Michael Morpurgo At Wordup Festival
Bestselling children's author Michael Morpurgo speaks about Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of War Horse at the inaugural Telegraph WordUp! Festival in Dulwich...
Page (from the Telegraph) includes short video clip, with Morpurgo wearing his trademark faded maroon jacket and trousers...
Mega-selling Jeff Kinney brings Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Bath
The Bath Festival of Children's Literature hosts Jeff Kinney, the American author of the hugely popular book, and film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in a one-off, special event at the Pavilion in Bath on 3 December 2011 at 2pm.
To celebrate the launch of his new book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, Jeff will be revealing his top secrets to becoming a best selling author, his inspiration behind the series, and audience members will get the chance to see his very first written concepts and drawings of Wimpy Kid.
This event will be the best chance to find out how Jeff creates the jokes for the books and how the characters made the transition from page to screen! A thorough Q&A session will follow the event for all those with a burning question.
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series chronicles the adventures of wise-cracking pre-teen Greg Heffley who must somehow survive the scariest time of anyone's life, middle school. Aided by best friend Rowley, Greg must put up with a highly dysfunctional family as he embarks on a journey of survival. Written in journal style and filled with hand written notes and simple drawings of Greg's daily adventures, Jeff Kinney's books have been hugely popular the world over.
Tickets are available from Saturday 15th October and can be booked by telephone 01225 463362, online at www.bathkidslitfest.org.uk or in person at Bath Box Office, 2 Church Street, Abbey Green, Bath BA1 1NL
Hay Fever, the children's books wing of the annual Hay Festival, starts tomorrow. Check the online programme.
How Not To Run A Literary Festival
Really excellent blog entry by Amanda Craig pointing up some fundamental courtesies and organisational requirements from an author's point of view.
Required reading...
The Northern Children's Book Festival 2009
• The biggest children's book festival in Europe.
• Two weeks of events over the North-East each November.
• 12 local authorities participate in the festival.
• 33 authors / illustrators taking part in events with schools and libraries 9th-20th November 2009
• 12 authors / illustrators at the Gala Day 21st November at Stockton Riverside College.
• Around 20,000 children will benefit from the fortnight of fun sessions.
• An exciting bookshop selling books by authors involved in the festival giving children an opportunity to have their very own signed copies.
• 3,000 plus expected to attend the 26th Gala Day.
Check the webiste for more details of this November fesitval.
Michael Morpurgo, Julia Donaldson and Caroline Lawrence are among the five children's authors set to record interactive audiobooks as part of the children's series of events, Hay Fever, at Hay Festival.
Brighton Children's Book Festival
19th-20th April 2008
Just received a post from festival director Laura Atkins flagging up this admirable website, which includes online booking for events.
Children's Books Ireland Festival (3 - 26 Oct) events listing
The Bath Festival of Children's Literature
Exactly 2 weeks to go till the start of the first ever Bath Festival Of Children's Literature. The website has full details of how to book for events.
One of the verdicts on the Auckland Writers & readers Ferstival:
Philip Ardagh (children's author) was hysterically funny. He could be a stand-up comedian...
Some authors, it seems, are falling out of love with the Hay Festival, including sometimes children's author Terence Blacker:
Leading the charge is the novelist Margaret Drabble, who attended the first festival in 1988 but has vowed never to return. The author of 17 novels, two biographies, a television play and winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize told The Independent on Sunday it had become too "celebrity conscious". "It's a pity," she said. "The whole thing has become a celebrity festival, not an author's festival. Of course there are some very fine writers there this year. But the whole thing of festivals has become about book sales and marketing, nothing to do with meeting readers. They argue that if they're selling your book then you don't get a fee. But I like to get a fee unless I choose to be a patron or a friend which I am to one or two small festivals. I don't want ?100K and I don't see why Bill Clinton did, and he's not an author." The author Terence Blacker, who has written numerous novels, said he was "bemused" by the reaction he received when he suggested giving a reading of his biography of the theatre impresario and author Willie Donaldson. "I've loved Hay in the past, as performer and audience," he said, "but this year my new biography of Willie Donaldson was rejected on the grounds that a reading from it could only work if it was 'glammed up a bit' - direct quote - with celebrity readers. I can't help feeling that something about the festival may have changed in some way and I'm sad that I'll never be glam enough for it."
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.
