Reading #LoveOzYA is our Secret Power!

We know reading is powerful stuff, especially when we read local, and throughout CBCA Book Week 2019 we’ve been asking the community to speak to the theme ‘Reading is my secret power’. Specifically, we wanted to know why reading #LoveOzYA is your secret power. The responses we received ranged from the downright cheeky (here’s looking at you, Allayne Webster) to the profound and heartwarming. So as Book Week draws to a close, here are just some among the countless empowering reasons to read, and keep reading, Aussie YA.

‘Reading is my secret power because when the world seems likely to end in conflict and fire, books hold written instructions for collective action, agency, love, hope.’ – Kate Eltham, @kate_eltham

‘Reading #LoveOzYA is my secret power because it’s like experiencing many lives in a single lifetime.’ – Emily Gale, @EmilyGale

‘I figure that #LoveOzYA – reading it and writing it – is the best way to comment on, and change Australian society for the better. Art is where a lot of social change happens, after all; where reflection and introspection meets idealism and empathy.’ – Danielle Binks, @danielle_binks

‘Reading is my secret power because it allows me to gain a greater understanding of the world around us and the lives behind statistics, dates and events.’ – Renee Fletcher, @reneejoan94

‘Reading #Loveozya is my superpower cos I can justify it to my fam as work/keeping up with the latest from industry, when really I’m in my element, chilling with a good book, sipping wine & scoffing chocs.’ – Allayne Webster, @allayne_webster

‘Reading is my secret power because I slip into a whole other world, and the world I enter will never be quite the same as that which someone else enters, even with the same book.’ – Alice Boer-Endacott, @ajendacott

‘Reading #LoveOzYA is my secret power because it inspires empathy, which is our best weapon against the side-picking and Otherising we are daily encouraged to participate in.’ – Margot McGovern, @project_lectito

‘Reading is my secret power because it rekindles my imagination and feeds my soul.’ – Sarena Flanigan, @SarenaFlanigan

‘Reading is my secret power because I’m completely unbound and yet… in control. AND I can convert letters into a universe.’ – Anna Whateley, @AnnaWhateley

‘Reading is my secret power because when I’m experiencing burn out I lose my words. Books let me bask in someone else’s for a little while.’ – Kay Kerr, @kaymariek

‘Reading is my secret power because it helps me slip from my reality into new worlds, while also making me appreciate my own world, and the life and friends I have in it’ – Sarah Ross, @farfromsarah

‘Reading #loveozya is my secret power because I get to support other authors and share bookish conversations with amazing, courageous, empathetic and inclusive young people who will change the world for the better.’ – Gabrielle Reid, @reidwriting

‘Reading is my superpower because it lets me time travel, travel through space and be anyone I want to be.’ – Laurie Bell, @LaurienotLori

‘Reading #loveozya is my superpower because it gives me hope for the future when things seem bleak, And my heart space to reconnect with my teenage self.’ – Briannon, @Briannon

‘I don’t have 9 lives like a cat I have as many lives as my own and the books I read.’ – K M Tanner, @KMTannerAuthor

‘Reading is my super power because I get to explore possible futures.’ – Cally Black, @CalBlack_

‘Reading is my secret power because it lets me live lots of different lives in different places and times!’ – Brett Michael Orr, @BrettMichaelOrr

‘Reading is my super power because words soothe my tired brain, words heal my breaking heart, words grow my tiny world, until I see all the possibilities, words make me fly.’ – Helen Edwards, @drhelenedwards

‘Reading is my super power because it allows me to teleport and time travel, and be stronger and braver than I would be without it.’ – Belinda Grant.

‘Reading is my superpower because by day I’m your average retail manager. By night? I’ve lived one hundred lives and died one hundred more. I’ve slain dragons, flown starships, sat upon thrones, solved crimes and cast magic. Words power worlds and through them, I can do anything.’ – T J Edwards, @thetjedwards

‘Reading #LoveOzYA is my secret power because as a teen, it lifted & inspired me to enter worlds where people my age overcame problems. As an adult, I love them as gentle, yet powerful, & sometimes nostalgic reads.’ – Rebecca Douglas, @becksandthecity

‘Reading #LoveOzYA is my secret power because it makes me a better writer and a better person.’ – Jenna Guillaume, @JennaGuillaume

‘Reading is my secret power because it opens my mind to new ideas and new worlds!’ – Poppy Nwosu.

‘For me it is a place to immerse myself in and experience a little bit of magic.’ – Jem, @thegingerpageturner

We’d love to know: why is reading #LoveOzYA your secret power? Join the conversation on Twitter.