Winner: Check out your name below to see if you WON new release: All of us Together.
Its an entertaining children’s novel dealing with challenges a family faces during the Great Depression.
Winner announced at the end of the blog…
Meet Bill Condon, award winning Australian author of All of Us Together.
I , Karen Tyrrell author, interview Bill chatting about his latest book…
Q: What is All of Us Together about?
A: When John O’Casey leaves his family to go in search of work, his wife Margaret is left to raise three young children, Daniel, Adelaide, and Lydia.
Daniel, the eldest, takes on the role of a leader, but as he discovers, it’s hard to be a man, especially for a boy who’s only twelve-years old.
All of Us Together is an entertaining book for children, set in a past era.
Q: Why did you write a book set in the Depression?
A: The idea for the book was planted in my head as a child when my parents told me about their Depression era experiences. I dutifully listened before filing the information away in the darkest corners of my brain. First I remembered my parent’s stories, then I Googled the Great Depression and read first-hand accounts of others from that time. Slowly I realized that this was something big and important.
Q: What were the difficulties you encountered?
A: When I first tackled the book I wrote it in third person and it didn’t work. So I gave up on it for about six months. This year I had another try, but I changed it to first person. To me, the immediacy of writing in that tense brought the book and its characters to life.
Q: Pretend you’ve just won a major award and you have the opportunity to make a speech thanking those who helped you in your career.
Who would you thank?
A: I thank my wife Di (Dianne Bates) who taught me how to write for kids. I’d mainly written stage plays for adults before meeting Di, and had never even read a children’s book. (I know, shame on me!).
The first publisher who gave me a chance was Cathie Tasker, who published four of my books when she was with Harper Collins. They were small books and certainly not prize contenders, but with them the door to the publishing world was nudged open.
Belinda Bolliger, who was then at Hodder Headline – now called Hachette, published my first young adult novel, Dogs. Prior to that I’d written mostly short and funny books, as well as poetry and plays. Dogs was a very different kind of book, often violent and dark. Belinda took a big risk in publishing it. To my great delight and surprise Dogs was named an Honour Book in the CBCA Awards.
My next YA novel was called No Worries. It was about a teenage boy whose mother suffered from manic depression. As with Dogs, it was hard-hitting and confrontational, perhaps too much so for many. Five publishers rejected it before I sent it to Leonie Tyle who was then with Queensland University Press. Leonie accepted it and went on to publish four more of my young adult novels. Whenever I had doubts, Leonie would gently urge me along. She’d send me inspirational quotes about writers. She’d phone me and ask how I was going. She was unfailingly supportive. And as with Di, Cathie, and Belinda, I’ll always be grateful to her.
Q: What publishing advice would you give to writers?
- Read work in the same genre you’re writing for.
- Be part of a small but select writing group.
- Read your work to others and listen to their advice.
- Strive for clarity in your writing.
Winner: All of Us Together is available from About Kids Books http://www.aboutkidsbooks.com/payment-methods or from any children’s bookstore.
Bill Condon has had four CBCA short-listed books. In 2010 he won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Junior Fiction.
Winner: Book Giveaway
Who wants to be a winner of a FREE copy of All of us Together?
Leave a comment below. Best answer will win a FREE print copy.
Winner announced HERE on the 12th December. Good luck 🙂 AUS only
Well, I’m not entirely sure what kind of a reply you’re looking for, so I suppose I’ll just write something as to why I’m interested in this book.
First off, he appears to have taken a difficult subject, and made it accessible for children, which is unusual. It’s unusual, because most children’s authors write about “happy” stuff – cuddly bears, and mummies, and “cutsie-wootsie” stuff like that.
Secondly, it looks rather interesting. I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but through all my years of reading, I’ve developed a sense to be able to tell whether a book is bad or not. And this one looks good.
Thirdly, a bookworm like me can never have too many books.
WOW! What a fabulous comment Ruth!
Thanks so much for leaving such a detailed, well thought out answer to why you would want to win a copy of All of Us Together.
Ruth, you are in the running of winning a signed copy of All of Us together!
Good luck !
Karen Tyrrell
What a great interview, Bill sounds like he paid a lot of attention listening to his grandparents. I myself have always been interested in the good old days, the depression era would have been difficult times to live in. If I win or not I will be looking for this one.
Hi Stuart,
Thanks so much for checking out my interview with Bill on his new book, All of Us Together.
Thanks too for leaving your comments referencing his grandparents and the depression era. Good luck in the book giveaway … Karen 🙂
What a great topic for a picture book. I remember my Dad and his siblings stories about the Great Depression and how it impacted their family. I love the cover illustration too – colourful, active, engaging.
Thanks Jeanette,
For leaving your insightful comment on All Of Us Together.
Love your description of the cover.
Good luck with the competition.
Many Thanks,
Karen 🙂
Comment ?!
Can’t wait to read the book!
Hi Sam,
Thanks for dropping by to check out my interview with Bill.
Love your Cheeky wink!
PS You’ll love All Of Us Together … I did! Cheers, Karen 🙂
Thanks for the great interview, Karen. It was wonderful to hear Bill’s journey to publication. ?
Stories about depression years don’t normally interest me now but when I was a child it would have been something I would love to have read. Love the cover.
Hi Vega,
Thanks so much for dropping by my website to check out my interview with Bill.
Thanks for leaving your comment on your childhood interests and the cover.
Good luck with the competition… Cheers, Karen:)
Hi Megan,
Thanks so much for dropping by my website to check out my interview with Bill.
Thrilled you enjoyed my interview on Bill’s journey to publication
Good luck with the book competition… Cheers, Karen:)
The idea for the book was planted in my head as a child when my parents told me about their Depression era experiences. I dutifully listened before filing the information away in the darkest corners of my brain. First I remembered my parent’s stories, then I Googled the Great Depression and read first-hand accounts of others from that time. Slowly I realized that this was something big and important.
Hello Bill
Two confessions up front first: I neither read children’s books nor do I have a family.
What I do have is an interest in the historical social fabric of my small community and like you I have unconsciously been storing remnants of overheard knowledge and gossip in the great filing cabinet in my brain. These snippets, of information together with research and personal interviews with residents, has allowed me to write an historical page for the local newspaper for slowly like you “… I realised that this was something big and important”.
With no formal writing experience, I have found doing these articles have allowed me to connect with people, inform and be I so bold as to say ‘educate’ many on our local history.
I am delighted to know that I am following along similar guidelines to you – thank you – albeit in a different genre.
Please do continue to write – for the enjoyment of every child, young and old.
Thanks, Karen and Bill. Recording the history of an era and also of families is important, and so much is lost with the last of each generation. Bill makes the past and all his stories absorbing by putting readers and characters we relate to through roller-coaster rides of changing emotions …so I look forward to reading this book and feeling alongside the O’Casey family in their joys and struggles.
Hi Peter,
Thanks for dropping by to check out my interview with Bill.
Thanks for your astute and very well thought out comment on historical fiction.
Cheers,
Karen 🙂
Hi Kim Maree,
Thanks for checking out the interview and leaving a detailed comment.
I wish you all the best in writing your own story … Kind regards, Karen Tyrrell 🙂