ACYL is a book center that organizes literary events for children, young people and adults to promote reading and writing to and for young people, and to promote the work and raise the profile of Australian authors who write for the youngsters.

… one of their goals is to “create the readers and writers of the future by promoting books and writing to children and young adults.” With the wealth of programs and the energy of the ACYL people organizing them, Australia will have a guaranteed supply of readers for many years to come ...

• Bookgigs bring together children and popular authors and feature short performances based on a selected work of the author - for children in Years 5-7;
• Booktalkers is a forum for adults interested in children's and young adults' literature, who meet to talk with authors and discuss all sorts of topics;
• there's also a version for teenagers, Booktalkers for Teenagers, with short performances by young actors, readings, presentations, panels with teenagers, Q&A;
• a Professional Development session takes place twice a year, and is open to teachers, teacher-librarians and public librarians; the Centre also offers consultancies about books and reading, available on a fee-for-service basis;
• the Reading Matters Conference is an important youth literature event that takes place every year in May, with guests from all over the world;
• finally, if you're curious about the reading habits of young Australians, check out the report Young Australians Reading: From Keen to Reluctant Readers - a very interesting read also for the non specialists, available on the ACYL website.
  

Australian Centre for Youth Literature
State Library of Victoria
328 Swanston Street
Melbourne 3000
Australia

http://www.statelibrary.vic.gov.au/acyl/

acyl@slv.vic.gov.au