Beyond Books

Four copies of the book Pig the Pug translated into French.

Beyond Words: The complexity of translating Australian picture books 

National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature

Australians love an international success story! Using the NCACL’s marvellous collection of translated editions, I am working on a series of case studies demonstrating the ways in which Australian picture books are translated for overseas markets. 

Book titled The Canoe shows a boy in a canoe riding a wave.

Books that tell my story

The Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Children’s literature is ubiquitous in Australian classrooms with picture books playing a particularly important role in early childhood classrooms. Historically, the majority of children’s literature has featured White characters and perspectives, excluding many children from seeing themselves and their lives reflected in books. The aim of this study was to explore how an assessment task could change the attitudes of preservice teachers towards future classroom practice.

Animals friends sit around a campfire.

Talking animals: Anthropomorphism in children’s literature

May Gibbs 

Have you ever wondered why so many books for kids choose to use talking animals, rather than people, as the central characters?

Anthropomorphism in children’s literature helps create charming, memorable protagonists, but it’s also a powerful educational tool that’s been used since the earliest people told stories. 

Bush baby from May Gibbs

Bush babies to treehouses: 100 Years of Australian children’s books

May Gibbs 

If you go down to your local bookstore today, you probably won’t be at all surprised to see hundreds of Australian children’s books filling the shelves.

But it wasn’t always thus. Writing for children is a relatively recent thing on the greater scale of literary history.

Two children admire a range of dogs of different shapes and sizes.

Darcy Does Things Differently

Blast Off, The School Magazine

DARCY Dawson Donnelly was a very distinguished dog who suddenly found himself solo in his senior years. Then Darcy met Dawn. 

Book cover shows a man picking coffee beans.

Culturally relevant reading books for Papua New Guinean children

Australasian Journal of Early Childhood

Children have a right both to read and to see their lives mirrored in books. In this study we explored young Papua New Guinean children’s reading preferences of 500 digital books. 

Two hands are typing on a computer.

Grief, ghosts and giving yourself permission

WQ Magazine

Quiz time. Which would you choose: A room of one’s own, or a room with a view? They’re equally appealing to most writers – and never moreso than in the age of lockdowns and limitations. The first time I settled myself into the Queensland Writers Centre’s ‘Fishbowl’, pulling the velvet curtain behind me and gazing out past the book stacks towards the Brisbane river, it dawned on me: I had found both!

A child is holding their eyes wide open.

Open, shut them 

Nightmare Fuel Magazine

Nightmare Fuel is an online magazine for dark fiction and poetry by Australian writers. Stories must be 666 words or shorter. 

Meat cooking on a fire

It’s A Tradition 

Nightmare Fuel Magazine

Nightmare Fuel is an online magazine for dark fiction and poetry by Australian writers. Stories must be 666 words or shorter.Â