Cristy Burne – AUTHOR AND STEM CREATIVE

story, science, technology and creativity


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A new book! A new publisher! A new agent!

hoorayA new book!

I’m incredibly thrilled to announce that I have a new book coming out next year with the amazing Fremantle Press, edited by the fabulous Cate Sutherland!!!!
(YAY! Dancing hippy happy hornpipes allowed and encouraged.)

It’s an adventurous book for young readers, a story of friendship and trust, danger and doing, set on Western Australia’s iconic Rottnest Island.

I love this story because it’s also about taking risks. It’s about encouraging our children to play outside, to explore their limits, to discover what’s really important to them.

In yesterday’s paper there was a quote from Claire Warden of the International Association of Nature Pedagogy that really stood out for me, and it resonates with this book:

“If you don’t have any physical risk, there is greater emotional risk…If you’re scared of your own shadow, you don’t try new things, and you don’t have that inner emotional resilience to push yourself in any way.”

So get out there! Do something that scares you every day! (This has been my motto for years; it’s even a scary motto!)

A new publisher!

I’m honoured and excited to be sailing with the Fremantle Press crew. They’re fantastic. They publish great Western Australian stories, they take risks with the stories they publish, and they’ve been doing it for 40 years! The authors they represent are lovely too 🙂

Want to help share the love? You can be part of Fremantle Press’ birthday celebrations by joining the party on Wednesday November 2. fremantlepress_40year_oct2016

A new agent!

I’ve also just signed with the Jacinta Di Mase agency. More hippy, happy hornpipes! They’re both super-well-respected in the industry and I’m looking forward to working with them on some exciting new projects, especially in children’s non-fiction. Yay!


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Asian Festival of Children’s Content: non-fiction, first pages and the undeath of dystopia

AIMG_3940nother great day at the 2014 Asian Festival of Children’s Content!

My session today was on children’s non-fiction, chaired by friend and reviewer Marjorie Coughlan (editor of soon-to-be-launched Mirrors Doors Windows), and paired with friend and history buff Mark Greenwood, author of beautiful books celebrating true stories from our incredible history.

I also went to two terrific sessions on YA (and no, dystopia isn’t dead; it’s only that publishers are sick of reading it :-)) and a very interesting hour called First Pages, where the bold and brave allowed a panel of experts (editor, agent and publisher) to comment on their first 100 words.

I found this session extremely empowering: pages I loved, the experts didn’t like at all. Pages they loved, I would have edited heavily.

So…it just goes to show: write what you love, people! Write what you love.

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