this article in the Brisbane News

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word play … author and father Richard Newsome knows how to keep children engaged. PHOTOGRAPH • Richard Waugh
Homespun stories
This former corporate high-flier
finds fame with bedtime tales
SERIOUS INNER-CITY SELLOUT
1-11 / 45 Curlew Street, Toowong
9 multi-level townhomes and
2 standalone homes forming
“Curlew Villas” – 11 strata-titled
properties in central Toowong.
• Currently all tenanted with great returns
• Spacious, quality construction
• Modern kitchen with granite benchtops
• Master bedroom with ensuite
• Open plan kitchen, living & dining areas
• Entertaining areas – balconies, terraces
& courtyards
• Double lock-up garages + 5 guest carparks
• Air-conditioning throughout
GENUINE OPPORTUNITY
Invest or buy to live in. Inspect Now!
ALL MUST BE SOLD
Auction Saturday 10 March at 3pm
Held at a large warehouse at 25 Duncan St, West End
Inspect on: Tuesdays: 5.30- 6pm
or Saturdays: 2pm-2.30pm
Peter Florentzos 0414 311 526
pfl[email protected]
3344 0288 Sunnybank Hills
Tafelmusik
THE GALILEO PROJECT:
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
He hit paydirt, however, by winning the 2008 Text
Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, which
came with a tidy advance of $10,000.
His first book about billionaire boy Gerald and his
friends Ruby and Sam (now those names are familiar)
was a hit and Gerald’s adventures became a trilogy: The
Billionaire’s Curse, The Emerald Casket and last year’s
The Mask of Destiny, in which Gerald and his pals try to
solve a 1000-year-old mystery. The latest book will be
released in America, Canada and the UK in May.
With success comes the pressure to do it all again, and
Text Publishing has signed him up for three more.
“I’m well advanced on the fourth and the manuscript
is due in April,” Richard says. “The working title is The
Man with the Silver Nose and it’s based on an actual
character, a 16th-century Dutch astronomer and
alchemist who got his nose sliced off in a fight and made
himself a new one out of silver.”
THE MASK OF DESTINY by Richard Newsome,
Text Publishing, $19.95.
must
read
Be transported to
another time and place
by Tafelmusik Baroque
Orchestra’s audio-visual
spectacular featuring
space photography, history
of the early astronomers
& music by Bach, Handel
and Vivaldi.
Scan this QR code to
view a Youtube video
on your mobile device
QPAC Wed 14 Mar, 7pm
BOOK NOW! qpac.com.au 136 246
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE! musicaviva.com.au | 1800 688 482
Tour supported by Musica Viva’s
Amadeus Society and Apache Energy Ltd.
28
B
risbane author Richard Newsome is lucky to
have his own in-house editing and proofreading
team. His children, that is. Richard, 47, lives
in Sherwood with wife Kathryn (they run a
corporate communications business together) and Sam,
17, Ruby, 15 and Ella, 7.
In recent years, Richard has made a splash in
Australian publishing with his successful The Billionaire
Trilogy, highly imaginative adventure stories about a
boy billionaire and his pals. He wrote the series for his
kids, initially, and they are still his frankest critics.
“The older ones have well and truly grown out of
it, but Ella is still enthusiastic and boasts endlessly
at school about her dad,” Richard says. “Ruby is still
involved and acts as my main reader. She gets to see the
manuscript even before my wife, and if ever the dialogue
or something else doesn’t ring true, she’s on to it.”
It’s a magical series and Richard’s success is a magical
story. This journalist and economics graduate hankered
to become an author for years, trying out his children’s
stories on his own brood.
The Torrent
Martin Amis:
the Biography
AUTHOR • Amanda Gearing
PUBLISHER • UQP, $27.95
AUTHOR • Richard Bradford
PUBLISHER • Constable, $34.99
Watching the events that unfolded
in Toowoomba and the Lockyer
Valley during the floods of 2011, it was hard to believe
they were happening so close to home. On January 10,
2011, an “inland tsunami” hit Toowoomba city, the
rural districts of Spring Bluff and Postmans Ridge,
and the towns of Murphys Creek, Withcott, Helidon
and Grantham. Official figures state that 24 people
died. Based on exclusive interviews with survivors,
rescuers and the families and friends of victims, this
book is a powerful account of human courage in the
face of the devastating force of nature.
He’s too old to be an enfant
terrible now, but Martin Amis
still fascinates. He is one of the most significant
literary voices of recent decades, recording the
bizarre, turbulent atmosphere of Britain and the US
during the 1970s and ’80s. Of course, the son of
literary icon Kingsley Amis was always going to
gain attention. But Martin soon stepped out of
his father’s shadow and has been outspoken and
occasionally outrageous. If you loved books such as
London Fields and The Information, you’ll find this
book a revelation.
brisbanenews.com.au February 29 - March 6, 2012
871 28 Author Profile + Book rev28 28
24/02/2012 4:44:54 PM