"The best stuff I do are the kids' books," said Patterson.Patterson isn't only a novelist. He's an evangelist for reading who believes in the power of books to improve the school experience and transform kids into better citizens leading quality lives. He founded the ReadKiddoRead website to offer book suggestions and reading tips to parents and educators. He gives away thousands of educational and college-book scholarships to university students each year and donates countless books.
James Daunt Reacts To The Reaction...
and from The Telgraph interview that is quoted in this piece, an interesting titbit for those of us living in Sussex:
He even hopes to expand the shop network from its current tally of 200, pointing out that many market towns such as Lewes in East Sussex don't have an outlet. Will the publishers be happy then? He's not so sure. "Publishers are permanently predicting doom and gloom."
Adventure Island Book Seven
The Mystery of the Dinosaur Discovery
Dinosaurs and Deceptions
Triceratops, T-Rex, Stegosaurus, Iguanadon . . .
Which is your favourite dinosaur?
I love them all!
I think it's the fact that dinosaurs are such a mystery that makes them so fascinating. What did they look like? How did they move? Why did they die out? All we have are a few tantalizing clues - some fossilized bone heres, a trail of footprints there - to piece together their story.
But however big a dino-fan I am, I couldn't sneak any stegosauruses or T-Rexes into the Adventure Island series. After all, these books are about modern-day kids investigating crimes. Scott, Jack, Emily and Drift don't have a time machine to go back to the Jurassic Era or a magic portal to to a parallel world where dinosaurs still roam the earth (much to Jack's disappointment!).
So, you might be wondering how come Book Seven is called The Mystery of the Dinosaur Discovery? Well, the secret is that it's all about the discovery of a dinosaur fossil. And to make it extra exciting, it's not just a bit of tooth or a toenail, it's almost a complete skeleton and it looks like a whole new species that's never been found before.
What has Drift found beneath the snow?
Or is it?
It seems someone in Castle Key is out to prove the fossil is a hoax.
It wouldn't be the first time that the world has been caught out by a clever fossil hoax. In 1912 scientists presented a prehistoric human skull they had pieced together from fragments found at a gravel pit at Piltdown in Sussex. 'Piltdown Man' was claimed to be the evolutionary 'missing link' between apes and humans. It wasn't until the 1950s that Piltdown Man was proved to be a forgery - made up of an old human skull, the lower jaw of an orangutan and the fossilized teeth of a chimp!
Amazingly, the identity of the forger is still unknown. One of the suspects was a man called Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. That's a name you might recognize. Five hundred super-brain points if you remembered that he was the creator of the original Sherlock Holmes books.
And, weirdly enough, Conan Doyle was associated with another famous hoax story - although this time he was the one being tricked. Conan Doyle believed in fairies. He believed in them so much that when Elsie and Frances, two girls from Cottingley near Bradford, took photographs of fairies in their garden, he published them in a magazine, vouching that they were genuine.
The Cottingley Fairies became nearly as famous as Piltdown Man. Years later, when she was an old lady, Elsie admitted that the pictures were faked by using cardboard cut-outs from a picture book. But Frances always maintained that they really had seen fairies and that at least some of the pictures were the real thing.
The first photo of the Cottingley fairies
Do you think that the fairies in this photograph are real? Remember, this was 1917. Although photography was quite widely used by this time, digital editing was still a long way in the future!
PS. My favourite dinosaur is pachycephalosaurus, by the way!
OPERATION DIAMOND
Question 7: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the more famous suspects accused of forging the 'Piltdown Man'. Which fictional detective is he famous for creating?
Sherlock Holmes (B)
Nancy Drew (R)
For your next clue, visit:
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/children/blog/
On: Wednesday 30 May
The winner of the 22nd CBI Book of the Year Award was revealed today, 28th May 2012, by Fergus Finlay at a ceremony held in Wood Quay in Dublin. Recipients of the Eilís Dillon, Children's Choice, Honour and Judges' Special Award were also revealed.
Cavan author Celine Kiernan has won the 2012 CBI Book of the Year Award, and is the first author to win both the Book of the Year Award and the Children's Choice Award for her novel Into the Grey. Set in the 1970s, the book tells the story of identical teenage twins Patrick and Dominic who are forced to move after a fire destroys their family home. The judges said: "this supernatural thriller brings together past and present to explore the complexities of fraternal love and the pain of loss". At the awards ceremony Celine was presented with her awards trophies and a cheque for €5,000.
