Your votes will be used to create a list of Sydney’s top 50 children’s books. The list will be given to leading artists, who will choose a book and create either a new cover for it, or an artwork inspired by it. The works will offer new perspectives on our best-loved children’s stories, and will be exhibited in Judge A Book, Buy its Cover at Depot II Gallery, Danks Street, Waterloo, from October 15 to 19. The artworks will be sold by silent auction, with all proceeds going to the Sydney Story Factory.
“This is a wonderful chance to have a great artist reimagine an important story from your childhood,” says executive director of the Sydney Story Factory, Catherine Keenan. “These are the stories that stay with us as we grow, and it’s wonderful to give them life in new ways.”
The list of the top 50 children’s books will be published on the Sydney Story Factory website (www.sydneystoryfactory.org.au) on Monday, June 17.
Voting opens Saturday May 25 and runs till Sunday June 9. Vote at the Sydney Story Factory, 176 Redfern Street, Redfern (look for The Martian Embassy), or by emailing myfavouritebook@sydneystoryfactory.org.au. All voters go in the draw to win a selection of classic children’s books donated by Random House Australia. Or vote at these bookshops: Berkelouw Books, 19 Oxford Street, Paddington, or 6-8 O’Connell Street, Newtown, or 70 Norton Street, Leichhardt (Prize: 5 x $30 vouchers); Better Read than Dead, 265 King Street, Newtown (Prize: Signed Oliver Jeffers print and a copy of his book, Neither Here nor There); Oscar & Friends, 35/277 Crown Street, Surry Hills or 19-27 Cross Street, Double Bay (Prize: $200 gift voucher).
The Sydney Story Factory nurtures children’s creativity and well-being by using volunteer tutors to give students one-on-one help to write stories of all kinds, which are published in as many ways as possible. Programs target marginalised young people, and those from Indigenous or non-English-speaking backgrounds, but are open to everyone. All classes are free.
