A journey through my Golden Age of Children's Books and their Creators |
Hello, and welcome to my site. My name is Brenton Cullen - I'm a book reviewer, interviewer, bookseller, writer of articles on books/authors/publishing industry, advocate for Australian children's books (classic & current), and in my 'spare' time, I write picture books and middle-grade fiction.
Welcome to my site, which chronicles my passion project. I love to hear from any interested parties who are excited by my proposed project, as outlined below, so please do contact me via email:
brentoncullen71[AT]gmail[DOT]com
to say hello, offer your own experiences of the 80s & 90s era of children's books, your contributions in that time (perhaps you were a librarian or bookseller or publicist or editor!) or else let's just chat about favourite books or authors from that time!. I sincerely would love to hear from you.
What is 'The Golden Age' project and website?
This website is to document the ongoing journey of a personal passion project of mine (which has been in the works most of my life, germinating in the back of my mind) - the research and writing of a biography of the 'Golden Age' of children's fiction in Australia, from the 1980s to the early 2000s. The working title for the book is: The Golden Age: a journey through the renaissance of Australian children's fiction.
While I research and write the book in my time-frame goal of 2-3 years, this website will be a working document filled with goodies like:
So why a 'Golden Age'?
I see the 80s-2000s as a Golden Age because it is the era through which I grew up, with the books of that time being the ones that shaped me as a reader and writer. Expanding upon the working project of this website, I endeavour to, in my goal of writing The Golden Age, analyse children's picture books, junior novels, and YA fiction that make up this 'Golden Age' of children's lit, interview their authors, and research this special era in Australian publishing to present a history of the time.
Above all, I want to ensure the authors and books of the Golden Age will be appreciated, respected, and never forgotten.
RATIONALE for 'The Golden Age' book:
Logline:
To research and write a biographical book on the history of Australian children's fiction, and its creators, from the Golden Age period of 1980 to 2005.
Why is this book necessary?:
I feel it is important to write this book in order to celebrate, explore, and cherish this creative and innovative point of time in publishing history. Preservation of this Golden Age is of paramount importance to ensure the works and authors are passed onto future generations of readers. The ground-breaking writers of the time wrote books that made impact, with themes and stories on all kinds of social issues, LGBT+ themes, emergence of fantasy YA, gritty realism, and humorous teen fiction.
Who would want to read this and why?
Nostalgia is huge, for all of us. If the books from this period of time is a Golden Age for me, think of the other readers, fans and literature students who feel the same. Think of the writers, editors, publishers, illustrators with fond memories of the 90s, when children's writers finally were afforded the respect and attention they deserve.
I want the books and writers of this era to be acknowledged and respected for all they have done and play a small part in preserving this special time in children's book history for future generations of readers, writers, teachers, literature researchers, and nostalgic fans .
So what will actually be in 'The Golden Age' book?
1. To read, analyse, and research children's picture books, junior novels, and YA novels from the Golden Age era of Australia 'kid lit' (I pinpoint this to be 1980 - 2000: the timeframe during when the majority of books I was shaped by in childhood were published)
2. To interview and correspond with authors, illustrators, editors, publishers, book designers, literary agents, and reviewers who were in existing careers, or just starting out, during the Golden Age. I want to hear their stories, triumphs, reflections and experiences of creating children's literature in that time: I want to learn about the trends and themes in, the critical responses to, and all-round experiences of, Australian children's literature.
3. Expanding upon sources and archives I possess, I aim to amass research materials relating to the Golden Age - I endeavour to collect memorabilia pertaining to children's books of the 80s-2000s e.g. interview transcripts with creators, book launch invitations, articles from magazines/newspaper, book reviews, manuscript drafts, publicity materials for book campaigns, etc. Any materials like this that offer insight into the Golden Age, relevant to my research, I aim to catalogue and refer to.
4. To fund excursions to the National Centre for Australian Children's Literature in Canberra and the VIC and NSW State Libraries in order to access their catalogues and archives of books and author manuscript files to accomplish a large portion of research from these, from these avenues offering a wealth of information.
5. To the best of my ability, write an honest, informative account of the Golden Age, staying true to my love of the books and the authors, in order to make sure this book, and this project, will capture a special time in literature's history that must never be forgotten.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own all images of various book covers or author images on this site and make no claim of doing so. I have made efforts to seek all copyright owners of photos I didn't take and welcome anyone who can make me aware of the credits deserving to each photo. Images used for review and research purposes and nothing else.
Welcome to my site, which chronicles my passion project. I love to hear from any interested parties who are excited by my proposed project, as outlined below, so please do contact me via email:
brentoncullen71[AT]gmail[DOT]com
to say hello, offer your own experiences of the 80s & 90s era of children's books, your contributions in that time (perhaps you were a librarian or bookseller or publicist or editor!) or else let's just chat about favourite books or authors from that time!. I sincerely would love to hear from you.
What is 'The Golden Age' project and website?
This website is to document the ongoing journey of a personal passion project of mine (which has been in the works most of my life, germinating in the back of my mind) - the research and writing of a biography of the 'Golden Age' of children's fiction in Australia, from the 1980s to the early 2000s. The working title for the book is: The Golden Age: a journey through the renaissance of Australian children's fiction.