The winner of the Eilís Dillon Award, valued at €1,000 and awarded to a first time author or illustrator, was Paula Leyden for The Butterfly Heart. Paula's book reflects much of her own experience growing up in Zambia.
So keen are we to hear what readers think of My Brother Will, the latest ACHUKAbooks title, published just a few days ago, that we will give a free copy of each of the four previously published ACHUKAbooks to the first three people to write a substantive review of the book on Amazon, or elsewhere online.
The story of a pivotal year in the life of the Shakespeare family in Stratford, when Will was on the cusp of manhood, and told in the voice of his younger brother Gilbert. Informed by the theory that the Shakespeare family were crypto-Catholics, it is a rich evocation of daily life in sixteenth-century Stratford and the surrounding countryside, centred around four festivals. It is a most unusual book which is written in a style pungently reminiscent of the period, yet without quaintness, and rests on a good deal of research on all kinds of aspects of Shakespeare's background.
If you are a regular online reviewer/blogger we would be very happy to send you a review copy of the book. Just write to kindleATachuka.co.uk
This book is aimed at people working with primary-aged children and is an introduction to yoga breathing techniques. The story - a frog who is trying to overcome his anxieties about giving a speech in front of a large audience - is a highly engaging one, told with impeccable pacing by Michael Chissick and very suitably illustrated by Sarah peacock.
Pitching the tone of this type of book is always tricky, but here I think author, illustrator and publisher have pulled it off really well.
A recommended resource.
ACHUKA's turn in this Crack The Mystery is coming up very soon now.
The remaining stages of the competition are as follows:
6. Monday 28 May: ARMADILLO
www.sites.google.com/site/armadillomagazine
7. Tuesday 29 May: ACHUKA
www.achuka.co.uk/achockablog
8. Wednesday 30 May: BOOKTRUST
www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/children/blog
9. Thursday 31 May: ORION BOOKS
www.orionbooks.co.uk/operationdiamond
10. Friday 1 June: HELEN MOSS
www.helenmoss.org.uk
Lauren St. John To Publish First Adult Novel With Orion
Orion has bought the first adult novel from the Blue Peter award-winning children's author Lauren St John. The Obituary Writer is scheduled for next year, with a second novel to follow in 2014.
In this interesting Irish Times piece on the Waterstones / Kindle alliance, Laura Slattery wonders if James Daunt quite 'gets' digitial...
The Economist's take on plans to make Waterstones stores Kindle friendly zones.
It is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK and from 8am today we are giving away copies of Sherry Ashworth's Young Adult novel, MENTAL, published by ACHUKAbooks.
The author appeared at the Prestwich Book Festival yesterday and spoke about writing the book, which vividly portrays a young man's deepening psychotic depression and the effect this has on those around him, particularly his younger sister.
What one Amazon reviewer says about this book:
What a powerful story! I really couldn't put it down and read it all in one sitting, something I almost never do. Although the subject matter is dark, it is sensitively dealt with and in the end I was enriched by the experience. After I finished the last page, I felt sorry to say goodbye to the characters and happy to have found the book. But I also simply felt happy to be alive - and in spite of the uncertainty and fears we all have to face up to sometime in our lives. I could not recommend this book strongly enough to do it justice!
See YOUR character written into a Horrid Henry book and drawn by Tony Ross!
Orion Children's Books acquire Cornelia Funke's GHOST KNIGHT
Fiona Kennedy, MD and Publisher of Orion Children's Books, has acquired a new story for middle grade readers by the award-winning author, Cornelia Funke.
In a deal for UK and Commonwealth rights struck with Jenny Savill at Andrew Nurnberg Associates, Orion Children's Books will publish GHOST KNIGHT in a fully illustrated hardback gift edition, in November 2012.
Sister company Little, Brown have purchased English-speaking rights for North America.
GHOST KNIGHT is described as "a thrilling tale of bravery, friendship and ghosts" from the internationally best-selling author of Inkheart and Reckless.
My Brother Will by Sophie Masson
Published today, ACHUKAbooks #5, MY BROTHER WILL by Sophie Masson
A richly rewarding read, presenting a year in the life of the young William Shakespeare, still living at home in Stratford, on the cusp of adult independence, as seen through the eyes of his younger brother Gil.
My Brother Will is as much an evocation of what it was like to be young and alive in Elizabethan England, where the medieval rituals and festivities of country life were still deeply embedded in the cycle and rhythms of the year, as it is about the character of a future playwright.
Published in the midst of a World Shakespeare Festival that runs through to September 2012.
