Lian Tanner

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About Lian Tanner
Lian Tanner is a children's author and playwright. She has worked as a teacher in Australia and Papua New Guinea, as well as a professional actor and a freelance journalist. 'Museum of Thieves', the first book in the middle-grade Keepers trilogy, won the 2010 Aurealis Award for Children's Fiction and is published in Australia, the USA and India. 'City of Lies', the second book in the trilogy, won the 2011 Aurealis Award for Children's Fiction. The books have been translated into German, Turkish, Chinese characters, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Brazilian Portuguese and Bulgarian. Lian lives by the beach in southern Tasmania with a small tabby cat.
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Blog postIt’s only a month and a half until Rita hits the shops, and I’m starting to think about launches and book trailers.
I’ve never actually made a book trailer before, and I was going to spend the first half of this year practising. Of course I didn’t get round to it, so it’s going to be a lot more rushed. But thanks to the pandemic, I at least know my way around making fairly basic video clips.
And I’ve been collecting duck pictures. Like this:
And this:
Not sure1 month ago Read more -
Blog postI used to have chooks, which was really helpful when I was doing research for A Clue for Clara. But I’ve never had ducks.
Luckily, there are dozens of them living on the canal just around the corner from my house. And every now and again, the ducks come to visit. Last week they wandered into my front garden, looking for snails and other treats.
This was nice for several reasons:
1. I don’t have a cat at the moment, so visits from random birds and animals are always wel8 months ago Read more -
Blog postOne of most useful things I’ve learnt over the years is that no two books can be written the same way.
I used to think that I just had to find the right process. I’d start at step 1, then do steps 2, 3 and 4 – and then I’d be finished. And I could use that process every time I wrote a book!
It turns out each book needs to be approached slightly differently. Which is probably just as well – doing it the same way every time would get awfully boring.
But one thing I find9 months ago Read more -
Blog postAt an online ceremony last weekend, A Clue for Clara was declared the winner of the Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for Best Children’s Crime Novel. Hooray!
You can watch the award ceremony here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYts1SiN6yo&t=2052s
It was pretty exciting, even though I had known about it for a week and a half. The thing was, I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone except my agent and my publisher. No one else, not even my best friends. And that was really hard, when10 months ago Read more -
Blog postI am absolutely delighted to see that A Clue for Clara has been shortlisted for the 2021 Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards!
These awards come up once a year for Australian women crime writers, and I didn’t know they even had a children’s section. You can see all the shortlistings here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ9kC-EuScA
Allen & Unwin put up a picture of their books from the various shortlists – most of them competing for the adult crime awards. But there’s Clara on t10 months ago Read more -
Blog postI was a dreadfully anxious child. At the time, it seemed to me that I was the only one in the world who felt like that, and I became very good at hiding it. Looking back, I really needed books that told me I wasn’t the only one. Books that told me I wasn’t weird and alone.
So now I’m making a list of books for anxious children. I haven’t got very far with it yet, but I thought I’d share what I’ve found. (Note that I haven’t read any of these yet. But they were all recommended to me by1 year ago Read more -
Blog postIn October last year, I posted about Rita’s Revenge, a companion book to A Clue for Clara. I’m very excited to be able to tell you that I now have a contract, and it will be published by Allen & Unwin in July next year.
I didn’t really think I would be writing a follow-up to Clara. It was meant to be a standalone novel. But then of course, as always happens, I got interested in the world and the characters, and wanted to keep going.
One of my favourite parts of A Clue for1 year ago Read more -
Blog postHarry turned up in my back garden about ten years ago. I didn’t take a lot of notice of him at the time, because my garden is basically a jungle, and it’s not unusual for one of the neighbourhood cats to spend time there during the day.
At first, I thought he lived over the back fence, and just spent his days here, lying in the sun. He was such a beautiful cat, and I didn’t imagine for a moment that he was a stray. I just thought he was extra friendly. If I was gardening, he’d try to1 year ago Read more -
Blog postLast year I was supposed to go to the Brisbane Writers Festival. But of course, like so many other things, it was cancelled. So this year they’re having bits of last year’s festival online.
Especially Word Play, the children’s sessions.
Here’s how to watch it, as an individual, a family or a school. https://bwf.org.au/word-play/watching-word-play-2021
When they first asked me if I’d be happy to do a recorded session, I said a very nervous yes. This was halfway through1 year ago Read more -
Blog postSigning off on a book you have been working on for twelve months or so is both exciting and worrying. Exciting because it has all come together at last. Worrying because it raises that very difficult question, ‘What to write next?’
This year, the question was even harder than usual. Tasmania has been spared the worst of covid (so far at least), for which I am deeply grateful. And my problem was such a tiny one, in comparison with what so many other people are going through. But I spen2 years ago Read more
Titles By Lian Tanner
Segunda entrega de la trilogía "Los Truhanes".
Mientras Ánade y Collejo escoltan al joven marqués hasta un lugar seguro, lejos de los peligros de la Fortaleza, los enemigos acechan por todas partes. No tardarán en ser capturados y conducidos a las minas de sal, donde los esclavos trabajan día y noche hasta morir.Su brujería debería salvarlos..., pero ha desaparecido, les ha abandonado. ¿Cómo conseguirán recuperarla? Y esa niña, Sooli, ¿es amiga o enemiga? ¿Pueden siquiera seguir confiando los unos en los otros? ¿Y por qué la gallina de Otte se comporta de un modo tan extraño?
