Just in case you missed it – Kate Thompson and Keith Gray will be in the National Library from half six to talk about writing for teenagers and being in exile. The night will be presided over by Robert Dunbar – which means no easy questions!!
Tickets are free but booking is essential – over on the CBI website.
News is out – The Irish Times is going free from tomorrow (crumbling to the might of the Jazz Biscuit Paywall campaign?) Eoin and Damien posted about it yesterday with some reactions in the comments.
Another small piece of newspaper news appeared in yesterdays guardian (via Cedar Lounge) – Dunnes Stores across Ireland will no longer be stocking the Guardian or the Observer newspapers following a dispute over ‘commercial terms’.
And just so the Independent doesn’t feel left out (and because it’s a blog about Childrens’ Books) Alison Walsh has a generic ‘what’s out for young readers this summer’ list that covers pretty much every taste.
Cineworld in Dublin have a classic movie series – once a month they are resurrecting old favourites and playing airing them out on the silver screen. This month’s movie is Blade Runner: The Final Cut.
I’ve never (no, never) seen the movie and I’ve been haunted by quotes and late night, drunken discussions about it… No better chance to see it so!
And if that wasn’t enough Blade Runner swag, check out the one-of-a-kind LEGO ‘Spinner‘. (from Boing Boing)
Congratulations to Philip Reeve and Emily Gravett on winning the prestigious Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals.
The books shortlisted in the Carnegie were all brilliant and I was sure it would go to Meg Rossoff – really glad to be proven wrong and I’m looking forward to reading Here Lies Arthur. Emily had two books (TWO!) shortlisted – who else could the award go to? That said – I’m really glad I didn’t have to decide who won, all of the shortlisted picture books are favourites.
Achockablog has more on the awards, go read his bigger and better post.
RTE are looking for an audience for their Eye 2 Eye programme. Darren Shan, Ruth Gilligan and John Boyne will be in studio to answer a few questions and they want 12 – 16 year old ‘bookworms’ to go on and ask a few questions. I’m sure they’ll let fame chasing non-bookworms on too.
Damn growing up, otherwise I’d be there! More info over on rte.ie.
So Mo Willems was in town last week!?! I missed it – but that Very Hungry Caterpillar was on the ball. While he was around Mo was interviewed by Ryan Tubridy (podcast is here, about 15 mins from the end )
On his blog Mo writes that his liver:
would not like to thank pal and funnyman Eoin Colfer for a night on the town in Dublin. “Eoin” is pronounced “Bob” by the way…
And then I saw this:
Can you tell I’m having a slow blog day?
Derek Landy’s Skullduggery Pleasant won the Bolton Book Awards over the weekend (he wasn’t able to make the ceremony but the omni-present Bookwitch did.)
The shortlist was Colin Bateman, Titanic 2020; Will Gatti, The Geek, the Greek and the Pimpernel; F E Higgins, Black Book of Secrets; Jill Hucklesby, Deeper Than Blue; Derek Landy, Skulduggery Pleasant; Jenny Valentine, Finding Violet Park and Cat Weatherill, Wild Magic. More over on the witches site.
And Chicken Spaghetti has some news on the Boston Globe Horn Book Awards – Shaun Tan’s The Arrival won itself a special commendation. If you haven’t read it yet – get yerself to the bookshop posthaste!
I’m heading back under the duvet for the day to fight off whatever has me feeling lousy. Here’s what I managed to miss over the weekend:
> Spencer Tunick had a few hundred people strip down and stand in the water. And then again in an apartment.
> The Dublin Pride Parade went off with a glow – despite the rain!
> Belfast was Barcamped.
> The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian was premiered.
> The Fringe Festival started looking for volunteers.
> Vulpe Libris gave away some books – I managed to win one!
And I caught something that has me craving the solace of my warm bed.
News broke this morning that the legendary and brilliant Tasha Tudor died on Wednesday. Reknowned across the US for her book illustrations and artwork, I am (and others might too) be most familiar with her illustrated edition of The Night Before Christmas (it was the first time I came across her as a kid).
More about Tasha on her family website and this mornings note in the New York Times.
Where’s Wally turns 21 this year. (Anyone else feeling old all of a sudden? I used to spend countless hours gazing at the huge colourful pages).
To celebrate, Walker Books are releasing their ‘most bamboozling puzzle yet’ with The Great Picture Hunt – I’m still stuck on the first page!
More over on the all new Walker site (shiny!) with plenty of online goodies to show off the new look.
