The 9th national conference of the Children's Book Council of Australia, to be held in Melbourne from 2 to 4 of May, will be opened by Astrid Lindgren award-winner Sonya Hartnett.

Hartnett, who was recently awarded the $80,000-plus Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award--the world's largest literary prize for children's and YA literature--will officially open the three-day conference and expo, which will take place at the Melbourne Convention Centre, with satellite events taking place around the city and surrounds.

‘The Children's Book Council of Australia, in applauding this outstanding achievement, have invited Sonya Hartnett to officially open their "All the Wild Wonders" conference and expo, where Australia's children's and YA literature community will celebrate together,' CBCA spokesperson Margaret Hamilton said.

Among the many other authors attending this year's conference are Shaun Tan and US author Neil Gaiman.

For further details on the conference, visit www.iceaustralia.com/cbca2008

This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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