Browse the rest of the ACHUKAbooks list...
Authors interested in submitting their work to ACHUKAbooks should read the FAQ
Washington Post obituary
A Call for Papers on the theme of "Beyond the Book"
posted on behalf of the: 19th IBBY UK/NCRCL MA Conference
Now, more than ever, people are debating what constitutes a book. With the development of ebooks, apps, self-publishing and fan fiction - as well as the popularity of book adaptations to film, TV, stage and other venues - book boundaries are extended and broken all the time. The boundaries of children's books have always been flexible, with merchandise included with John Newbery's A Little Pretty Pocket Book, published in 1744 and J.M. Barrie's classic character Peter Pan appearing in various guises before being immortalised in fiction. The 19th IBBY UK/NCRCL MA conference will consider the many incarnations of stories that take place 'beyond the book', as well as the impact of children's books on wider culture, including discussions of the publishing industry and book design, digital developments, marginalia, adaptation, festivals, museums, collections, and more.
The conference will include keynote presentations by well-known writers, publishers and academics. Proposals are welcomed for workshop sessions (lasting about 20 minutes) on the following or other relevant issues/areas from any period in the history of international children's literature:
The deadline for proposals is July 31st 2012. Please email a 200-word abstract (for a 20-minute paper), along with a short biography and affiliation to Laura Atkins: L.Atkins@roehampton.ac.uk
Will be very interesting indeed to see how this plays out in practice.
Author of Mental At Prestwich Book Festival
Sherry Ashworth, author of ACHUKAbooks title MENTAL, is appearing this Wednesday at the Prestwich Book Festival.
Look out for new ACHUKAbooks publishing very shortly. In the meantime, a reminder of the four titles already available.
We are still actively seeking new submissions.
Please read the ACHUKAbooks FAQ
Itch: The Explosive Adventures of an Element Hunter by Simon Mayo, reviewed by Tim Radford
Can such adventures inspire a new generation of unashamed science geeks? Why not? WE Johns's Biggles stories and Arthur Ransome's sailing books exposed new horizons for young urban readers. Radio 2 DJ Simon Mayo has given us an amiable hero who could, in theory, do the same for the periodic table. TIM RADFORD
A Study Of Swearing in YA Books
[A study, ublished in the Mass Communication and Society journal, of] 40 teenage and young adult books has found that characters who swore were generally portrayed as rich, attractive and more popular than those who did not. Researchers said their paper raised questions over whether books should be given age ratings similar to those used on films and video games to help parents decide whether the material is appropriate for their child.
Jeff Kinney On Plans for 10 Wimpy Kids Titles
Author Jeff Kinney talks to Fiona Purdon about his plans to write at least 10 The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, about his hopes to one day start another series about a teenager trapped in a juvenile detention centre, and about visiting Australia for the first time.
Lauren Child's Favourite Books from Childhood
As part of an occasional series on authors' favorite children's books, the New York Times asked Ms. Child to tell us about her own favorites when she was a girl.
She talks about
A Publishers Weekly profile of Oliver Jeffers:
Author-illustrator Oliver Jeffers, a Belfast native who has lived in Brooklyn since 2007, is enjoying his greatest U.S. success to date with Stuck, his eighth and most recent picture book. Released last November, the book sold out its original 20,000-copy print run and to date has 50,000 copies in print. But Jeffers had already made a much bigger name for himself in the U.K., beginning with his 2004 debut, How to Catch a Star. That plucked-from-the-slush-pile submission went on to win a Merit Award at the following year's Bisto Book of the Year Awards in Ireland. Since then, Jeffers has racked up multiple nominations and honors overseas.
Bowker® Market Research's Understanding the Digital Consumer project is an ongoing study of the use of e-books by British consumers...
British children aged 10 and under are reading e-books, but on laptops rather than designated devices like the Amazon Kindle. But once they turn 11, they embrace the Kindle as their most widely used device for e-book consumption. These insights are courtesy of Bowker® Market Research's Understanding the Digital Consumer project, an ongoing study of the use of e-books by British consumers. The latest wave of research, completed in March 2012, included an extended set of questions around children and their use of digital content.
New Zealand Post Book of the Year
Matt Elliott, a comedian and author, wrote Nice Day for a War after finding his grandfather Cyril's diaries from World War I.
The book, part graphic novel, part historical novel, was illustrated by Chris Slane, and has won the New Zealand Post Book of the Year at a ceremony held in Wellington.