More on age branding – this time from John Boyne:
Unlike films, where age guidelines are there to prevent those too young to see specific material from entering screenings, the idea for the books is not to prevent (say) a 9 year-old buying a book aimed at a 12 year-old; it’s there to to suggest that the book should only be read by the suggested age range.
I fear the idea of a child who decides he or she wants to read a book not aimed at their own age-group and having it ripped out of their hands by an adult who deems it “unsuitable”. That’s not what books are for. It’s not what literature is about.
via John’s blog.
I’d never read Tim Bowler’s books until I met him at the CBI Conference last month (shame on me really, he’s a Carnegie Prize Winner). Last week I managed to catch-up and read his two new novels, Bloodchild and Blade - ‘Playing Dead’.
The unmissable thing about Tim’s work is the natural accent – he creates unique voices in his work and with the distinctive tone the words all just work.
Some of the similarities in the voice of both books irked me at first – the characters are polar opposites – but the two characters are so convincing and individual that I couldn’t help but be absorbed by their stories. Of the two, Bloodchild was my favourite – it is a haunting story – but the Blade series is fast and addictive. I’ve already picked up the second book, Closing In, and I’m itching to get my hands on Breaking Free!
> You can read more about Tim on his site, or read some of the interview with himself and Robert Dunbar here.
Does Eoin Colfer ever sleep?
In between writing the Artemis Fowl stories he has managed to produce a swash-buckling adventure tale based on the Saltee Islands. (Click for wikipedia’s Saltee Islands entry, but no kingdoms, diamonds or greedy villans are mentioned so it is must be wrong)
Airman is heavily influenced by The Princess Bride and at a very solid 400 pages the wit and sharp retorts will have your sides splitting.
Conor Broekhart is born in the air (on a hot-air balloon) which begins his life-long passion for flying. But not everything goes according to plan in Conor’s idyllic life and he finds himself locked up in the diamond mines of Little Saltee. Airman is fast-paced read that is guaranteed to get hearts racing (and curiosities peaked for aeronautics.)
Probably more suited to boys but suitable for anyone aged 10+
Simon Juden, chief executive of the Publishers Association, responds to criticism about age branding on books:
Children already make judgments about what they think they will enjoy reading. We believe that it is the images and colours on a book’s front cover, a book’s length, and, of course, the author that will continue to drive children’s choices, rather than the discreet open-ended age range on the bottom of the back cover.
Read more in the Guardian. Michael over on the Achokablog has a response to the response.
Caught up with some bloggers (Darragh, Sinéad C – who seemed genuinely distraught by boyish face – and Laura) over the weekend – but managed to miss The Spanish Exposition’s look at the Irish Blogosphere until today. Rosie’s post hits on/near something, I think, that needed to be said – and some of the comments make for interesting reading.
There used to be a time when all Irish bloggers could fit around three tables in the Market Bar. The Irish blogging community is larger now and I doubt that most know who blog in various niches now. – Bernie Goldbach. (BG’s site)
As for the blogosphere itself this is an interesting post. I wrote something vaguely similar a couple of years ago. As the scene matures it’ll will splinter, that’s normal. – Twenty Major. (Twenty’s site)
Others have takes on it too: Le Craic, Alexia, Darragh, Colm, Jazz Biscuit – and more…
Update: Rick O’S has an interesting post take on things too…
And in other news:
> Sinéad G is leaving the Sigla blog – the best Arts and Culture blog, three years running.
> The Dublin Writers Festival Blog has some reviews – Esther Freud, Tom Stoppard and the Irish Values Debate.
> Rob got a haircut. (In case you missed it, this is an all inclusive Irish bloggers post)
> Rapture Ponies is excited. Really excited. You will be too, when you see the trailer for the new Coen Brothers movie.
> The Sunday Tribune website has gotten a clean up. (It looks very like Independent.ie)
> And, not Irish, not even a little, but well worth reading. Sigmund Freud vs The Male Nurse.
Two competitions to win movie tickets:
Children’s Books Ireland have a competition to win free preview tickets to THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN. More over on the CBI website.
Movies.ie have a competition to win preview tickets to WANTED – which looks great (watch the preview video, I dare ya). Details on how to get your tickets here.
> noagebranding.com has signed up more than 1500 supporters. (1541 to be pedantic)
> A short Harry Potter prequel was sold for €31,588 on Tuesday in aid of Dyslexia Action and English PEN. (Irish Times) You can read JK Rowling’s story as well as shorts from Lauren Child, Neil Gaiman, Doris Lessing, Irvine Welsh, Michael Rosen, Tom Stoppard, Richard Ford, Nick Hornby Margaret Atwood and more, handwriting and all, on the Whats Your Story website.
