ACHUKA: June 2005 Archives

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Author of the month: Eoin Colfer

Dina Rabinovitch's author of the month in ysterday's Guardian was Eoin Colfer:

He has it down to a routine - four months away from the family, six months at home, two months all together on holiday. "I met Terry Pratchett, a big hero of mine, at some awards ceremony. I ran out after him, thinking, 'Oh my God, this is such stalker behaviour', and I said, 'Excuse me Mr Pratchett', and I explained who I was, and he said, 'I've heard about you - you don't like to tour'.

"And he said: 'In the early 1980s there were four, five big sci-fi writers that came out of the UK and made it big; there's only two of us left now, because we toured.' He said, 'You have to tour, you have to meet your public.' And then he swept away, and I was looking after his limo, calling, 'OK, Mr Pratchett, I'll tour.' "

ZAMAN DAILY NEWSPAPER (2005062821087)

Child literature experts and authors reacted against the exclusion of all living authors from the "100 Temel Eser" (100 Rudimentary Works) that the Turkish Education Ministry has recommended for primary school students.

Scotsman.com News - Features - Hans that rocked the cradles

A feature from The Scotsman about Hans Christian Andersen, detailing some of the bicentennial events taking place at the Edinburgh Book Festival and elsewhere in the city during the summer and autumn...

youngsters will look forward to the autumn exhibition at the Museum of Childhood - Once Upon A Time: Hans Christian Andersen and Fairy Tales - and to the production of Thumbelina on the Fringe that will take the audience out on to the Water of Leith. They will also undoubtedly enjoy the season of Andersen-related films at the Filmhouse in October and the three Andersen-based performances that are expected at next year's Children's Festival. But their parents might be surprised to find how much they get out of Andersen too. At the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August, for example, a panel of distinguished Danish authors will seek to get to the core of Andersen's vast body of work. At around the same time at the Danish Cultural Institute, there will be a touring exhibition from Odense of Andersen's letters, portraits and personal belongings. That will be followed in September by a display of Andersen-inspired design and costumes by no lesser personage than Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. And at the Usher Hall in November, the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union is making a musical contribution to the celebrations.

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Children urged to use word power

A scheme which helps children grow in confidence by putting books at the centre of life has been launched. Books, Reading and Writing (Braw) has been set up to showcase Scottish children's authors and illustrators.

The project, run by the Scottish Book Trust, will support festivals, book tours and career development using Scottish Arts Council lottery funds... ...

Herts24

Short report of an appearance by Lian Hearn in the UK last weekend...

Life with the Big Jokey Giant - Arts - Times Online

Alan Yentob, writing about Roald Dahl in yesterday's Times, ahead of screeninf of tonight's documentary in the Imagine series:

Fantastic Mr Dahl, Alan Yentob’s portrait of the author in his Imagine series, is screened on BBC One tonight at 10.40pm. The Roald Dahl Museum is at Great Missenden, Bucks (01494 892192)

Dahl's stern morality gives his work the edge - Arts - Times Online

Modern children’s fiction is full of bullies being defeated, punished, made fun of, even tumbled into mud or stagnant ponds. But, apart from the odd moment of, say, Malfoy being transformed into a bouncing ferret, it is hard to think of anyone who is willing to punish awful children with such gleeful and imaginative insouciance as Dahl did.

Nocolette Jones, writing in The Times yesterday, alongside Alan Yentob's piece, blogged above, and putting it rather well, I thought...

Highly Recommended

EducationGuardian.co.uk | eG weekly | The children's laureate

Jacqueline Wilson, Laureate, writing in The Guardian's 'My Favourite Lesson' slot:

as adults love going to book clubs, I'd like to see a similar thing for older children and teenagers, so they can get together and talk about books they've read. Of course, it would just be a chance for them to impress members of the opposite sex, but it would be great if reading and talking about literature were seen as quite cool. I wish there'd been something like that when I was at school.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Madonna interview

Dina Rabinovitch interviews Madonna...

Not to be missed!

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | The enemy within

Dina Rabinovitch's wickedly entertaining account of a pyjama party launch held at 11 Downing Street..

Forget thousand-pound-a-ticket charity bashes: the tightest-kept secret of all is that you have to be in children's book reviewing if you want to name-drop the really swell parties. Lucky I am, then, because while Vogue's Fiona Golfar has been rattling off A-list gossip all morning, all I've been able to counter with is my "Hendon theory" - the one that posits that all important news stories have a Hendon connection.

