Join in talks by author Libby Gleeson and local illustrator Freya Blackwood when they tell school children about their latest book Clancy & Millie and the Very Fine House. The book is published by Little Hare Books and was launched just this month. It is about a little boy called Clancy who has moved to a new house that is huge and unfamiliar. He is missing his old house terribly – the new house is much too big and much too lonely. How will he ever make it his home? As despair takes hold Clancy hears a small voice. Soon, Clancy with the help of his new friend Millie is building towers to the sky and trains to the street outside, and together they build the home that Clancy thought he had lost forever. Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood will be talking about their new book Clancy & Millie and the Very Fine House at Orange City Library on Friday 30 October at these times:
9.30am  10.30am;
11.30am  12.30pm;
1.30pm  2.30pm. Come along and sit in on one of the talks by this award-winning team. The event is supported by Boomers Bookshop & ABC Centre.

Children had lots of fun at our Holiday Activities crafty workshops learning felting or quilling. Quilling is also known as paper rolling, paper scrolling and paper mosaic and children made fantastic creations in these classes. Creative children were also adding their own touches to colourful felt zipper purses with love hearts, dogs, flowers, snowmen and lady beetles all making an appearance.
Pictured is Caitlin, then Katherine and Isabel, and Julia and Emily showing their own felt designs.

You are invited to join Central West Libraries and the Society of Australian Genealogists on a Lost in Black Sheep Family History Weekend to be held at the
Orange Civic Theatre Forum, Byng Street, Orange on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November 2009. If your ancestors were 'black sheep' – divorced, destitute, or spent time in gaol or an asylum, they probably left behind a wonderful paper trail. Come along for the two day seminar featuring experts on State Records NSW, Divorce Records, Bankruptcy Records, Local Studies and Family History, Corrective Services, Greater Western Area Health Service and take a guided walking tour of Bloomfield Hospital and learn more about its records. Registration: $85 SAG members and Orange Family History Group Members; and $95 non-members includes two-day seminar, lunches & morning & afternoon teas. On the Saturday evening a casual dinner will be held for participants in a local restaurant in Orange. If you'd like to attend the dinner please let us know at the time of booking. Cost will be approx. $50 plus drinks per person, payable on the evening.

For more details and to book your place, please call (02) 9247 3953 or visit www.sag.org.au

What a night! Can you believe we were fully booked with 100 people coming along to see Kim McCosker  4 Ingredients cookbooks author. Co-author Rachael Bermingham couldn't make it on the night but as girls do  Kim called her beautiful mum Jennette and she did a fantastic job helping with food preparation and supporting Kim. The 4 ingredients team have such an inspiring story to tell. They are both busy mums but believed in their idea to provide simple recipes with 4 ingredients or less to get people out of the kitchen and spending time with their families  and who doesn't want that?. Kim spoke enthusiastically about the whole writing recipe and book production process. The audience asked questions and sampled Gluten Free recipes from their latest book – including dips, fruit cake and biscuits. The event was supported by Angus & Robertson Bookstore. Kim is pictured above signing books and entertaining the large audience.

If your The Slap radar was tuned in this week you would've heard that the award-winning novel by Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap, will be developed into a television series by ABC TV and Matchbox Pictures. The eight-part (like the book's 8 chapters) drama series will begin development in November and will go into production in Melbourne in 2010. ABC TV's Acting Head of Drama, Amanda Higgs, says the drama will resonate with audiences. “The Australian novel that provoked fiery discussion from offices to dinner parties to mothers' groups and suburban barbeques will become the most talked about series on television.” The Age newspaper reported Matchbox Pictures announced that after a competitive bidding process it had purchased the rights to produce a television adaptation of the novel, which is set in Melbourne. This year, The Slap has won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, the Australian Book Industry Book of the Year award, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, the ABA Book of the Year, and the Association for the Study of Australian Literature Gold Award. Go The Slap – there is no stopping the talking point power of this book as our Pageturners book discussion group discovered.