Edinburgh Carry a Poem campaign

Introducing Edinburgh's Carry a Poem reading campaign, due to launch on 1st February 2010 with thousands of free books and poetry pocketcards, and a whole month of special events.
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Check out our animated Carry a Poem teaser and tell us the poem you carry with you and why at www.carryapoem.com <http://www.carryapoem.com> .

Write Away Annual Conference 21 May

A one day conference at the Wellcome Conference Centre, Euston Rd, London on the new curriulum and literacy teaching. It looks a packed and stimulating day with authors, illustrators and educationalists. Early bird rate available until the end of February. Details www.writeaway.org.uk

Dictionary of National Biography

I hadn't realised until now that you can access the new entries online free by just tapping in your library card number on the site www.oxforddnb.com . Amongst the entries is one by Chris Stephenson on JAN MARK (a fine writer who also reviewed for Carousel) , and there are also entries on Philippa Pearce and Ursula Moray Williams.

Imagine Children's Festival, South Bank, London

Thursday 11 February – Monday 1 March
MICHAEL ROSEN’S A-Z OF POETRY Thursday 11 February, Purcell Room, 11.30am; Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children), school discounts available Launching Imagine with some of the brightest names in children’s writing, Michael Rosen, Francesca Beard and John Hegley read their poetry to mark the publication of the A-Z of Poetry anthology edited by Michael Rosen. The audience will get the chance to meet the writers after the show.

JAMES CAMPBELL’S COMEDY & SONGS FOR KIDSSaturday 13 & Monday 15 February, Purcell Room, 2.30pm, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)James Campbell, an Imagine festival favourite, returns with a brilliant new show that combines the best of his stand-up comedy with a series of fantastically funny new songs for kids. James’ jokes make fun of everything from couscous to credit cards, creating a unique comedy environment for children and their parents. Suitable for ages six and over.

TOMORROW’S WARRIORS, JAZZPLORATION Saturday 13 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, from 1pm – 6pm, Admission Free Tomorrow’s Warriors is proud to present an exciting afternoon of performances and participatory workshops that will combine jazz, traditional story-telling and performance poetry. The day’s events will be led by band leaders Gary Crosby OBE and New Orleans trumpet player, Abram Wilson. Jazzploration features: Mango Spice 1pm – 2pm A musical journey to the Caribbean for all the family, learning some of the most popular folksongs and ring games from the region. Swing and Sing 2pm – 3pmAn open vocal improvisation workshop using rhythm and words to conjure up a world of scat and swing. If Music be the Food of Love… 3pm – 4pm One of the UK’s youngest jazz bands, the Teenie Warriors, debut new material and perform with young budding poets using the theme of love as their inspiration.Slam Jam/Jazzoetry 4pm – 5pm A performance poetry workshop in which young members of the audience will have the opportunity to perform their poems supported by Tomorrow’s Warriors Youth Jazz Orchestra.Mass Jazz Jam 5pm – 6pmOpen to all ages and abilities, Tomorrow’s Warriors invites aspiring musicians to bring their instruments and participate in an open jam session, culminating in a mass jazz jam finale. Those who wish to participate in Mango Spice and Poetry Jazz Jam need to sign up by coming to the registration desk on The Clore Ballroom 1 hour before each workshop as numbers are limited.

THE BIG BASH WITH COLIN CURRIEMonday 15 February, Purcell Room, 11.30am, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)Percussion maestro Colin Currie has created an amazing musical world especially for Imagine, featuring marimba, xylophones, coconuts and drums. Including the music of Steve Reich, one of the world’s greatest living composers, this show is a sonic sensation which is thrilling and fun for both children and adults. Suitable for ages seven and over.

BOOKWORM BABIES Monday 15 – Wednesday 17 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 10.30am, Admission freeImagine Children’s Festival encourages very young children to get into poetry. Tiny poets and baby bards are invited to come into The Clore Ballroom to explore stories and poems. Suitable for ages 6 months – two years.