Convener of judges Gillian Candler said the book combined elements of graphic novels with powerful, emotionally engaging narrative.
Wellington children's writer Jack Lasenby won the Young Adult Fiction category for his novel Calling the Gods, the story of a teenage girl who is banished from her home in an alternate world.
Lower Hutt writer Barbara Else received this year's honour award for The Travelling Restaurant, a children's novel following the adventures of a young boy as he sails on a boat called The Travelling Restaurant.
Wellington writer Chris Szekely's book Rahui, which was published in both English and Maori, won best picture book.
Children's Book Awards finalist Jane Higgins rejects a reviewer's claim that her novel The Bridge is bleaker than The Hunger Games.
School Library Journal obituary...
English Association Conferences - Dickens and Childhood
Dickens and Childhood Conference and Symposium Monday 18 June
It is not too late to book for this one-day conference, which will include walks, lectures, readings, and parallel sessions on topics that will appeal to students, teachers, Dickens experts, and the 'interested reader'. The event will include an evening symposium of contemporary children's authors speaking on how reading Dickens has influenced their work.
The venue is V&A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London.
Click the link for booking information...
Siobhan Dowd Trust Campaign To Help Encourage A Love Of Reading
TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS: HELP NEEDED
Tell The Siobhan Dowd Trust how you spread the Joy of Reading and win £1000 worth of books for your school!
The Siobhan Dowd Trust is proud to announce that Michael Rosen, Poet and ex-Childrens' Laureate will be on the judging panel of a schools campaign, which is asking teachers and librarians for their ideas about how they encourage a love of books in their schools. The Trust will use the entries to build up a database of ideas which can be shared and swapped... and the ten best or most innovative ideas will receive £1000 worth of books selected by experts as some of the titles which every school should have one (or more) copies of. All schools in the UK are welcome to take part: nurseries through to sixth form, fee-paying schools are not eligible for a prize although they are welcome to share good ideas .
For details of how to enter (and the start of the database), please click the link in the heading.
Orchard Books have announced significant sales of foreign rights for their new chapter book series, Secret Kingdom!
Ahead of publication in the UK in July, the Rights team at orchard have already secured sales in seven languages:
Afrikaans (launching books 1-3 in November 2012 / books 4-6 in March 2013), Catalan & Spanish (launching the series in early 2013), Dutch (launching the series in Spring 2013), Polish (launching the series in August 2012), and Turkish (launching the series in 2013 (tbc)).
The rights in France were sold following "a fierce auction" and will be launched by a major trade publisher in Spring 2013.
There is also an auction getting under way for German rights and the first offer is in for the Danish rights!
The first book in the Secret Kingdom series introduces Ellie, Summer and Jasmine, who are the very best of friends. One day they find a magic box which whisks them away to a fantastical world! Can the friends help Trixi the pixie save King Merry's 1000th birthday party from Queen Malice's spiky thunderbolt...?
Orchard Books say, "Newly confident readers will be swept away by the magical stories of three children whose courage and resourcefulness save a fantastical land from disaster."
A MINI ILLUSTRATED BOOK FOR INSPIRING YOUNG STORY TELLERS, BY CLARA VULLIAMY
available for download from Zoe Toft's Playing By The Book blog....
The Delicious Life Of Julia Child
New children's book about a celebrated cookbook author, pioneering television chef and champion of French cuisine....
Historical Fiction fans take note: Philippa Gregory has written a series specifically targeted at young adult readers.
The series title is Order of Darkness and the first title, Changeling (set in the author's favourite period - The Tudors), is out this month.
cover price £12.99 Amazon £6.62
Gregory says, "I am delighted to move into a new area of writing. I know I have many young adult readers already and it will be a pleasure to write a series especially for them. Bringing history alive is a great joy and to bring it to a younger generation doubly so."
