BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Pullman's magic touch delivers
Philip Pullman has been made a CBE in the New Year Honours.
ACHUKA: December 2003 Archives
Telegraph | Arts | A writer's life: Lauren Child
Recommended feature:
Lauren Child profile...
"The thing I can never understand is when people ask - and it's a very typical question I get asked - how can you write children's books when you don't have any children of your own?
And the answer is, because I was a child and I know how it feels to be a child... ..."
Kazaa tops searchers' list. 31/12/2003. ABC News Online
'Harry Potter' took the #2 slot in the top 10 Yahoo searches of 2003 (#1 was Kazaa, the filesharing program used by MP3 enthusiasts).
" Children's author Robert Munsch, famous for Love You Forever, The Paper Bag Princess and numerous other books, is the honorary celebrity chair of Family Literacy Day on Jan. 27..."
An ABC Canada Literacy Foundation interview...
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
Reuters:
"Pascal Kamina, a copyrights lawyer representing the author, Franck Le Calvez, confirmed in a telephone interview Monday that the case -- claiming damages for breach of copyright and trademark and demanding that they withdraw "Nemo" books and merchandise from French shops -- will come up for hearing in a French court February 17... ..."
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Disney sued in France over Nemo
"A French children's author is suing Disney, saying the international box-office hit Finding Nemo may have been lifted from his own work..."
Telegraph | News | Grey-haired heroine of the emotionally anxious tween-ager
Feature about Jacqueline Wilson tagged onto news report about a MORI poll into the reading habits of 11-18 yr. olds...
"The trend in children's books may be towards celebrity authors, or those whose work can be transformed into multi-million-pound fantasy films, but Jacqueline Wilson has found another way.
Her works sell by word of mouth, coupled with extensive book tours and library readings that have parents and children queueing round the block.... ..."
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Short story by children's laureate Michael Morpurgo
"The best Christmas present in the world"
A short story by the children's laureate, Michael Morpurgo
Me And My Motors - Benjamin Zephaniah
"When it comes to cars [Zephaniah] is an enthusiastic fan of British heritage. He is the proud owner of a Triumph TR7 and has owned every version of the classic British sports car from the TR3 onwards. Then there is the Triumph motorbike, an old Morris Oxford and a 1400cc Escort for knocking round town. All are a deep maroon: ?Red is dread,? he says (?dread? being a Rasta term of approbration). "
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
"Chorion, the media firm behind Toytown taxi driver Noddy, says it hopes to finalise a deal before the end of the year to add the Mr Men characters to its portfolio of children's icons..."
The Observer | OMM | Raymond Briggs
'But do you know what I really couldn't get along with?' he asks. 'Van Morrison! Couldn't stand it! Just terribly crude and, oh God, just miserable.' ...
Boston.com / News / Nation / New storybook reopens old wounds
...Karen Breen, children's book editor at Kirkus, says, "The story is just such a wonderful story and it needed to be rehabilitated, I guess the word would be. And the art in it is extraordinary." When told of the negative reactions from Poussaint and others, Breen says, "It could be entirely possible that I am wrongheaded about this." ...
The Story of Little Black Sambo, illustrated by Christopher Bing, whose previous books include The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Maurice Sendak, interviewed by Eric Wagner for The Times
After a day spent trawling shops in Brighton trying to find CDs by Paul Westerberg in response to a Christmas request, I sat in front of Road Trip on BBC1, listlessly turning pages in the day's papers, until I came across this:
?You can?t write for children,? he says. ?There?s no such thing. It?s a financial industry, made up. People say, what?s it like to be a children ?s book writer? And I don?t know. I do seem to do it. That?s what I do: but not because I think children are wonderful and I want to save the world ? like I am the Mother Teresa of children! Except there?s something in me that?s intuitively tuned in. I?ve never stopped being there. In the children?s book form, which seems innocuous enough, I can burrow in like a bug and do all I want to do, hidden by the form. It?s a great hiding place. You can do all the guerrilla warfare you like. And I did from the beginning.?
