National acclaim for outstanding RMIT teaching

We were delighted to hear recently that Gloria Latham is one of six RMIT University academics honoured next month by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council for their innovative teaching. We work closely with Gloria each year on the annual author visit as well as the first year orientation quiz. Her dedication and enthusiasm to improving student learning experience is always very apparent. We asked Gloria to comment on this blog last year about her teaching and research interests. Congratulations Gloria!

Carnegie Medal & Kate Greenaway Medal winners announced

The winners of the 2009 Carnegie Medal (for an outstanding book for children) and the Kate Greenaway Medal (for distinguished illustration in a book for children) have been announced.

The winner of the Carnegie Medal was awarded posthumously to  Siobhan Dowd for her book Bog Child. It is described on the Readings site:

Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds the body of a child, and it looks like she’s been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him – his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his parents arguing over the Troubles, and him in it up to the neck, blackmailed into acting as courier to God knows what, a little voice comes to him in his dreams, and the mystery of the bog child unfurls. Bog Child is an astonishing novel exploring the sacrifices made in the name of peace, and the unflinching strength of the human spirit.

The winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal is Harris Finds His Feet by Catherine Rayner. Again, described on the Readings site:

Harris was a very small hare with very big feet. “Why do I have such enormous feet, Grand dad?” Harris sighed . . . Grand dad shows Harris how to hop high into the sky, to climb to the tops of the mountains, and to run very fast. Harris not only learns about the world around him, but also the importance of finding his own feet.

Hazel Edwards at RMIT University Library, Bundoora

The Library and the School of Education have organised their annual children’s author visit for quite a few years now. It is generally organised to coordinate with one the School courses but is open to all RMIT staff and students who are interested. In past years we have had Doug MacLeod, Morris Gleitzman, Leigh Hobbs, Carole Wilkinson and Shaun Tan.  Last year we were enthralled by Shaun Tan’s unusual illustrative talents and the students were genuinely motivated and interested in hearing his writing story.

This year we welcome a very different, but no less acclaimed and accomplished author.  Hazel Edwards may be best known for ‘There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake’ (and a recent official Australian government gift to the Danish Princess), but she also writes for older children and adults. Her latest works about to be released is a picture book about 13, a platypus who is a part-time plumber with a tool kit for fixing grumpy people and she will be releasing a new Hippopotamus book in 2010 to celebrate the series 30th Anniversary.

In 2001 as the Australian Antarctic Division writer, Hazel Edwards was part of a resupply expedition to Casey Station, and researched her subsequent Antarctic writing. Since she writes for children and adults, her cross-media Antarctic stories have unique perspectives ranging from the e-mail links to keep expeditioner families in touch during remote winters, to vehicles, icebergs and wildlife. Her stories are animated, illustrated, photographed, in Braille and even Auslan signed DVDs for hearing impaired.

“Being an author means the opportunity to live more intensively by participant observation in places like Antarctic expeditions, but also by using imagination and asking ‘What if?’ as in the creation of the cake-eating hippo. Sometimes books travel even further than the author, into the minds and actions of readers”.

We are delighted to announce that Hazel Edwards will speak to students at:

RMIT University Library,  Bundoora 
 level one
on Friday 14th August
9.30 – 10.30am
Morning tea provided.  All welcome!
For more details contact June Frost on 99256576 or email: june.frost@rmit.edu.au