National Non-Fiction November 2016

To celebrate National Non-Fiction November 2016 The Federation of Children's Book Groups has drawn up a list of 100 of the most exciting, intriguing, eye-opening non-fiction books for

children and young people of all ages, books to delight, inspire and make you gasp (or even giggle) in wonder.

With the support of a wide range of non-fiction publishers, The FCBG has teamed up with World Book Day for a spectacular giveaway - the sort that will instantly create an incredible library packed with true adventures through time and space, bursting at the seams with titles to feed curiosity, amazement and delight in the real world.

Prize A: 1 set of all 100 books featured in the booklist, '100 Brilliant Non-Fiction Books for Children and Young People'

Prize B: 1 set of 33 books aimed primarily at 0-7 year olds, all featured in the booklist

Prize C: 1 set of 34 books aimed primarily at 5 - 11 year olds, all featured in the booklist

Prize D: 1 set of 33 books aimed primarily at 9+ year olds, all featured in the booklist

Groups, schools, libraries and other institutions are eligible for the 100 book giveaway (Prize A). Members of the public are being encouraged to nominate the groups/school/library they work in, or know about (for example - though not restricted to - schools with dedicated school librarians, extra curricular clubs, education teams in hospitals, charities and other non- governmental organisations), who they believe would relish a brand new set of incredible non-fiction books.

The giveaways for prizes B,C and D are open to individuals.

Find full details of the giveaway (including how to nominate organisations or enter as individuals) and download the full '100 Brilliant Non-Fiction Books for Children and Young People’ list at :

http://www.worldbookday.com/2016/10/100-brilliant-non-fiction-books/

National Non-Fiction November is the Federation of Children’s Book Groups’ annual celebration of all things factual. Born out of National Non-Fiction Day, the brain child of Adam Lancaster during his years as Chair, the whole month now celebrates all those readers that have a passion for information and facts and attempts to raise awareness and appreciation of non-fiction books for children and young people. Extensive resources for exploring and celebrating non-fiction books can be found at http://www.fcbg.org.uk/national-non-fiction-november-2016/. #NNFN

The Federation of Children’s Book Groups was set up as a charity by Anne Wood, the originator of The Teletubbies. It acts as an umbrella organisation for local Children’s Book Groups all over the UK. The groups organise a variety of activities including author events and other activities that promote the enjoyment of children’s books. The Federation co-ordinates The Children's Book Award (now in its 35th year) and also produces numerous specialist book lists, organises National Share-a-Story Month each May, and holds an annual conference each spring. http://www.fcbg.org.uk/. @Fcbgnews

World Book Day is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) of encouraging a love of reading for pleasure. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world. On 2nd March 2017 children and young people of all ages will come together across the UK and Ireland to celebrate 20 amazing years of the campaign. World Book Day is a registered charity, no. 1079257. www.worldbookday.com/ @WorldBookDayUK

For more information about National Non-Fiction November please contact: Zoe Toft, nnfn@fcbg.org.uk

Federation of Children's Book Groups, 10 St Laurence Road, Bradford on Avon, BA15 1JG

Registered Charity no. 268289

Stratford Literary Festival and The Salariya Book Company launch Debut Children’s Picture Book Prize

Stratford Literary Festival and The Salariya Book Company launch Debut Children’s Picture Book Prize


To mark its 10th anniversary in 2017, the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival is launching a Prize, in partnership with children’s book publisher The Salariya Book Company, to find the next big children’s author/illustrator. The winning story will be published in the UK and the winner or winning team will receive an advance of £5000 against royalties.


The Prize, which will form part of the Festival’s 2017 Sharing Stories Project to encourage reluctant readers and parents to read with their children, is unique in offering guaranteed publication by Scribblers, an imprint of The Salariya Book Company, and is being supported by some of the biggest names in children’s writing and illustration.


The judging panel includes David Salariya, Founder and MD of The Salariya Book Company; Annie Ashworth, Director of The Stratford Literary Festival; the award-winning author/illustrators Nick Butterworth and Sarah McIntyre, who is also the Festival’s Guest Children’s Director for 2017, as well as Tamara Macfarlane, owner of the multi-award-winning Tales on Moon Lane Bookshop and Ashley King, illustrator and bookseller at Waterstones. The winner or winning team will also receive advice and guidance as part of the prize from the children’s literary agent Jodie Hodges of United Agents.

