The second Young Readers Festival will take place from 11 to 22 March. Here are a few lines about the featured writers of the festival.
Andy Briggs
Andy is a British screenwriter, graphic novelist and author who has worked on film projects such as “Judge Dredd”, “Freddy vs Jason” and “Foreverman” for Spiderman creator Stan Lee and producer Robert Evans. This summer, Legendary – written by Andy who was also the executive producer – was filmed in China.
Andy went on to work at Warner Bros while at the same time landing an eight-book deal with Oxford University Press for Hero.com and Villain.net. His graphic novels include Kong: King of Skull Island, Ritual and Dinocorps.
He has recently rebooted the classic character Tarzan with his new books Tarzan: the Greystoke Legacy, Tarzan: The Jungle Warrior, and the forthcoming Tarzan: the Savage Lands.
David Seow
David is the author of 26 well-received children’s picture books including the Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di series, The Littlest Emperor and Monkey, The Classic Chinese Adventure Tale. In 2011, his books There’s Soup on My Fly! and Blow a Kiss were finalists for the SCBWI Crystal Kite Members’ Choice Award. That same year There’s Soup on My Fly was shortlisted for The National Book Development Council of Singapore’s Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award.
Ho Minfong
Minfong was born in Rangoon, Burma. She studied in Taiwan and received her M.F.A. from Cornell University. Her award-winning novels, which include Sing to the Dawn, Rice without Rain, and The Clay Marble, realistically depict her native Southeast Asia. She tackles difficult themes such as poverty, violent death, drought and starvation and weaves them with the stabilising influence of family throughout her work. Her works have been translated into Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, French and Korean. She lives in New York and conducts various writing workshops in middle and high schools.
Jan Latta
In 1994 Jan came face-to-face with a mountain gorilla in Rwanda, Africa. The experience changed her life. When her guide said there were only 600 gorillas left in the wild she was determined to do something to help.
She decided to publish books for children on endangered animals. But first she became a wildlife photographer so she could tell the animal’s stories in pictures as well as words.
Grandy the Gorilla, was the first book and twelve True to Life books followed. Each of her books is a true-to-life adventure with stunning photos of animals in their natural habitat. The books are also full of facts, maps, links to interesting websites and suggested readings.
Luka Lesson
Luka is the current Australian Poetry Slam Champion and co-director of The Centre for Poetics and Justice based in Melbourne, Australia, Luka has been active for many years in using hip-hop and poetry as a form of self-determination and awareness-raising for marginalised young people through community development projects. He has also taught Indigenous Studies at Monash University for the past two years and holds a first-class honours degree in the same field.
Dr Pam Macintyre
Pam teaches language, literacy and children’s and young adult literature at The University of Melbourne. She is the editor of the quarterly children’s book review journal, Viewpoint, and has been a judge for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Aurealis Awards and CBCA Book of the Year Awards. She is co-author of Knowing Readers: Unlocking the Pleasures of Reading, and most recently co-edited Things a Map Won’t Show You: Stories from Australia and Beyond. In 2009, Pam was awarded the prestigious Dromkeen Librarian Award for services to children’s literature.
Robert Newton
Robert lives in Melbourne with his wife and three daughters and works as a full-time firefighter with the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. His first novel, My Name is Will Thompson, was published in 2001. He has written four other novels for young people including Runner, set in the murky 1920s underworld of Richmond, Melbourne, and The Black Dog Gang, set in 1900s Sydney. He has won or been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the 2012 Prime Minister’s Young Adult Fiction Award for When We Were Two.
Sarah Webb
Sarah Webb is from Dublin, Ireland and writes for both children and adults. Her Ask Amy Green series for readers aged 10+ has been shortlisted twice for the Queen of Teen Awards in the UK and the Irish Book Awards. She is currently working on a new series for children, The Wishing Girls (2014) and a new novel for adults, The Memory Box (2013). She has also written many books for younger readers including Emma the Penguin and Sally Go Round the Stars (a nursery rhyme collection).
Formerly a children’s bookseller, Sarah now combines writing with visiting schools, volunteering at a creative writing centre, reading at festivals, and reviewing and writing about children’s books. She is the Children’s Curator of the Mountains to Sea Book Festival in Dublin and is on the board of Children’s Books Ireland, the Irish Trust for children’s books.
Check out the website for latest news: www.youngreadersfestival.org.hk
Event Date: Monday, March 11, 2013 to Friday, March 22, 2013