THE 9 ½ COMMANDMENTS OF AISLE16 Monday 15 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 4pm, Admission Free Award-winning live poetry collective Aisle16 present their first show for younger audiences. The 9½ Commandments of Aisle16 uses the group's trademark mix of comedy, poetry and diagrams to present a step-by-step guide to writing and enjoying poetry. Featuring a poetic analysis of bullies, a look at God’s rejected prototypes for fish, and A Portrait of the Yeti as a Young Man. Commissioned by the British Council, the show debuted in Athens in January 2009. Its UK debut features brand new collaborations with illustrators such as Laura Dockrill and Mercy. Aisle16 features Luke Wright, Ross Sutherland, Joel Stickley and Chris Hicks. Suitable for ages eight and over.

THE SCRIBE WHO WOULDN’T SCRIBBLETuesday 16 February, Purcell Room, 2.30pm, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)This show journeys into the wonderful world of words with puppets, music and adventure. When the townsfolk of Kfar Milim open their new synagogue, they want their legendary scribe, Rav Katav, to write their new Torah scroll. But an incident in his past led Rav Katav to swear he’d never write again. Can the townsfolk persuade him to forget about it and pick up a quill once more? Only the letters can help them now. Suitable for ages five and over. In association with Jammy Doughnut Productions.

ILLUSTRATE A BACKDROP FOR GLUEMOUTHTuesday 16 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 12noon – 2pm Admission FreeIn the lead up to Laura Dockrill’s performance of Gluemouth in the Purcell Room on 17 February, children are invited to come to The Clore Ballroom and help Laura draw the backdrop for her show and make the set. Suitable for ages five and over.

LAURA DOCKRILL: GLUEMOUTHWednesday 17 February, Purcell Room, 2.30pm, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)Laura Dockrill and her mini Word Orchestra bring a poetry show like no other, including poems and stories of lions that watch TV, little boys that think they are vampires and dark tales from the forest. All performed by an outstanding group of fun, energetic performers in front of a set made by the audience. WARNING: This show contains contents for CHILDREN only and is not suitable for boring, grumpy or unimaginative adults. Suitable for ages seven and over.

POETRY HOPSCOTCH Wednesday 17 – Thursday 18 February, Southbank Centre Square, 12noon & 3pm, Admission freeWord Migrants (Dzifa Benson and Naomi Woddis) invite audiences to play Poetry Hopscotch, a magical game where children of all ages can write short poems in coloured chalk on a giant hopscotch and then exclaim these on the special Poetry Hopscotch megaphone. The 12noon session is suitable for children aged five to seven and their families, the 3pm session is suitable for children aged eight to 12 and their families.

JASON BRADBURY: DOT ROBOTThursday 18 February, Purcell Room, 11.30am, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)Jason Bradbury, presenter of Channel 5’s The Gadget Show and author of the amazing Dot Robot techno-thrillers presents his Dot Robot Roadshow and reads from Atomic Swarm featuring Jackson Farley, the 12 year-old digital genius who has a case to crack when a mysterious explosion blows up a nuclear reactor. Suitable for ages ten and over.

BRIGITTE APHRODITE THE URBAN FAIRY Thursday 18 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 12noon, Admission freeMusical comedy poet Brigitte Aphrodite performs a rainbow of magical songs and fairytale comic-poems of urban life with guitar glitter and pasta shapes stuck on. Brigitte ignites a firework of imagination and the glitter and memories will stay with the audience for days. Suitable for ages five to eight.

PAUL KIEVE’S MAGICAL SHOWFriday 19 February, Purcell Room, 11.30am, Tickets £8 (adults) £4 (children)Paul Kieve is a magician and author who makes magic happen on the Harry Potter films. In this magical show he tells the history of magicians and performs magic tricks, together with other magicians and illusionists who join him on stage. Audiences can learn all about magic and meet Paul after the show. Suitable for ages eight and over.

IMAGINE A STORY FAMILY WORKSHOP Friday 19 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 11.30am – 3pm Admission freeVisual artist Laura X Carle leads a family workshop exploring storytelling, adding the audience’ stories to a giant book. Suitable for ages five and over. This event is BSL interpreted.

BEATBOX CONCERTO FOR KIDS FEATURING SHLOMO Saturday 20 February, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 11am, Tickets £9Southbank Centre Artist in Residence and beatboxer Shlomo creates a special show for Imagine with composer Anna Meredith and poet Caroline Bird, featuring the new work Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra – an exciting mix of beatboxing and contemporary classical music. This family-friendly show offers a fun introduction to the magic of music and collaboration and some members of the audience will get the chance to try beatboxing with Shlomo. Suitable for ages six and over.