Times Online - Newspaper Edition
"ANNE WOOD, founder of Ragdoll Productions and creator of the Teletubbies insists she really has no idea what her company is worth... ..."
A feature by Ray Snoddy, The Times Media Editor
Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | Interview: Philip Pullman
An interview feature by Dina Rabinovitch:
"I saw the first preview, playing to a packed Olivier Theatre. It is a beautiful production, the daemons of the novels criss-crossing the stage with shafts of light, tissue paper creations lit from the inside.
Afterwards, people filed out past the tired-looking man in red socks, sitting with his wife. Pullman looked emotionally stunned, his face showing the impact of watching his words brought to life with the full might of the Olivier's huge chunks of stage which can be raised and lowered and wheeled round at the director's will... ..."
Playbill News: Hytner's Dark Materials Stumbles at National, Delays Start
"Nick Hytner's big two-part epic, His Dark Materials, has hit technical difficulties...
Hytner canceled two previews of Part One last week, and has now moved the first preview of Part Two from Dec.13 to the next night. The Dec. 20 press night has been spirited to Jan. 3...."
The Independent on Sunday carried 2 pages of children's books reviews. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate an online link.
Bess Roman reviewed picture books; Suzi Feay 'crossover fiction'; and Brandon Robshaw general fiction. Robshaw gives Julie Bertagna's The Colour of Chocolate a thumbs-up, after its unseemly bashing in The Guardian last week, and shares our enthuasiasm for two other ACHUKA favourites - The Lastling by Philip Gross ("I've read few adult books this year which are as haunting, as well-written and offer as much food for thought") and I Is Someone Else by Patrick Cooper ("a wonderful novel, written in a style as lucid and compelling as that of Patricia Highsmith").
I'll try and remember to add the url for these reviews when they're added to The Independent's online site.
"Roger McGough has been one of Britain's most popular poets for nearly 40 years. Christina Patterson talks to him about fame, fortune and poetry infighting..."
just published: The Collected Poems
Scotsman.com Business - Top Stories - Not just for youngsters anymore
"THE auction this coming Wednesday of seven first editions of Harry Potter books - and more crucially their sale estimates - shows the strength of the market in children%u2019s books..."
Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Tony Kushner celebrates Maurice Sendak, an old friend
The playwright Tony Kushner celebrates an old friend
"Maurice Sendak and I have been good friends for a decade... ..."
Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Drearly beloved
"Joanna Carey salutes the enduringly robust art of Raymond Briggs... ..."
Scotsman.com News - Features - Fairytale ending
"...the latest hopeful is Janey Jones. The Edinburgh author has just written and published her first book in a series of four for young girls. The endearing and traditional-looking book, Princess Poppy's Party, has been written for four to 12-year-olds and is about a young girl called Poppy who is excited about her fifth birthday. But in a bid to teach Poppy the art of patience, her family and friends pretend to forget it is her birthday before surprising her with a huge party and those sought after gifts..."
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Books for children to get national home
"The Centre for the Children's Book, which uses its collection of original manuscripts and illustrations to encourage creativity in young people, will announce [today] that it has raised ?6m to create a new home in Newcastle upon Tyne..."
Playbill News: Trevor Nunn Directs World Premiere of Skellig, Dec. 3
The priemiere of the stage version of David Almond's Skellig is today. It is showing at London's Young Vic until Jan 31st.
Another Independent article that slipped my notice at the weekend. Nicholas Tucker writes about Philip Pullman...
"Benjamin Zephaniah: Too black, too strong - and still too radical for many..."
This profile of the poet appeared in The Indpendent at the weekend.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Trying it on over anti-semitism
Norman Geras calls this letter (in The Guardian 01.12.03) by Michael Rosen 'objectionable stuff' over on the ever-stimulating Normblog...
The Times & The Sunday Times, Malta
"Children's author Lynne Reid Banks yesterday launched the paperback version of her latest book The Dungeon in the fitting mediaeval setting of the Mdina Dungeons..."