While I research and write the book in my time-frame goal of 2-3 years, this website will be a working document filled with goodies like:
- transcripts and videos of interviews with authors, illustrators, editors, children's literature experts
- reading lists and reviews in the Blog of books from the Golden Age, as I explore and discuss current favourites and uncover 'new-to-me' books from the 80s/90s/2000s.
- articles, scans, reviews, manuscript draft pages, and a whole assortment of mementoes pertaining to books and writers from the Golden Age.
- a page with in-depth analysis of my five favourite authors, and their books, of the 'Golden Age' - Emily Rodda, Wendy Orr, Libby Gleeson, Libby Hathorn, & Jackie French.
- biographical profiles and reviews of lesser-known books from the Golden Age, as an effort to acknowledge and celebrate their worthy contributions.
- links to blogs/websites and organisations that are devoted to supporting and preserving Australian children's literature.
So why a 'Golden Age'?
I see the 80s-2000s as a Golden Age because it is the era through which I grew up, with the books of that time being the ones that shaped me as a reader and writer. Expanding upon the working project of this website, I endeavour to, in my goal of writing The Golden Age, analyse children's picture books, junior novels, and YA fiction that make up this 'Golden Age' of children's lit, interview their authors, and research this special era in Australian publishing to present a history of the time.
Above all, I want to ensure the authors and books of the Golden Age will be appreciated, respected, and never forgotten.
RATIONALE for 'The Golden Age' book:
Logline:
To research and write a biographical book on the history of Australian children's fiction, and its creators, from the Golden Age period of 1980 to 2005.
Why is this book necessary?:
I feel it is important to write this book in order to celebrate, explore, and cherish this creative and innovative point of time in publishing history. Preservation of this Golden Age is of paramount importance to ensure the works and authors are passed onto future generations of readers. The ground-breaking writers of the time wrote books that made impact, with themes and stories on all kinds of social issues, LGBT+ themes, emergence of fantasy YA, gritty realism, and humorous teen fiction.
Who would want to read this and why?
Nostalgia is huge, for all of us. If the books from this period of time is a Golden Age for me, think of the other readers, fans and literature students who feel the same. Think of the writers, editors, publishers, illustrators with fond memories of the 90s, when children's writers finally were afforded the respect and attention they deserve.
I want the books and writers of this era to be acknowledged and respected for all they have done and play a small part in preserving this special time in children's book history for future generations of readers, writers, teachers, literature researchers, and nostalgic fans .
So what will actually be in 'The Golden Age' book?
- Part 1 of the planned book will cover a general history of the children's publishing scene through the Golden Age, exploring key players (authors, publishers, editors, etc), trends and themes (divvied into 'Picture Books', 'Junior Fiction', 'YA', categories), and topics such as the growing theme of short-story collections, series books (Tadpoles, Supa Doopers, Aussie Nibbles, etc) , growing amount of media attention and industry respect for children's books & writers, and an overview of industry at large as this new wave of innovative children's and YA works were being produced.
- Part 2 would feature interview transcripts with an array of creators and supporters of books, with in-depth questions and answers and reflections on their memories of the children's publishing industry during the Golden era.
- Finally, Part 3 would encompass biographies of my personal 5 favourite authors from the Golden Age, 'The Authors Who Shaped Me', and offer in-depth analysis of their most prominent works between the 80s and early 2000s
- All in all, the question I asked at the beginning of the book will come to a head at the completion of Part 3: "What made this era a Golden Age of children's books?'
- MY GOALS TO ACHIEVE THIS PROJECT
1. To read, analyse, and research children's picture books, junior novels, and YA novels from the Golden Age era of Australia 'kid lit' (I pinpoint this to be 1980 - 2000: the timeframe during when the majority of books I was shaped by in childhood were published)
2. To interview and correspond with authors, illustrators, editors, publishers, book designers, literary agents, and reviewers who were in existing careers, or just starting out, during the Golden Age. I want to hear their stories, triumphs, reflections and experiences of creating children's literature in that time: I want to learn about the trends and themes in, the critical responses to, and all-round experiences of, Australian children's literature.
3. Expanding upon sources and archives I possess, I aim to amass research materials relating to the Golden Age - I endeavour to collect memorabilia pertaining to children's books of the 80s-2000s e.g. interview transcripts with creators, book launch invitations, articles from magazines/newspaper, book reviews, manuscript drafts, publicity materials for book campaigns, etc. Any materials like this that offer insight into the Golden Age, relevant to my research, I aim to catalogue and refer to.
4. To fund excursions to the National Centre for Australian Children's Literature in Canberra and the VIC and NSW State Libraries in order to access their catalogues and archives of books and author manuscript files to accomplish a large portion of research from these, from these avenues offering a wealth of information.
5. To the best of my ability, write an honest, informative account of the Golden Age, staying true to my love of the books and the authors, in order to make sure this book, and this project, will capture a special time in literature's history that must never be forgotten.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own all images of various book covers or author images on this site and make no claim of doing so. I have made efforts to seek all copyright owners of photos I didn't take and welcome anyone who can make me aware of the credits deserving to each photo. Images used for review and research purposes and nothing else.
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