Vote for our State book- Australia's Biggest Book Group

Did you know that next year is Australia’s National Year of Reading? One of the nationwide projects planned for 2012 is Australia’s biggest book group, where people from across the nation all read the same book. As with any book group, the difficulty is “which book do we choose?” In the end, the organisers decided not to choose just one book, but eight books, one for every state and territory of Australia. Margaret Allen, chair of the National Year of Reading founders and State Librarian of WA, explained, “For 2012, we’re creating a collection of books which, read together, describe the Australian experience. We’re hoping that thousands of readers will take a journey around Australia through the pages of these eight books and come out of it with a deeper understanding of what it means to be Australian.”
The National Year of Reading founders brought together an independent panel of readers to choose a shortlist of books for each state, and now they have invited everyone to vote for their favourite. The shortlist for NSW is: “Torn apart” by Peter Corris, “Lilian’s story” by Kate Grenville, “Sydney Harbour: a history” by Ian Hoskins, “The idea of Home” by John Hughes, “The Harp in the South” by Ruth Park and “Bereft” by Chris Womersley. Until 6 January 2012, you can vote online by going to www.abc.net.au/yearofreading or by completing a voting slip at the Library.
The winning list will be announced at the launch of the Year of Reading on 14 February at the National Library. After that, we will be able to register as members of “Our Story”, a nationwide reading group, and discuss the chosen books. This is just the first of many plans for the National Year of Reading, and we are looking forward to celebrating our love of reading on a very big scale in 2012. Happy reading!