Can LIANZA , et al, have a look at Melina Merchetta talking to Penguin TV?

How mornings start.
I started this morning with a bunch of emails, some of which agreed with my comment in the previous post that LIANZA - even if they should have waited a bit longer to iron out the bugs on their new site - would indeed be better served now by concentrating on their content editorial plan.

Outside of a Dog. 
Then the post brought a review copy of Rick Gekoski's Outside of A Dog. Gekoski is appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival, so I'm keen to read this account of 'the intricate relationship between reading and his life'.

Naturally he acknowledges [on the inside cover] that his title is a riff from the famous Groucho March quote -  'Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.'

Inside a Dog - SLV
This quote is also the riff for the State Library of Victoria, Inside a Dog -  their web site on reading - writing et al, for YA's .So I decided to boogie on over for a catch up - and guess what - squaring the circle - I found gold - courtesy of this brilliant interview with Australian  YA author, Melina Marchetta.


Melina MarchettaLIANZA
This is a beautiful interview. I love the Sydney inner city back garden - her attitude - the honesty - the writing the city texture- and of course the sun. It's Australia on a stick! Love it to bits. And made by Penguin TV. See above - or go here to see it in situ.

Penguin TV
Penguin TV?  I had no idea Penguin Australia were remotely as cool as this - bringing readers to writers - books out on the screen. Total respect to you. This is a lovely piece of work, and if LIANZA, or indeed the public libraries of NZ/Australia want a benchmark for their content/editorial plan - they have to watch this now.

Then they might ask the local publishers how they can help?