The Anzac Billy and more

I missed April 1 this year. It sailed right on by with nary a peep …

Not that I celebrate it particularly, but I just didn’t notice it, nor connect the day with the date at all.

Happy Launch Day to The Anzac Billy! Officially released on 1 April, I launched it at Dromkeen as part of the Dromkeen Literary Festival. Mark Wilson was to launch it but last minute events saw Corinne Fenton stepping in. Big thanks Corinne!

We’d just returned from a week up north, but despite being far away, the news of Dingo’s shortlisting for the CBCA New Illustrator Award filtered through. How exciting! Very happy to see Tannya’s work being noticed – it’s so beautiful.

We were doing some sorting up north and turned up many treasures. There were letters I’d written when our boys were small and when we were contemplating living without a toilet and shower for the duration of renovations. Amazing what you forget!

In preparing for the release of The Anzac Billy, I’d been searching out artefacts to include in a billy, but had been unable to find a razor from the time. But I found one! Still in it’s box and identifying it’s owner, it’s identical to the one Mark Jackson has drawn in the endpapers. What a find

I know this post is jumping forward and back, but just consider it a reflection of my mind. Scary? You betcha. Stream of consciousness …

At Dromkeen, I met a lovely library tech and her daughter who are sending me some of the current (or almost current) contents of army ration packs. I’ll take them to schools with the billy to help students understand the life of a soldier. All these things help young students to imagine a time other than their own, a life not like theirs