Sharyn Killens is better known as Sharyn Crystal, a successful Australian singer and entertainer. But her life wasn't always glamorous and her childhood was at times a living hell. The Inconvenient Child is the true account of her extraordinary journey to success and her quest to discover her African-American heritage. Sharyn and Lindsay have been friends for twenty years and met during their time as entertainers. Their close relationship and music background makes for a lively yet emotional author talk, keeping their audience enthralled as they recount Sharyn's extraordinary story and her often difficult journey through life. This story is not all heartbreak - it's a story of triumph, faith, success and joy.

Come along and hear the story of The Inconvenient Child at one of these locations:

Orange City Library, Monday 7 June at 1pm

Forbes Library Wednesday 9 June at 2pm

Cowra Library Thursday 10 June at 10.30am

Please RSVP by calling the Library you wish to attend.

Come along to a poetry launch and reading from a group of talented poets who have produced their own collection called Cloudland. Poets include group facilitator Deb Westbury, from the Blue Mountains, and Di Brooks based in the Central West. The book will be for sale and you can meet and talk with the poets and enjoy hearing them read their works. The launch takes place from 2-4pm on Sunday 28 March at Orange City Library. Enjoy!!

You are invited to support these local writers when they launch:

Lifting the Lid on Quiet Achievers by Kerrie Phipps with a chapter by local writer Mary Brell - goes behind the scenes to discover secret thoughts of successful entrepreneurs in regional Australia

AND

Growing Great Families by Fiona Rossiter - a book filled with ideas and tips about starting or being a family, time management, budgeting, health and much, much more.

Come along on Wednesday 24 March 5.30pm for 6pm start Orange City Library, Byng Street, RSVP by calling 6393 8132. The event is supported by Book City.

A book launch for The Long Way Home - by Jo Bailey with Ronnie Sabin will be held in these locations tomorrow Friday 12 March: Meet the authors at the front of Jayes Gallery and Cafe from 10am - 12 noon, 31 - 33 Gidley Street, Molong or Boomers' Bookshop, City Centre, Orange 2pm - 4pm. The book is promoted as the story of Fairbridge Farm School that needs to be told. "At last a balanced account of life at Fairbridge through the eyes of Ronnie Sabin, who for six years in the 1950s called Fairbridge Farm School at Molong home. Often hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching, The Long Way Home adds a positive perspective to the Child Migrant Scheme debate. It pays tribute to Fairbridge and details Ronnie's delight as finally being reunited with his family in England after 55 years." It retails for $29.95

The recent book launch for Charlotte Calder's new children's book Stuck! illustrated by Mark Jackson and published by Walker Books raised more than $400 for the Children's Medical Research Institute. A large crowd gathered at Orange City Libray to hear Charlotte talk about the process of writing the book and having it illustrated. Orange members of the Children's Medical Research Institute served delicious food including mini quiches, sandwiches, cheeses and fruit at the event. The event was also supported by Book City. Congratulations to all involved and everyone who attended for being so generous.

One warm and windy day, Charlie and his friends decide to fly a kite. It takes off and soars and swoops and plunges straight into a tree. The kite is stuck. One by one, Charlie's friends each try to free the kite with their toys all of which end up stuck in the tree along with the kite. Just when it looks as though everything is stuck forever, the cat loses its footing on a branch and sets off a chain reaction, sending their toys to the ground. But guess who is stuck now?"

Orange City Library together with Book City and Children's Medical Research Institute present Charlotte Calder reading her new children's book Stuck! beautifully illustrated by Mark Jackson, published by Walker Books at Storytime 11am on Tuesday 25 August at Orange City Library.

You can also meet Charlotte and help this local author launch the book during Children's Book Week at the Charlotte Calder Author Talk Tuesday 25 August, 5.30pm for 6pm, refreshments served at Orange City Library, Byng Street, Orange. Your $5 donation supports the Children's Medical Research Institute. Please RSVP to 6393 8132

Okay, it's new, it's different - it is here to stay. The Poem of the Month aims to enrich your life with imagery and words and our first is by Central West writer Kim Core who launches her first book of poetry titled in the NAKED FLAME at Cowra Library on Saturday 23 May 2pm - 4pm. Kim has been inspired by many of Australia's foremost poets and she names several - Rosemary Dobson, Ron Stevens, Grant Caldwell and Les Murray as whom she most admires. In the NAKED FLAME is a collection of poems inspired by Kim's reading of Shakespeare's Sonnets. You are invited to meet this passionate poet and help her successfully launch in the NAKED FLAME. She will be assisted by the Cowra Music and Dramatic Society and Friends of the Cowra Library. Special guests include poets Geoffrey Lehmann and Jacqueline Buswell. Everyone is welcome to attend.

***Makes My Heart Sing*** by Kim Core

we live in such a world

of hurry

and it's not that I

would like to slow it down

forever

however

I would like to prolong

some special

movements/sounds

like

the mouse's zigzagging dart

the kookaburra's laugh

the look in an eagle's eye

as it catches mine

before it goes in

for the kill

I would like

to be able

to transmit a message

that redirects his flight path

lets another wild thing

live

I like to hear the wind

breathe

its sigh of relief

Leone Healy was born in historic Carcoar, central Western New South Wales, in 1937 and her childhood was spent on an isolated farm. She went onto become a nurse. The birth of her fourth child, who is deaf, transformed the quiet country mouse into a snarling tiger, who fought for equal opportunities for the education of deaf children, and became politically active. She became the first woman elected to Orange City Council, saved parkland from housing development, and has a park named after her. In retirement, she wrote UP! to foster understanding of deafness, winning the best self-published Australian Book in 2002. Her new book A Country Childhood will be launched by Frances Press, CSU Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood. A Country Childhood details Leone's life growing up and her life as a nurse, mother, social scientist, public servant and advocate for deaf children. The book is 'an emblematic Australian story about convict ancestry, loss in the Great War, and the simple country life of last century'. It will be held at the Neville Community Hall, on Saturday 16 May from 2pm - 4pm. For more information about the author go to her website www.leonehealy.com

The HarperCollins Varuna Awards for manuscript development 2008/2009 are now open. Two new novels developed through this program will be launched early in 2009 –Tasmanian Katherine Johnson's thrilling novel of a sea-chase in the icy Southern Ocean, Pescador's Wake, and South Australian writer Siew Siang Tay's sensitive and beautifully sad evocation of the world of the mail-order bride, Handpicked.

The essential feature of the program is that 5 senior HarperCollins editors select 5 projects and work with 5 writers in the supportive residential environment of Varuna –The Writers' House in the Blue Mountains of NSW. This is a wonderful opportunity for engagement and industry experience, and often for profound and unexpected development for both writer and editor. There's no guarantee of publication, but manuscripts are selected on the basis of their potential for publication.

If you're serious about a project of fiction or narrative non-fiction, and if it is developed to the point where an editor would have something solid and absorbing to work with, an application to the HarperCollins Varuna Awards for Manuscript Development is a valuable port of call. In the cases of Katherine Johnson and Siew Siang Tay it was the turning point in their writing careers.

Applications for the 2008/2009 program are now open (deadline October 30 2008) and full information, including guidelines and application forms, is available at www.varuna.com.au