Other recently published titles have been added to our Young Adult table:
Our Children's Fiction Table (selected new releases) has just been updated:
as selected by Elizabeth Bird for the New York Times:
Members of the criminal underworld, beware the little children. They've been on to you for years, and the number of mystery-loving young readers seems only to grow. Now to the ranks of Encyclopedia Brown and Cam Jansen comes the newest crop of budding Hercule Poirots: two are American, one is from Botswana, one gang hails from England, and two are Canadians with twitchy noses. The one thing they have in common is that each provides the seeds to understanding how a perfectly average child (or rabbit) might go about becoming a sleuth when baddies need foiling. ELIZABETH BIRD
Goblins by Philip Reeve, reviewed by Simon Mason
Philip Reeve is a class act, a marvellously original creator of intelligent and entertaining fictions. The Mortal Engines series remains his great achievement, but with Goblins - as if taking a little time off to please himself (and, it seems from a note on his website, his son) - he has produced something altogether lighter but no less brilliant: a fantasia on a theme by Tolkien, a relaxed and joyous riff on a familiar-sounding world of trolls, giants and wizards, where the dark tower of the ruined fortress of Clovenstone, inhabited now by nests of loutish goblins, awaits the return of the Lych Lord's rightful heir, a mighty sorcerer to rule the world. SIMON MASON
The Telgraph's Lorna Bradbury recommends stories by Eva Ibbotson, Gill Lewis and Shirley Hughes...
"I was really lucky with the publisher (Orion Children's Books) because they were keen on the idea that we'd have illustrations and give the book a certain look."I had written things like recipes, pages from notebooks and stage-plans into the story.
"It was great that the publisher was keen to keep those and to have things designed as part of the book as well, because it's quite unusual to have books for that age group to have illustrations.
"My publisher found Jeremy - they had seen some of his work, and showed me some samples that were perfect.
"A lot of it was exactly how I had seen it.
"It was almost like he could see the same thing that I could, the world that the books created."
The English edition was soon followed by versions in German, Polish, Dutch and Greek, and Italian and Romanian runs are in the pipeline.
On the positive reaction to her work she says: "It was really strange, because I had been working on for a few years so it didn't feel real.
"It's strange to think that something you've spent time scribbling or typing away and it's been taken from you and turned into this thing that goes out there into the world."
For her second book, Joanne was inspired to revisit her muse of Prague again and create another book mingling Bohemian legends with her own ideas.
"For The Alchemist And The Angel, the historical figure of Emperor Rudolf grabbed me. I had read lots about him, and he was such an interesting, crazy character.
"There was so much about him, his world, the city that he had created, that was just a brilliant springboard...
Also by Joanne Owen:
In December 1980, TIME Correspondent Peter Stoler spoke to Maurice Sendak about children's literature. Parts of the Stoler's reporting were used for a story that ran in the magazine but the full file has been preserved in TIME's archives...
This piece, from TIME magazine's archive and dating from 1980 is more worthy of checking out than the multitude of links that currently pop up in a websearch for 'Sendak' presenting much the same information.
Macmillan Prize Now Includes Digital
as reported by The Bookseller:
The Macmillan Prize, which rewards illustration, has introduced a digital category for the first time, with the deadline approaching on 11th May. The prize now has two separate categories, one for a physical picture book, and one rewarding a storyboard for an enhanced e-book. Students must show interactions such as simple animation, sound effects, tap-and-response effects and other multimedia such as video and audio. The winners of both categories will receive £1,000 and the chance to be published by Macmillan Children's Books. ... The judging panel is chaired by publishing director for Illustrated Publishing Macmillan Children's Books, Suzanne Carnell, with the other judges being children's book illustrators Emily Gravett and Polly Dunbar; children's bookseller Julie Gamble of Blackwell Edinburgh; Lorna Bradbury, children's reviewer at the Daily Telegraph; and Pan Macmillan digital director Sara Lloyd. The prizes will be awarded on 28th May at Foyles Gallery, with the winners' and highly-commended students' work to be exhibited there from 28th May to 1st June.
Five Famous Illustrators Celebrate 70 Years Of The Famous Five
Niamh Starkey Is Ireland's New Children's Laureate
President Michael D. Higgins announced author and illustrator Niamh Sharkey as Laureate na nÓg, Ireland's laureate for children's literature, presenting her with the Laureate na nÓg medal at a special event at the Arts Council.Laureate na nÓg is an initiative of the Arts Council with the support of the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Children's Books Ireland, Poetry Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The honour was been established to engage young people with high quality children's literature and to underline the importance of children's literature in our cultural and imaginative life.
Niamh Sharkey is an author and illustrator of children's picture books, which have been translated into over twenty languages. Her books have won numerous awards including the prestigious Mother Goose Award and the Bisto Book of the Year. Niamh is the creator and associate producer of The Happy Hugglemonsters, a 52 episode pre-school animation series, based on her book The Hugglewugs, which will air on Disney Junior in over 150 countries in 2012.