Mientras tanto, el Corrupio ha logrado salir de la Fortaleza y está siguiendo su rastro...
But when Toadspit's sister Bonnie is stolen, he and Goldie are forced to follow the child-stealers to the neighboring city of Spoke. Along the way, Toadspit too is captured, and Goldie is caught up in the Festival of Lies, where every word she says means something else and no one can be trusted. There, Goldie discovers some dangerous secrets—secrets that the child-stealers will kill to protect. She will need all her skills as a thief and a liar if she is to survive and save her friends.
Goldie Roth has lived in Jewel all her life. Like every child in the city, she wears a silver guardchain and is forced to obey the dreaded Blessed Guardians. She has never done anything by herself and won’t be allowed out on the streets unchained until Separation Day.
When Separation Day is canceled, Goldie, who has always been both impatient and bold, runs away, risking not only her own life but also the lives of those she has left behind. In the chaos that follows, she is lured to the mysterious Museum of Dunt, where she meets the boy Toadspit and discovers terrible secrets. Only the cunning mind of a thief can understand the museum’s strange, shifting rooms. Fortunately, Goldie has a talent for thieving.
Which is just as well, because the leader of the Blessed Guardians has his own plans for the museum—plans that threaten the lives of everyone Goldie loves. And it will take a daring thief to stop him. . . .
Museum of Thieves is a thrilling tale of destiny and danger, and of a courageous girl who has never been allowed to grow up—until now.
The city of Jewel is in peril once again, as it is held captive by the frightful Fugleman, his band of Blessed Guardians, and an army of merciless mercenaries. There's no doubt that Goldie and Toadspit want to get their city back, but how can a small group of children fight against such overwhelming forces of evil? And how, as Goldie is determined, can they avoid bloodshed in a war that will set thieves against soldiers, and trickery and deception against a mighty cannon that shoots cannonballs bent on destruction? As Toadspit fights the Fugleman in a duel to the death, Goldie must face her hardest task yet. If she is to save the city, she must walk the mysterious Beast Road, deep inside the Museum of Thieves. No one knows where it goes and no one has ever returned from it.
An enthralling adventure set in a strange world on the high seas.
Petrel is an outcast on the ancient ship, an icebreaker, that has been following the same course for 300 years. In that time, the ship's crew has forgotten its original purpose and broken into three warring tribes. Everyone has a tribe except Petrol. Nicknamed the Nothing Girl, Petrel has been ostracized ever since her parents were thrown overboard as punishment for a terrible crime.
But Petrel is a survivor. She lives in the ship's darkest corners, and trusts no one except two large gray rats - that is, until a mysterious boy is discovered barely alive on an iceberg, and brought onto the ship. He claims to have forgotten even his name. The tribes don't trust strangers, so Petrel hides the boy, hoping he will be her friend. What she doesn't know is that the ship guards a secret - a secret the boy has been sent to destroy.
The thrilling conclusion to the Icebreaker trilogy, an acclaimed middle-grade fantasy-adventure from Lian Tanner.
Gwin is a Fetcher. With her papa and twin brother, Nat, she travels West Norn, bringing joy to its downtrodden people through song and story. But ever since Mama died, it's been hard to keep the joy alive.
Proud and defiant, Fetchers have always been hunted by the Devouts for preserving the old ways. So when devious Brother Poosk captures Papa, Gwin must rescue him—whatever the cost.
Meanwhile, the Oyster's crew and the Sunkers lay siege to the Citadel. But without their Sleeping Captain, can they ever win against the ruthless Devouts? Can Petrel, Fin, Sharkey, and Rain ever bring light back to such a dark world?
Action, adventure, and mystery surround the Sunkers, a band of children who live in a submarine, as they try to survive a war in Book Two of the Icebreaker Trilogy.
Sharkey is a Sunker--he was born on a fortunate tide, and everyone in the giant submersible Rampart knows it. The trouble is his life is based on a lie. He's been a fake hero for years, but when tragedy strikes, he must become a real one. And he has no idea how to go about it.
Meanwhile, on land, Petrel, Fin, and the crew of the Oyster are on a mission to bring lost knowledge back into the world, a mission they have no idea how to carry out.
La esperada continuación de El Museo de los Ladrones.
El astuto lord Pompis y su nieta Ánade necesitan un muchacho prescindible, y Collejo, un chico de campo que ha llegado a la ciudad en busca de trabajo, encaja con esa descripción. Ánade no tiene reparos en introducirlo en las redes de su abuelo, siempre que lord Pompis cumpla la promesa de que esta será su última argucia.
Los tejemanejes de lord Pompis conducen a ambos niños al interior de la Fortaleza de Berren, donde el tiempo se ha detenido. Una vez allí, no tardarán en verse envueltos en una conspiración para matar al heredero del Trono Leal.
Si quieren salvar al joven marqués, y ya de paso escapar de una muerte horrible, Ánade y Collejo deberán aprender a utilizar una magia en la que nadie cree.