But when Fiona wants to know if there's anything particular I need clothes for... I get to say: "Yes, the chancellor and his wife are hosting a launch for a story collection, Stars at Bedtime." The invitations, studded with the names of attending celebrities, came complete with sets of Boden pyjamas, correctly sized and gendered, for accompanying children.

The Wimbledon Shop - Ladies Championship Towel as used by the players on court. Packaged in a clear PVC bag

What's this? The 2005 Wimbledon Ladies Championship Towel has stolen ACHUKA's colour scheme! Haven't they heard, pink and green should never be seen ;-)

Louise Rennison and her daughter, Kim O'Connor - Magazine - Times Online

Louise Rennison and her daughter Kim were the subjects of yesterdays 'Relative Values' feature in the Sunday Times Magazine:

Louise Rennison, 51, author of the bestselling Georgia Nicolson series of books for teenagers, was 17 when she gave birth to a daughter, Kim, now 33. Kim was subsequently adopted by a New Zealand couple. Louise and her daughter were reunited for the first time 12 years ago. Louise lives alone in Brighton. Her sixth novel, ...Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers, has just been published. Kim, who works in financial services, now lives in London...

Latest title in the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson sequence...

Battle of the Books - The problem with "problem" young-adult fiction. By Ann?Hulbert

Highly-recommended article by Ann Hulbert, writing in 'Slate'.

In a well-referenced, tightly-argued persuasive piece she attacks the way inferior issue novels are used in US schools...

the real trouble with such issues-oriented contemporary fiction is that it encourages what you might call (in Jeanne Kirkpatrick style) literary equivalence: The genre, as teachers have discovered with the help of accompanying guides, lends itself to trendy and tidy didacticism. And so the books can end up as assigned reading for older kids precisely when these students deserve to be discovering the difference between real literature and the melodramatic fictional equivalent of an Afterschool Special

Fortune 75 - How Successful People Make Big Decisions - FORTUNE - Page 9

This, from a series of interviews in Fortune magazine on the subject of making decisions:

I choose books purely based on what I believe children will react to. If you carry the child within you, that's what works. You need a real ability to feel the hope, wonder, burning sense of injustice, fear, or rage of childhood—an unfettered mind that still dreams, that goes with the truth of story. I absolutely bet on my confidence in what children will like. BARRY CUNNINGHAM

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Japanese publisher defies Little Black Sambo protest

Seventeen years after it was removed from bookshops for its racist content, the children's story Little Black Sambo has made a comeback in Japan.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Dahl museum opens chocolate-bar doors

Designed by the architects Hawkins/Brown, the centrepiece of the museum is a series of video displays recounting the author's life, and a set of chocolate-bar doors smelling of real chocolate.

In the adjacent story centre, children will also find an orchard featuring giant versions of artwork by Quentin Blake, Dahl's principal illustrator, and an exact replica of the garden shed in nearby Gipsy House where the author created many of his most enduring characters... ...

Publishing News - London Book Fair Dailies

HARRODS IS TRANSFERRING its children’s books department from its children’s section to its instore Waterstone’s... [reports Publishing News

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Sandra Glover tells Dea Birkett what inspired her to write a novel about a child who kills

Sandra Glover speaks to The Guardian about her recent novel You:

Glover has another book just out.

Spiked

Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Interview: Judy Blume

But for those of us who grew up with it, its significance can perhaps best be measured by one odd and lasting side-effect of its popularity: the consigning of the name Ralph - which is what Michael memorably decides to name his penis - to the dustbin of history. "I've heard from several young men who say: 'Judy, how could you do this to me?'" Blume admits. "I apologise to all of them. It's nothing personal."

Recommended Judy Blume feature

USATODAY.com - For Sendak, 'cute' doesn't quite cut it

Maurice Sendak feature

publishing later in the summer, newly illustrated by Sendak

Bookslut | An Interview with Jon Scieszka

Recommended interview feature with author and founder of Guys Read.

Telegraph | Arts | Have you got a children's story to tell?

More about Waterstone's WOW Factor competition in this Telegraph article, which ends with tips from some leading children's authors, including Philip Pullman, Eoin Colfer and Anthony Horowitz.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Tiny fans besiege book world's bejewelled star

A feature in today's Guardian about the new Children's Laureate's appearance at the Hay Festival included the following:

... ...she revealed, to a pining audience, her 86th book is coming this autumn. Love Lessons deals with the one subject she had said she would not touch: passionate attachments of pupils to teachers. It will be followed by another in the spring, and possibly by her autobiography in autumn 2006.

This is strange. There is already a well-known YA novel in the UK about just this subject. And it too is called Love Lessons. By David Belbin, it is described on Amazon as "A gripping novel about one of the last great taboos - a teacher- pupil relationship" and has received a number of 5-star reader reviews.

