Festivalling...

I have been festivalling, drinking up the observations of writers at The Melbourne Writers Festival. I have been to a young adult day and a few more adult things. I came away with some great suggestions for books to read... and I have read a few of them!

I read a series by a YA writer Justine Labastier, the Magic or Madness trilogy. These books seemed aimed at the tweenie end of the YA market and are based on the idea that using magic comes at a cost. Justine's biography is inspiring - she decided to be a novellist and got a contract based on her idea! Magic in these becomes becomes a metaphor for temptation and causes a conflict or two within Sarafina's magic family. The settings are the best things about these books. Courtesty of magical portal Newtown, New York and the outback are bought to life rather vividly. I also read the first of the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfield. I liked the authentic sense of teenage life he created.

I also discovered Lisa Unger an American crime writer. I read her novel Sliver of Truth and was rather swept away by it. I love the world she created and that characters were never as they seemed.

I also went to a great session on writing the Holocaust. I went for work, really, because I'll be teaching a book Once by Morris Gleitzman. But one other the other panellists, Thomas Buergenthal spoke about his life and his memoir A Lucky Child. I came home and read this book in one sitting. I was struck by the understatement of his story, when so many Holocaust narrative highlight the drama.