> Eoin Purcell has a guest post on the Poetry Ireland blog – ‘Publishing Poetry‘.
> Sarah Webb reviews Kate Thompson’s Creature of the Night (first published in the Irish Independent on Saturday)
> Red read Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine. ‘It’s an important, eye-opening book that depressed the hell out of me.‘ Go read more.
Tomorrow, June 12, is World Day Against Child Labour.
To mark the day Concern are asking people in Dublin to join them by the Spire to help them fly kites and launch 218 balloons – symbolizing the millions of children working in the world today.
The time-table in Dublin is:
11.15am: Meet at the Irish Aid Centre to parade down O’Connell St
11.35am: Release balloons at the Spire
11.40am: Gather opposite Spire on North Earl St for photos.
12.00am: Back to the Irish Aid Centre for refreshments
For more events around the country or to organise your own visit stopchildlabour.concern.net.
Harper Collins have released the details about their online book giveaway – this one. Breaking it down, case by case it looks like the experiment was a huge success. The fact that Neil Gaiman has a blog couldn’t have hurt matters either!
Neil Gaiman’s American Gods
(Full access to the book, through the company’s Browse Inside feature)
Number of page views generated: 3,827,306
Average page views per visit: 46
Number of clicks on a buy link: 1,177
Result: Promotion bumped weekly sales of the title at bricks-and-mortar locations by 250%.
Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things
(DRM-free audio download of Gaiman’s short story “A Study in Emerald” to promote the collection Fragile Things)
Result: Promotion didn’t drive registration and, according to Harper, “readers bypassed our up-sell efforts” because content was “too easy to take and run.”
Erin Hunter’s Warriors, Volume 3
(Browse Inside preview of 20% of the book)
Result: Preorders of the book increased 30%.
Robin Hobb’s Shaman’s Crossing
(Full e-book – downloadable with DRM and registration)
Result: Same-title and backlist sales of Hobb’s e-books increased
Its not the last we’ve heard from free online editions – looking forward to seeing where it goes from here. (via Eoin who spotting the story first)
Has it been a month already?? (No it hasn’t, I was just REALLY late spotting the last issue) Andrea Deakin’s June newsletter is up with reviews of Timothy Decker’s Run Far, Run Fast, David Cali and Anna Laura Cantone’s Mama Robot as well as two books that sound really worth looking up Anne Cassidy’s new book Foget Me Not and The Rules of Survival from Nancy Werlin.
There’s lots more over there – go and have a read.
The man behind everyone’s favourite skeleton detective, Derek Landy, is giving a creative writing workshop in the Irish Writers Centre. Open to 11 – 14 year olds interested in writing, the course will run on Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 of July.
Places are limited to 10 and costs €100.
I know I’ve given the Irish Writers’ Centre more than their fair share of stick but kudos for whoever put this together – great to see workshops for younger writers, especially with Derek. (Am I jealous that I can’t go? Yup!)
Details on the IWC website.
JK Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech – entitled The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.
On the benefits of failure:
failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.”
On the importance of imagination:
Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.
Full video, audio and transcript is up on the Harvard Magazine. (via Kottke.org)
Severe tab closure warning:
> Writers block? Procrastination problems? Damien has the answers you seek.
> Things to laugh at – via Darren.
> John is like a swiss army knife but for bloggers – How to install and reskin a wordpress theme.
> Is it time to resurrect Cruiskeen Eile? – Bookslut looks at Watching the Door: Cheating Death in 1970s Belfast.
> An Alan Moore rarity found on Richard Bruton’s site – The Bowing Machine.
> The US Library of Congress have put their collection of Rare Children’s Books online for free. – Go Look!! (via Scamp.ie)
> Smoking marvelites – it’s exactley what is says. Marvel characters smoking before it was outlawed.
> The vampirates website has been revamped (see the joke there??) – Achockablog spotted the new look too.
> Rick asks ‘is there nothing Lego can’t do?‘ Apparently not: Lego wall supports!! (via BoingBoing)
> And speaking of BoingBoing – here’s another gem: Internet novel? Why it’s a wovel.
I forgot to mention earlier that Kate Thompson will be in Dublin on June 30 talking with Keith Gray and Robert Dunbar about writing for teenagers and the life that goes with it.
Tickets are free but booking is essential – visit the Children’s Books Ireland website for more.
And, before I forget anything else – introducing Very Hungry Caterpiller, the blog from inside CBI. Head on over for news, views and interesting links on all things bookish. Ah, go on.
