So as I'm writing this sentence as I'm on the train coming home from the Inky Writers Awards. For those who don't know, this is an award where young adults are able to decide what young adult books are good. It seems like something that is given; young adults critiquing young adult books, but unfortunately it is not something very well practised. This is why the Inky awards are very important and why I'm so honoured to have been there.
I'm going to apologise in advance because I did not bring my baby (aka my canon camera), so the photos you are about to see, will be very blurry.
So the day started off very stressful because my local train station is being remodelled and I did not know. I had to make different plans to get to the State Library of Victoria. Luckily I was successful and made it to the city with time to spare. It's actually very fortunate that I had time to spare because I actually became sort of lost. I'm using 'sort of', when I actually mean 'very'. While I have blogged in their You're The Voice program, I have never been physically inside the library. I have seen it many times and admired the building from outside before, yet I have never actually set though in it. (I know, I know. I'm very ashamed.) From the outside the building looks big, but when you're walking in it, you will discover that it is not just big, it is gigantic. I did not have time to fully explore it because I had to find the ceremony, but I fully into on doing so one day. That library is so big and beautiful it's just very intimidating when you first enter. There are just so many places you can venture.
When I actually found where I was supposed to go I was greeted by someone who I shall not name because I did not ask for her permission. I know that she knows about my blog though and if she's reading this I want to say thank you so much. You are a wonderful human being who made me feel so welcome.
Okay I got off the train and am now home. Now I shall continue this post. :) So after I went into a room that was bright red and 'red room filled with pictures of angry looking white men'. The room admittedly was very red and had many paintings in them.
Okay I got off the train and am now home. Now I shall continue this post. :) So after I went into a room that was bright red and 'red room filled with pictures of angry looking white men'. The room admittedly was very red and had many paintings in them.
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| A picture of the room in question. |
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| The lovely Gabrielle Tozer, telling the audience what inspired her book, The Intern. |
Then was the actual ceremony part of the night. The shortlist was filled with amazing books, but in the end there would only be two winners; one for the Gold Inky (Australian books) and one for the Silver Inky (international). Ultimately Rainbow Rowell won the Silver Inky for her novel Fangirl. Congratulations to her! I really enjoyed her novel. I actually have a review up on that book that you can read here. She was not able to come in person, but she sent a very lovely video. Then it was time for the Gold Inky that was awarded to, duN dUN DUN, Gabrielle Tozer!
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| Gabrielle Tozer with her award and Inky the mascot! |
After the ceremony there were refreshments and the audience were given a chance to talk to the authors and the teen judges. I had a conversation with the teen judges and they were all so wonderful and nice! They were so down to Earth and fun to talk to. I'm afraid that I looked like a total weirdo just coming up and asking for their picture for my blog. Although they were very welcoming and did such an amazing job. There were many judges but I only spoke to 4. It was very cool because some (two if my memory is right) teen judges flew interstate to be there. After that I was awkwardly standing there looking like a loner because I wanted to talk to some authors. It was weird standing alone in a crowded room, but most of the time the authors were in a conversation and I did not want to interrupt them. I did see a friend though and for a fraction of the time I did not look like a loner. *laughs awkwardly*
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| The beautiful/handsome teen judges. (From left to right: Oliver, Melanie, Jamiee and Genevieve) |
I was able to talk to Alice Pung and give her a fan mail letter from my friend who loved her book. he was actually the one who recommended Laurinda to me. Shout out to Ted. :D I was also very fortunate and spoke to Clair Zorn. I absolutely love her book The Protected. It made me cry so much. I told her that and when she signed my book she wrote 'sorry for making you cry'. She is so funny and was very nice when I spoke to her. It feels so surreal that I met her. I also got to talk to Gabrielle Tozer, who was so wonderful and humble. She said she was very surprised to win. The Intern is her debut novel and since she just received a Gold Inky award for it, my prediction is that she will have a very long and successful career. It's a funny story actually, I was standing alone for about 10m minutes waiting for her to finish her conversation, until I was introduced to her by a friend. It was just so incredibly awkward standing there. I'm sure I looked like a creeper. I also need to apologise for using awkward so many times. There just aren't many more words I can use and I have checked the thesaurus. My life sometimes feels like a series of awkward events that span for years.
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| Just a casual selfie with Gabrielle Tozer. |
Today has been amazing. I had the opportunity to met many authors and other likeminded teens. This is such an important event because it really celebrates young adult opinions on books made for young adults. I am so grateful to have been invited to this event and had an amazing time. Go Inky! :)
-The Girl With Her Head in The Clouds
aka Kellie ♡
