Hello! Welcome to my newsletter aimed at educators, librarians, and parents. Here I write about great new books for young readers, as well as topics and trends in the children’s literature industry.
For all you people in education, I’ll also be working tirelessly to stop Holes or A Christmas Carol finding their way onto any booklists in Australian schools for the forseeable future…
Seriously! There are way better options out there.
Who am I?
My name is Karys McEwen and here is a run-down of why I think (I hope) I am qualified to write this:
I am the current vice president (and immediate past president) of the Victorian branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA). I was a judge for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards from 2020-2021 and the Victorian Director on the National CBCA Board for several years.
I have been a school librarian for over ten years.
I am the Education Advisor for the Melbourne Writers Festival.
I have been a columnist for Books+Publishing, and I am currently one of their children’s book reviewers. My writing and research has also appeared in Australian and UK library journals.
I have been on the committee for the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV), Melbourne City of Literature Office, and the Victorian Premiers' Reading Challenge. I have judged the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (Young Adult), worked as a bookseller and literature consultant for The Kids’ Bookshop, and consulted with organisations and publishers including The Wheeler Centre, Kill Your Darlings, the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English (VATE), Simon & Schuster and Allen & Unwin.
My debut middle grade novel, All the Little Tricky Things, was published by Text Publishing in 2022, and my second middle grade novel, The Paperbark Tree Committee, was published in April 2025.
Why subscribe?
Every Sunday (or thereabouts) I will write something about children’s literature and send it straight to your inbox. That’s for the free subscribers.
For those of you willing to pay a little bit towards this project, I will write bonus content at least once a week, offer some fun giveaways, and also accept requests directly from you—questions, advice, or personalised suggestions for books. I’ll share these answers with all paid subscribers. You’ll also get access to the full archive of posts. My free newsletters get tucked behind the paywall after a month.
So, if that interests you, click below to subscribe now! And thanks for reading.
