the festival for the first time.
“We are delighted that the Inky shortlist has been announced during Text Marks the Spot. The Inky Awards are a natural fit for us, and enhance the program’s appeal to budding writers and young readers,” Ms Mayor Cox said.
2018 Inky Awards Shortlist
Gold Inky Award Shortlist
Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology edited by Danielle Binks (HarperCollins Publishers)
Beautiful Mess by Claire Christian (Text Publishing)
Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell & Fiona Wood (Pan Macmillan)
Paper Cranes Don’t Fly by Peter Vu (Ford Street Publishing)
In the Dark Spaces by Cally Black (Hardie Grant Egmont)
Silver Inky Award Shortlist
Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King (Text Publishing)
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (HarperCollins)
Warcross by Marie Lu (Penguin Random House)
Release by Patrick Ness (Walker Books)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Walker Books)
Public voting is now open to teen readers at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Inky2018
Voting closes on 16 September at 5.30pm EST and the winners will be announced at State Library Victoria on October 2.
The Inky Awards were established in 2007 as Australia’s first national teen choice awards for young adult literature.
Time to sink our teeth into the latest data thanks to Pew Research Center’s Teens, Social Media and Technology 2018 Report.
Thirteen to seventeen year olds in America were surveyed earlier this year about their use of social media and technology, with the summarised findings released today.
Highlights include a shift away from the Facebook platform, increased ownership of devices (95% have access to a smartphone) and almost 45% reporting they are almost constantly online.
What can we take from this? Teens are, unsurprisingly, spending more time online than ever.
In terms of how we reach this audience to share news of our programs, services and YA literature generally it is worth noting the increase in usage of image-based platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram. These applications work best on mobile devices and are skewed to short, sharp bursts of information and visuals.
YouTube also ranks highly. While some evidence suggests YouTube has a positive impact for young people’s self esteem there are also concerns such as how it influences consumerism in this demographic.
Figures for gaming have also increased, up to a whopping 90% of teens regularly playing video games. Some people see games as filled with possibilities or breaking new storytelling ground, while other critics feel mainstream video games are failing to tell good stories.
Before moaning about the demise of the written word, it’s worth looking into how teens use YouTube and other platforms. From popular hashtags on Instagram such as #LoveOzYA and #bookstagram which encourage discovery of what their peers are reading to teens listening to free audiobooks via YouTube, there are plenty of ways to harness these technologies for good.
We understand many of you will be starting to consider your calendars for 2019 and are keen to hear about our plans for Reading Matters. The last few years it has taken place in the first half of the year but due to significant changes at State Library Victoria we have not set a date for the conference as yet.
Exciting changes are afoot (thanks to our Vision 2020 redevelopment), which means that all programming for 2019 and beyond is up in the air. As soon as we have any indication when the event may take place we will let you know.
In the meantime, if you’d like to keep up to date with any CYL news the best methods to do so are signing up to our newsletter and subscribe to follow the Read Alert blog.
We are pleased to announce that Story Camp will be continuing for the remainder of 2018.
The program is a chance for teens to meet and learn from some of Australia’s most exciting and inspiring storytellers. Artists such as Kirsty Murray, Candy Bowers, Texta Queen, Michael Pryor and Emilie Zoe Baker (EZB) have already participated in the project, with many more exciting storytellers coming up in future events.
This is a free school holiday workshop for 12 to 15-year-olds.
Open to: students from eligible schools
Age: 12–15 years
Cost: free
Dates: 3–5 July 2018; 2–4 October 2018
Time: 10am–2pm
Location: State Library Victoria
More information: call the Library’s Centre for Youth Literature team on 03 8664 7014, or email youthlit@slv.vic.gov.au
During the three-day workshop, Story Campers will:
For more information or to register your interest visit the State Library Victoria website.
Story Camp is presented by the Centre for Youth Literature at State Library Victoria, and supported by the Crown Resorts Foundation and Packer Family Foundation.
We are proud to announce the 2018 Inky Awards Longlist.
The longlist of 10 Australian and 10 international YA titles was selected by a panel of past Inky Awards judges, the Dog’s Advisory Board and Inside a Dog alumni, all young readers aged between 12 and 20 years.
And without further ado, the 2018 Inky Awards longlists…..
Gold Inky Award – Australian titles
Silver Inky Award – International titles
If you’re planning any Inky Awards related activities, we have a free downloadable poster featuring the marvelous longlist. We also have packs of Inky Awards bookmarks available for schools, libraries and bookshops – hit the link to order and have them delivered straight to you!
We also have toolkits for classroom teachers and librarians for free download. These toolkits contain activities and ways to engage with the Inky Awards.
Anyone questions you may have can be directed to the Centre for Youth Literature team at inkyawards@slv.vic.gov.au.
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