ACHUKA is not going to Hay for the Red House Children's Book Awards this year. Lovely as it was to be there last year in the end-of-festival heat (I hope, for the sake of those who are attending this year, the weather will look up as this week goes on, just as it did in 2006) and to be able to follow up the awards themselves with those brilliantly entertaining star appearances by Eoin Colfer and Daniel Handler (see our report from last year), it is, as I hinted might be the case at the time, partly the new venue's inaccessibility that has discouraged us from going. To attend the festival in any degree of comfort requires considerable pre-booking, with regard to accommodation, travel etc.
So, instead of clicking away with the ACHUKA camera in the tent at Hay, I'll be travelling a similar distance to get first sight of our second grandchild. Well, I did say the venue was only part of the reason for non-attendance this year ;)
Apologies then to the shortlisted authors and illustrators and eventual winners for the fact that coverage of the awards this year will be limited to a short blog entry and main page listing.
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