Speaking about her appointment Niamh Sharkey said:
'It is a great honor to be chosen as the next Laureate na nOg. I am a picture book maker so my focus as Laureate will certainly be visual as well as literary. I am going to get to do even more of what I love most - promoting quality children's literature and encouraging children to read, write and draw. I have lots of ideas that I hope will inspire creativity in children of all ages. I'm very excited and can't wait to get started'Mags Walsh, Director of Children's Books Ireland said: "In the two years since its establishment, the position of Laureate na nÓg has been able to highlight and celebrate the incredible talent and passion which exists in the Irish children's books community. By bringing national and international attention to Irish children's books, Laureate na nÓg has demonstrated the central role that books can play in every Irish childhood."
Maurice Sendak - The Independent
"My gods are Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson and Mozart. I believe in them with all my heart."
"Fuck them is what I say, I hate those e-books. They can not be the future... they may well be... I will be dead, I won't give a shit!"
MAURICE SENDAK
... died Tuesday 8th May, from complications following a stroke...
Guardian obituary... with apologies for delay in posting this link
Telgraph obituary...
In February, in response to a question from an enthusiastic grandfather, I selected a list of 50 books that could be seen as the building blocks of a child's library. It included illustrated stories for the under-fives, as well as novels and reference books.
This was followed last month by 25 classic novels for teenagers, when I received a letter from a vampire-fatigued 14-year-old girl - books such as Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
I hoped readers might share their own childhood favourites with me, but I hadn't envisaged anything like the number of thoughtful responses I was sent. The list that follows offers up 25 further books, based on suggestions from Telegraph readers, taking our proposed library to 100 titles. LORNA BRADBURY, Telegraph
Danielle Wright visits independent children's booksellers before the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards' Festival, starting tomorrow...
Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes, reviewed by Mary Hoffman
The book has a deliberately retro feel, which I hope won't put young readers off. The font size and the protagonist's age suggest a readership of nine or 10 but the language - excuse the pun - takes no prisoners, and there is a higher proportion of exposition to dialogue than this age group has come to expect.But it's an exciting story, well told, by someone with a strong feeling for the time and place. I hope it finds the right readers in today's crowded market. Any girl or boy who has ever gone freewheeling down a hill towards an unknown adventure should be among them.
BOOKINGS FOR THE 2ND NCRCL CONFERENCE CLOSE ON THE 4TH MAY
- that's tomorrow, Friday...
Greenhouse Funny Prize Launched
In an effort to attract more humorous submission, the Greenhouse Literary Agency has launched a new prize open to all unagented authors.
For full details follow the link but here are the essentails:
The Greenhouse Funny prize is open to un-agented writers who are currently resident in the UK and Ireland. Entries will be judged by me (that's Julia Chrchill) and guest judge Leah Thaxton, Publisher of Egmont Children's Books (and discoverer of Andy Stanton).The winner will get an offer of representation from the Greenhouse and a full weekend ticket to the wonderful Festival of Writing that runs 7-9 September '12 (worth £525). The winner will also be presented with a bottle of champagne at the Festival's gala dinner on the Saturday night. The runners up will each get five of my favourite funny books, and maybe even a comedy mug.
...Entry guidelines:
To get a good sense of the voice and where the character is headed, we'd like to see the first 5,000 words PLUS a short description (a few lines) of the book AND a one page outline that shows the spine of the plot.
If you are submitting a picture book (or shorter fiction that comes in under 5,000 words), then send the complete text.
Please send your entries to funny@greenhouseliterary.com
from the Telegraph report on figures from the Publishers' Association:
Sales of ebook novels quadrupled last year, almost making up for the sharp decline in sales of old-fashioned physical books, new figures from the book industry show...
ACHUKA Takes Part In Operation Diamond
You'll need to visit ACHUKA on Tuesday 29th May (note it in your diaries) to pick up your clue for entering Orion's big Operation Diamond competition.
Visit the link above to find out all about it.
IBBY and UAEBBY launch the Sharjah IBBY Fund
The United Arab Emirates Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) and the International Board on Book for Young People (IBBY) Foundation launched the Sharjah government-supported Sharjah IBBY Fund which aims to promote a love of reading among children so that they become life-long readers, ensure that children have access to books as well as support needed training programmes for professionals in this field.
The Fund aims primarily to provide support for children whose lives have been disrupted through war, civil disorder or natural disasters in the region of Central Asia and North Africa through implementing reading-related projects.
The launch of this Fund was announced at a press conference held during the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival 2012 at Sharjah Expo Centre.
Why So Many Gloomy Children's Books
The Guardian's book doctor, Jullia Eccleshare, gives her diagnosis...
