Writers Talk 2009 : Sydney Writers Festival

At this year's Sydney Writer's Festival the amazing Centre for Learning Innovation interviewed a selection of participating authors. I was one of them and you can check out the short video pieces on how I go about the crazy biz of writing here. There's also a reading from Mac Slater book 1.

Other authors interviewed on the site are Danny Katz, Mitch Vane, Morris Gleitzman, Isobelle Carmody, James Roy, Mark McLeod, Mal Peet, Garth Nix, Tohby Riddle and Randa Abdel-Fattah. I feel honoured to be in amongst such extraordinary talent!

The site is a very cool resource for emerging writers and keen readers.

www.tristanbancks.com

Nit Boy Sydney Launch!

Hey

Here are some pics taken at the  launch of my Nit Boy book series in Sydney - a roundtable milkshake session at Shearer's Bookshop on Norton Street, Leichardt. The milkshakes were deeply good. No skimping on flavour. Big thanks to Sonia, Barbara and Tony at Shearer's for all their hard work!

www.tristanbancks.com

The Shak Mac Slater Review and Interview

I just put up a review and interview on Mac Slater, Coolhunter 2: I Heart NY on Youtube. It's from Channel Nine's afternoon show, The Shak.

It's here. Thanks to the producers for letting me put it up!

T.

www.tristanbancks.com

Changing the World... Again?

Hey

Someone left this as an Anonymous comment on my blog today:

'I know your really busy but did you quit trying to change the world? I think that's sad if you did!'

See, I made this film about kids changing the world based on the book, Change the World for Ten Bucks.

But, lately, I've had a couple of books published and I've been writing a lot but not necessarily thinking much about small world-changing actions. The equation goes that

Small Actions x Lots of Peeps = Big Change. And I really believe in this.

I'm working on the Whiteout project with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, creating an e-book with high school students that focusses on the destruction of the reef. We'll present it at Brisbane Writers Fest this year. But I should be doing a lot more and building on what I began with my film.

So thanks Anonymous. I'm gonna get off my butt and do something again. Watch this space.

T.

www.tristanbancks.com

Inside a Dog Blog

Hey

I’m a little late announcing this but Tempany Deckert, the co-writer on my new novel it’s yr life, and I are blogging this month over at Inside a Dog (www.insideadog.com.au), the YA book site.

We’re blogging about how our backgrounds as actors, writers, directors in TV and film have affected our work as authors. We’re also talking about the experience of writing a book via email and how the web can be used to find new ways of telling stories.

Hope you get a chance to head over to the doghouse and join the debate.

Cheers.

T.

www.itsyrlifebook.com

it's yr life IM / Email Writing Competition

You're invited to write a micro-story based on the writing process Tempany Deckert and I used on our email-written book, IT’S YR LIFE. We’d love you to write a story as a series of emails or IMs between two characters. You have to tell your story in just eight messages (four from each character) of three or four lines each message. You can either write it by yourself or with a writing partner. Full deets are at www.itsyrlifebook.com

It’s open to any Australian resident under eighteen. The winner will have their entry published over at www.itsyrlifebook.com and two hours of writing advice and feedback from Temp and I.

You can email us the story or you can submit via Myspace.

Good luck! Can’t wait to read what you come up with.

www.tristanbancks.com

it's yr life - YA Novel on Shelves

Hey

it's yr life, my new YA novel, co-written via email with my friend, Tempany Deckert,  is on shelves now. Temp and I met as teen actors on TV series, Home and Away, and we've re-teamed to write this novel. 

Last week, we met in Sydney and did some interviews for TV Week, New Idea, TV Hits, radio and so on. It was the second time we'd seen each other in thirteen years! This, despite having written a book together between our homes in L.A. and Byron Bay.

The book's getting some good reviews. Here are the latest:

Persnickety Snark

The Reading Stack

More over at www.itsyrlifebook.com

Nit Boy: 3D Animated Trailer Online

Hey

We’ve just put the finishing touches on the animated trailer for my new book series, Nit Boy. I love it! We're currently developing a TV series based on the characters, too. 

The trailer was made as a collaboration between friends and new-found family of mine in Sydney, Melbourne and North Coast NSW. We've sent it back and forth to one another over the past few weeks and, finally, here it is...

www.youtube.com/tristanbancks

www.myspace.com/tristanbancks

I’d love you to rate it, favourite it or comment if you get a chance.

Cheers. Soon I'll post an update on update on my adventures at Sydney Writers Festival and Reading Matters in Melbourne. It's been a wild couple of weeks.

Tristan.

Nitboy

You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll itch.

Get Nits in Bookstores

Camp Quality Ambassador!

I'm really proud to say that I was recently asked to become an ambassador for Camp Quality, the charity that puts a smile on the faces of young people affected by cancer throughout Australia and the world. 

They believe in Fun Therapy, which is something I'm a big believer in, too. I'll be visiting some camps and hopefully encouraging lots of creativity and imaginative storytelling. (I also have this secret hope that there might be flying foxes or go-karts involved.)

You can read my interview at the Camp Quality website here. Thanks CQ for all the good work that you do and here's hoping that I can help you create Big Happiness.

Get Into Nit Lit!

My new series Nit Boy has just hit Australian shelves. The first book is Lift Off! and the second is Bug Out! It's for anyone who's ever had nits or had to deal with nits. It's all about Lewis, the kid with the worst case of nits in world history and Ned, one of the nits who lives on his head. It features amazing illustrations by Heath McKenzie.

The Byron Bay launch happens at Byron Library, 4pm on 14 May 2009. The Sydney launch event is a round table session with a milkshake at Shearer's bookshop in Leichardt on Tuesday 19 May. Hope you can come along!

The Nit Boy competition with prizes including Wii games goes live on Monday at www.nitboy.com and, coming soon, is the 3D animated Nit Boy trailer by Peter Leary at Melbourne company, The Animators. Here's a sneak peek at the trailer below, a shot of one of the stars of Nit Boy - Ned, the nit.