This news was released by Scholastic 10 days ago, but hasn't yet been ACHOCKABLOGGED because I was away last week.

Elaine McQuade is leaving Puffin to become Managing Director of Scholastic Children's Books. She will take up her new role in early August.

You can read the full Press Release from Scholastic below. It includes news of a change of role for Gavin Lang, as well as quotes from both Kate Wilson and Elaine McQuade about the new appointment.

Publishing News - News Page

As reported by Publishing News:

IN AN EFFORT to discover new UK literary talent, Waterstone’s has... unveiled The WOW Factor, a nationwide writing competition open to anyone over the age of 16. First prize is a guaranteed publishing contract with Faber & Faber, with the winning book publishing in paperback in September 2006 and sold front-of-store in every Waterstone’s branch across the country, supported by a high-profile promotional campaign. On top of royalties, the winner will also receive £1000. Participants have between 15 and 31 July to enter, and are being asked to take the first three chapters and a synopsis of their novel, aimed at eight to 12 or teens, to their nearest Waterstone’s; a full manuscript must be available by 30 September and the winner will be announced on 1 December. Branch staff and specialists from Waterstone’s Children’s Forum will filter entries, via reading groups, sending the 13 they consider have the magical ingredient to be judged by a panel, which will include G P Taylor (Shadowmancer/Faber), Waterstone’s bookseller and children’s author, Anna Dale (Whispering to Witches/Bloomsbury), and the winner of Junior Mastermind 2005, 11-year-old Robin Geddes from Camberley, Surrey, whose specialist subject was Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (Egmont).

Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Author of the month: Celia Rees

I missed this while I was away last week, and then realised when reading yesterday's Guardian (June 1st) that there had been no Author of the Month for May, so went to The Guardian website to find it.

Dina Rabinovitch excels at these author profiles, and this one of Celia Rees is one of her best, form its opening description - "It is the very pleasant face that is the dead giveaway. The short, ginger hair, the regular brown eyes, all so much more housewife than desperate." - to this entertainingly observant passage about the sexual content in Rees's latest novel, The Wish House:

It is another cliche of teenage writing these days that stories are liberally dosed with sexual activity - nobody does it well, as it happens, but on the whole it's better executed by the thirtysomething male writers in this field, than by the older, probably too responsible, women. In The Wish House, atmospheric and well-written plot-lines are infiltrated by Cosmo Girl-sounding passages about anxieties over coming too soon.

Sex is notoriously difficult to write well, of course, but even harder, perhaps for those penning sexual scenes for the teens. "I censor myself quite heavily - extremely heavily really," Rees tells me. "I think it's partly [that I leave out] a sort of explicitness about sex, but also the negativity. That sort of vicious cynicism, that's a totally adult view of sex - that if I chose to, I could write about. But I wouldn't write like that for teenagers. You have to be an adult to experience the things that make you like that." Ah, beware, the terrifying frankness of the thoroughly grown-up female.

You are Highly Recommended to read the full piece...

Sir Paul McCartney Creates Children's Book Coming This October With a 1st US Print-run of 500,000

This is hardly new news, but was the subject of an official newswire yesterday. I wonder how Philip Ardagh (who we were able to hail in the street from my car window last week) feels about being described as a 'veteran' :-)

Sir Paul McCartney has signed with Penguin Young Readers Group to publish his children's picture book, High in the Clouds: An Urban Furry Tale, in the United States on October 4, 2005. The initial US print-run is planned at 500,000 copies. This book will have two day publication of October 3 and 4 in 8 countries (and counting). "Having worked on this story and the characters for many years, it's very exciting for me to see things come to fruition in what I think will be a remarkable book," said Paul McCartney. For the project, McCartney teamed up with veteran children's book author, Philip Ardagh and animator, Geoff Dunbar... ...

Vampirates:
Demons Of The Ocean

by Justin Somper

(Simon & Schuster)


The start of a new adventure series set 500 years in the
future when rising sea levels have invoked a new era of piracy.

Book #2 will
be published January 2006.

Picture from the launch party that I missed last week:

Justin Somper centre; Ingrid Selberg (S&S Publishing Director), John Webb (Children’s Buyer Waterstone’s Head Office) to the left; Louise Grieve (Children’s Manager Waterstone’s Edinburgh West End) and Venetia Gosling (Fiction Editorial Director) to the right...

icNewcastle - A Hemingway with words

An interview with Rodman Philbrick, author of Lobster Boy

Recommended