…an age-guidance figure is not information. It’s an opinion, but one that seems to have a special authority. There’s nothing wrong with a bookseller, for example, shelving one of my books on the 9-11 shelves; or a reviewer saying that the same book is suitable for 11 and upwards; or a teacher giving it to a child of eight, because she knows him and what he’s capable of reading. People make decisions and express views of that sort all the time. And their views differ, that’s the point. They are based on personal knowledge and opinion.
But when the book itself says 9+, or 11+, that figure has quite a different status. It looks as if the author is assenting to it; it looks as if I’m saying: “I wrote this for 11-year-olds. Everyone else can keep out.”
And I did not.
Philip Pullman on age branding in last Saturday’s Guardian and in Thursday’s Telegraph. The Forbidden Planet blog has a response to the article – and how age branding affects comics. Some interesting comments on the Book Fox blog after publishing Darren Shan’s statement, worth a read indeed!
Previously:
> everyone’s talking about… age branding
> everyone really is talking about age branding…
Conor Kostick’s new book arrived on Friday too. But it came with a big warning on the front so I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to give away. All I’m saying is that Conor is back with a bigger, better and even more thrilling book called Move.
Liam O’Dwyer discovers he can move between parallel universes – when he wants something to go his way, he moves to the universe where it happens. (Remember Sliders?) But there are consequences to each move and they are starting to catch up with Liam and his friends.
As with his two previous books, Epic and Saga, Conor has created a world that is hard not be sucked into… (But not until September according to O’Brien Press)
Creature of the Night landed on my doorstep on Friday and the only question I can think of is… ‘Is there is no stopping Kate Thompson?’
Following on from last years success with The Last of the High Kings she is back with her fourteenth book for teenagers. This time, with Creature of the Night Thompson recreates a vision of Dublin that is laden with urban grit but at once recognisable.
Bobby’s Ma is moving him and his half-brother out of Dublin to Clare. Moving him away from his mates, Fluke, Beetle and Psycho Mick, and away from trouble. On the bus down he doesn’t waste any time in planning his escape back to Dublin. But he discovers that life in the country is worse than he had imagined – especially when his new neighbours, the Dooley’s, warn him to leave milk out for the faeries.
If I had to fault the book it would be Bobby’s well spoken manner on the page – his narration as an inner-city fourteen year old doesn’t always ring true. (Not that inner-city fourteen year olds won’t understand the language/vocabulary, I’m just not convinced that they would use it.) Like Bookwitch, I had a problem with the epilogue too and personally wish I’d stopped reading at the end of the last chapter.
All that said, the ensuing culture shock ensnares Bobby, his family and the Dooley’s in a gripping story of debt, drugs and murder mystery. There is nothing gracious or whimsical about Creature of the Night and the bleak, austere world that Bobby and his family are trying to leave behind is exposed with brilliant, vivid, reality.
Having already won most major Children’s Books awards, Creature of the Night will likely ensure that Kate Thompson’s name features on most shortlists next year. A mix of stark realities and folklore, Creature of the Night is a compelling book that you won’t be able to put down.
Speaking of age branding and such – Darren Shan is due on Newstalk around six tonight talking about the very same topic.
Click here to have a listen. (It should launch the Newstalk Listen Live player…)
How different is age branding on the back cover of a book to one being shelved under teen fiction or 8+ in a bookshop?
Darren Shan and a heap of others, including four laureates – all listed here, have come out against publishing age brands on children’s books.
The fight in the UK is being headed up by Philip Pullman, who argues in an article on Bookseller.com that the branding:
Darren says:
I really think the publishers have made a big mistake with this. We’re in the same game, and our aims are the same — to deliver quality books to as many readers as we possibly can. But by taking this crazy stance, and not including authors in the decision making process, the publishers have drawn a line in the sand between them and us, forcing writers to take a stand against them.
The decision to go ahead was made – in some cases – without any consultation with writers, which was always going to get people’s backs up. But the argument for age branding seems primarily to stem from a hope for increased sales without huge cost, which is understandable.
I’m not for the idea to be honest – but I think I have must missed the reasons for the vehement backlash from writers.
It is a chance for writers, publishers, booksellers, and readers to look at how books are presented and for a real discussion on what direction the presentation and publicizing should take…
More on age branding on bookseller.com and on notoagebanding.org.
From the pages of Scamp comes the news that Patrick Lynch’s comic Last Bus is being launched tonight at half seven in the Stags Head. According to Senor Lynch himself it deals with ’such weighty themes as public transport, street violence, dream logic and absent friends.’
I’m kicking myself that I can’t make it.
Although, rumour has it that the Stags Head is downright creepy these days anyway. Looking forward to seeing the comic though.
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