The Stratford Literary Festival/Salariya Book Company Children’s Picture Book Prize 2017 is open to author/illustrators or author and illustrator teams aged 16 and over based in the UK who have not previously been published and distributed online or in bookshops.


The winner will be announced in February 2017, with printed copies available in late Autumn 2017.

‘As a festival, we are passionate about championing new writers and illustrators, and about sowing the seeds of a love of reading at a young age, so a prize seemed the perfect way to do this,’ says Anne Ashworth, Director of the Stratford Literary Festival. ‘We have always been quite ground breaking as a festival, having published a YA novella and run an online interactive story in 148 characters. We also publish a book of winning stories and poems in our creative writing competition each year. This prize, however, will be more ambitious than anything we have done before.’





‘We are very excited to be working with Stratford,’ says David Salariya, founder and managing director of The Salariya Book Company. ‘To the best of our knowledge this is the first time a publisher and a festival have collaborated on a prize, and we are looking forward to seeing some very creative submissions.’

The deadline for entries is Thursday, 12th January 2017 and full details, including rules of entry, can be found at stratlitfest.co.uk/picturebookcomp and at www.salariya.com

#stratfordsalariyaprize
@StratLitFest
@theSalariya


For further press information, please contact:

Antonia Wilkinson Tamsin Williams, Wigwam PR Email: antonia@wilkinson-pr.com Email: tamsin@wigwampr.com
Tel: 07703 538554 Tel: 01483 563562 / 07939 651252

Dreams, doubles and doppelgangers

Dreams, doubles and doppelgangers  – Newcastle University designs new virtual reality author exhibition for mobile phones

 

The clocks have gone back and the nights are drawing in - now is the perfect time to delve into the unsettling world of Catherine Storr.

 

Her spooky stories have been brought to life in a new exhibition experience designed especially for mobile phones.

 

Experts from Newcastle University’s Culture Lab have been working with Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children‘s Books, which houses the writer’s archive, to create an online experience about her work.

 

Catherine Storr is probably best known for her novel Marianne Dreams and the Clever Polly series. Her stories often revolve around children confronting fears and feature recurring themes of doubles, doppelgangers and dreams.

 

The Catherine Storr Experience is loosely based around the house Marianne draws in Marianne’s Dream. Mobile phone motion sensors let the user navigate around the 3D property, learning more about Storr’s work as they visit the different rooms and examine different items.

 

Kim Reynolds, Professor of Children’s Literature, in the University’s School of English, Literature, Language and Linguistics, provided the content for the experience.

 

She said: “Storr is an author whose work lends itself perfectly to a project like this. She trained as a doctor, worked as a psychotherapist and was married to a psychiatrist.  She understood what was going on inside the minds of children and young people - their fears and desires.

 

“This made her exactly the kind of subject we needed for this innovation. We wanted to do something really new, which could help audiences get inside the creative process behind great children’s books.

 

“Using mobile phone technology means that people anywhere in the world can explore some of the wonderful material held in the Seven Stories archives in Newcastle. The three-minute Virtual Reality experience is accompanied by additional materials based on the archives and additional objects and memories provided by Storr’s daughters.”

 

The experience uses experimental technology to combine animation with the idea of a guided tour, allowing you to stop at set points and hear more about objects you’re looking at.  While this technology is still in its infancy it is already proving very powerful for creating web-based experiences like this.

 

Tom Schofield, Lecturer in Digital Cultures at Newcastle University said: “This contributes to our ongoing work into the fusion of cultural heritage with new forms of creativity through digital technologies.

 

“We hope that this experimental work encourages new experiences of Catherine Storr’s books and the characters and environments and the Catherine Storr archive at Seven Stories.”

 

Kris McKie, Archivist at Seven Stories: the National Centre for Children’s Books said: “Working with Culture Lab on this project has given us the opportunity to use digital innovation to present our Catherine Storr archive in a completely unique and highly original way. We’re excited by the potential for future projects and collaboration.”

 

The experience launched online on Saturday 5 November, You can visit it at  http://digitalcultures.ncl.ac.uk/Catherine-Storr/.