Steven Conte is next Summer Read author blogging from 1 – 5 December.

Steven Conte was born and raised in rural New South Wales. He has lived and worked in Europe, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and his first published short stories drew on his experiences as a traveller. He has supported his writing with numerous jobs, including barman, taxi driver and life model. In 1998 he moved to Melbourne and in 2000 began a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Melbourne, developing the manuscript that became The Zookeeper’s War. He graduated in 2005 and now lives in a Melbourne university college where he works as a student advisor.

His book The Zookeepers War is one of the books on the Summer Read shortlist.

The Zookeepers War tells the story of an Australian woman, Vera, and her German husband Axel who are zookeepers in wartime Berlin. When the zoo’s staff are drafted into the army, forced labourers are sent in as replacements. They become the zoo’s only hope as tension mounts in the closing days of war. This powerful story confronts the brutality of war and the challenges on many levels as a result. The Zookeeper’s War this year won the inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction.

As part of the free Summer Read events across Victoria, Steven will be appearing at:
• Radcliffe’s in Echuca on Thursday 15 January 2009, 8 – 9pm
For more information phone Echuca Library 5482 1997 or online at http://summerread2.eventbrite.com

• Sam Merrifield Library, Moonee Ponds on Thursday 22 January 2009, 7.00 – 8.00 pm
For more information phone 8325 1950 or book online at http://summerread3.eventbrite.com

What Steven says about summer reading

“Last June I took my first northern-hemisphere holiday in 15 years, and so my most recent summer reading was only half a year ago. I was in Morocco when I came across an old copy of a novel I’d first read as a teenager, The Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams, who also wrote Watership Down. I remembered liking the novel, so I swapped it for another and took it with me on a trip to the Sahara Desert. Books are passports to different worlds, and the England and Denmark of The Girl in a Swing gave me cooling relief from the Sahara sun. At the same time, this story of a timid porcelain dealer’s romance with a femme fatale, and its supernatural consequences, transported me back to the teenager I was in the 1980s. Books are like that: teleportation and time travel in one small and affordable device.”

The Summer Read authors are keen to meet the people who read their books! Which is why they’ve agreed to be part of a series of free events that are to be held across Victoria this summer. From story-telling in a shearing shed  to books in the Royal Botanic Gardens, there’s something for every book lover.

Events will be listed progressively on the Reading Victoria web pages.

Over summer the authors on the Summer Read shortlist will be blogging about their books, writing, favourite reads, summer memories - in fact, anything that takes their fancy!

Here’s who’s blogging and when…

• Alice Pung, editor of Growing up Asian in Australia�
  22 November - 25 November
• Sophie Cunningham, author of Bird
  26 November - 30 November
• Steven Conte, author of The Zookeeper’s War
  1 December - 5 December
• Toni Jordan, author of Addition
  6 December - 10 December
• Jared Henry, author of Blood Sunset
  11 December -15 December
• Fiona Capp, author Musk & Byrne
  18 December -20 December
• Ann Blainey, author of I am Melba
  21 December - 24 December
• Greg de Moore, author Tom Wills
  26 December - 30 December
• Catherine Dyson, author of Swing by Sailor
  31December - 5 January
• Dennis McIntosh, author Beaten by a Blow
  6 January - 10 January
• Charmaine O’Brien, author of Flavours of Melbourne
  11 January - 15 January
• Nam Le, author The Boat
  16 January - 20 January
• Jeff Sparrow & Jill Sparrow, authors of Radical Melbourne
  21 January - 25 January
• Arnold Zable, author of Sea of Many Returns
  26 January - 29 January
• Carolyn Landon, author of Cup with No Handles
  31 January - 4 February
• Authors featured in Dreaming Again
  5 February - 9 February
• Jacinta Halloran, author of Dissection
  10 February - 14 February
• Peter Steele, author White Knight with Beebox
  15 February - 19 February
• Jack Dann, editor of Dreaming Again
  20 February - 24 February
• Chloe Hooper, author of The Tall Man
  25 February - 28 February

The authors would love to hear from you. Ask them who their favourite writers are, what their favourite reads are, how their reading influences what they write, or anything else you’d like to know.

It’s on again! The State Library’s annual Summer Read program. As in previous years, there’s a list of 20 great books to read over the summer and get excited about. The list includes something for everyone - an even mix of fiction and non-fiction titles including fiction genres of crime, romance, literary and historical fiction and non-fiction titles including biography, memoir, sport, history, political issues, short stories and poetry.

Vote for your favourite read and be you’ll be entered into the draw to win nearly $5,000 in prizes including a personal library of 20 Summer Read books, accommodation vouchers for Best Western Hotels, a Sovereign Hill ticket package and book vouchers.

The five most popular books voted by the public will be announced at the State Library of Victoria on Friday 20 March 2009 at 4pm, along with voter prizes.

So this is your chance! Why not sneak away for a few long afternoons this summer to laze around and relax with a book from our list. Turn off the computer, turn on the answering machine and lock the door. And when you’ve finished reading, let us know what you think here on the blog or by voting for your favourite.

Welcome to the brand spanking new Reading Victoria Blog. Created for all of us who not only love reading, but also love to talk about anything to do with books and reading.

The blog will run all year and will focus on different aspects of the Library’s reading programs, depending on what’s happening. In the next couple of months you will be able to share your thoughts about books with the authors shortlisted in the 2008 Summer Read.

We will also be posting information about literary and reading-related events that are being held around Victoria during the year.

So check in often for the chance to chat to authors and other readers about books and reading, as well as get ideas for some great reads.