Mark's Say, September 2015
Last month I went to an event at our Hawthorn shop to celebrate the publication of The Hush Treasure Book. The book is a collection of original writings and illustrations by some of Australia’s leading children’s authors, and lots of the contributors came to read their stories to a huge crowd. The book comes out of the Hush Music Foundation which was established by physician Dr Catherine Crock. While working with young cancer patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, she noticed that some pieces of music had a calming effect on her patients. Cathy enlisted the help of some of Australia’s foremost musicians and composers to produce a range of music to help children and their parents during medical procedures. The result is a special compilation of soothing music designed to calm and relax people of all ages.
The progression from music to pictures was a natural one, and The Hush Treasure Book is an absolutely gorgeous children’s picture book of wonderful, original affirming stories and illustrations. When the Hush Music Foundation first mooted the idea, we were so excited that we immediately put money into the project. All profits from the book go to the Hush Music Foundation which supports children’s hospitals around Australia. I’m sure this book will sell out, so if you have children or grandchildren snap one up quickly – from Readings of course!
The 2nd of September is Indigenous Literacy Day, and Readings is donating 10% of our book sales on the day to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF). The ILF aims to raise literacy levels and improve the opportunities of Indigenous Australians living in remote and isolated regions. It was founded by Queensland bookseller Suzy Wilson and is supported by booksellers, authors, publishers and readers. My colleague Emily Harms visited the Tiwi Islands last month to see the work the Foundation was doing there and she described it as a wonderful insight into the rewarding two-way exchange between the ILF and the Tiwi Island community.
Author Richard Flanagan donated $40,000 from his share of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award to the ILF, and we have his brother Martin helping us mark Indigenous Literacy Day with a talk that evening at our Carlton shop about his book on footballer and Aboriginal activist Michael Long, The Short Long Book (see here for event details). This September, any donations to The Readings Foundation in-store or online will go to support the ILF.
