12 February

Library Selection

‘A Plague of Bogles’ (published as ‘A Very Peculiar Plague‘ in Australia) has been selected as a ‘Junior Library Guild Selection’ for Spring 2015. The Junior Library Guild is a collection development and book review service used by thousands of schools and public libraries throughout the U.S.A. Here is the full list of JLG Spring […]

17 October

Award Nomination for Audiobook

Congratulations to Mandy Williams, who narrated the Listening Library’s audiobook of ‘How to Catch a Bogle’. Her work has been nominated for a Voice Arts Award, in the category of ‘Audio Book Narration – Children (ages 6 to 12), Best Female Voice’. The Voice Arts Awards are an international competition run by the Society of […]

27 September

Banned Book!

Here’s an interesting bit of news. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has posted the result of a survey listing ten books banned in various Texas school districts during 2013-14. The Vanguard Academy Charter School banned five of these ten books at a secondary level – and one of them was The Reformed Vampire […]

20 August

Radio National Interview

Michael Cathcart recently interviewed me on Radio National’s Books and Arts Daily program, along with the winner of the Older Readers Book of the Year, Fiona Wood. You can listen to the interview at the Books and Arts Daily website.

17 August

Children’s Book of the Year!

‘A Very Unusual Pursuit’ has won the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers. I just arrived back from Canberra, where I attended the the award ceremony; it was beautifully organised by the ACT branch of the CBCA. Many thanks to everyone who helped me to get there. A […]

26 June

Another New York Times Mention

‘How to Catch a Bogle’ was recently included in a reading list that accompanied a New York Times travel story about taking a child to London. The author, Pamela Paul, introduced the twelve books mentioned with the words, “While not all of these books are expressly about London or even England, each in its own […]

18 June

Honourable Mention

‘A Very Unusual Pursuit’ has received an honourable mention from the judges of the Norma K Hemming Award, who described the book as ‘a witty novel set in Dickens’s London with science under siege from mysterious events. Catherine Jinks draws the characters vividly and completely credibly, and she makes a palpable 19th century London. A […]

12 June

NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge

  All three of my ‘City of Orphans’ novels have been added to the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge this year. They’ve joined five of my older books on the 7-9 booklist. I’m always delighted when this happens! The full list of books for all reading levels can be found at the Reading Challenge website.

22 May

NSW Writers’ Centre Kids & YA Festival‏

On the 28th of June I’ll be appearing at the NSW Writers Centre’s Kids and YA Festival in Sydney. My panel is at 3 pm, when I’ll be discussing the challenges of pitching a series with Wendy Orr, among others! If you’re interested in attending, the festival program can be downloaded and tickets can be […]

15 May

Blue Fringe Arts

Last night (14 May) I attended the 2014 Blue Fringe Arts Short Story and Poetry Awards, as the judge of the short story competition. Blue Fringe Arts celebrates the creativity of people living with or having experienced mental illness, and is run by a committee of organisations based in the Blue Mountains and Lithgow regions […]