JULIAN HEPPLE’S STORY TIME Saturday 20 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 3pm, Admission free Story Time is magical party and a narrated adventure, featuring a surround sound symphony orchestra, ballet, a big band, animation and loads more. Award-winning composer Julian Hepple, reworks the tale of Goldilocks, Cinderella and many other stories. With a cast of 45 and music ranging from Elgar to electro, Story Time is like no other family show. Suitable for all the family. This event is BSL interpreted.

KATHAK STANZASSunday 21 February, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 11am & 3pm Admission free Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, Gauri Sharma Tripathi celebrates the voice-in-dance, with this imaginative workshop that combines words and traditional South Asian kathak dance. Audiences are asked to bring their voice, feet and a little imagination.Suitable for all the family.

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER Saturday 27, Sunday 28 February & Monday 1 March, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 2.30pm (Saturday and Sunday), 11am and 1.15pm (Monday); Tickets £ £8 (adults) £4 (children), Schools discount for Monday performances: £2.50 per pupil‘There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy…’ Storms and icebergs. Sea shanties and dead mariners. An albatross shot down. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s fantastical story of a man’s voyage through nature and his own mind comes to life in a striking new production with original music by Southbank Centre Artists in Residence Bellowhead and a community choir of children, teenagers and adults. Developed from the 2009 outdoor co-production by Southbank Centre and the Young Vic based on an original idea by Shân Maclennan and Keith Shadwick. Most suitable for ages 8 and over.

THE BIBLIOMANCER’S DREAM Saturday 6 February – Tuesday 2 March, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, 10am – 11pm, The Foyer at Queen Elizabeth Hall, one hour before and after each Imagine performance, Admission free The Bibliomancer’s Dream returns to Imagine. Bibliomancy is an ancient ritual that involves the random selection of a book and then a line or verse within that book to learn a truth, or inspire the imagination of the holder. Visitors to the magical library can delve into hundreds of books that reveal the answer to their secret question as if by magic. Suitable for ages five and over.

POETRY LIBRARY Saison Poetry Library, Level 5, Royal Festival Hall, Admission free In the Poetry Library visitors can find riddles, stories, nonsense, picture books, pop-ups, recordings and also pick up a poetry trail that will help them to discover poetry all around them – at Southbank Centre and beyond. There is also a nursery rhyme reading area for children and parents with books, audio tapes and games as well as an exhibition of nursery rhyme posters and postcards. Visitors can create their own nursery rhyme postcard to upload to the GPS website.

GLOBAL POETRY SYSTEM PRESENTS POETRY JUKEBOXTo celebrate Imagine Children’s Festival, Southbank Centre invites parents and children to map their favourite poem from childhood – the poem they learned at school, a nursery rhyme their granny taught them or a favourite playground chant – on Global Poetry System (GPS). GPS is a user-generated world map of poetry. Poems uploaded by 31 January 2010 could be featured in a specially commissioned piece for the Imagine festival. Or there is a GPS station set up in the Poetry Library during the festival where visitors can record and upload their poems. Put your poetry on the map at www.southbankcentre.co.uk/gps

The shame of children held in UK detention centres

PADDINGTON BEAR has joined more than sixty leading children’s authors and illustrators in condemning the government’s arrest and detention of asylum seeking children in prison-like conditions. Jacqueline Wilson, Quentin Blake, Michael Rosen and Julia Donaldson are among more than sixty writers and illustrators who have signed a letter to the Prime Minister condemning the detention policy and supporting calls by leading doctors for its immediate cessation. ‘I call on every single person who hears of what's going on with the detention of asylum-seeking children to write, petition and demonstrate against it,’ said former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen. Internationally acclaimed writer Beverley Naidoo and illustrator Karin Littlewood visited children locked up in Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre on Monday. They performed a workshop for 14 children aged 5 to 16. After the visit, Karin Littlewood said: ‘Usually at our workshops children ask, “Can I take this home with me?” None of these children asked me that. It made me think – where is home for these children?’ She added: ‘You only have to think, what would you feel if that was your family, your sister, your daughter or nephew, being locked up?’
Beverley Naidoo said: ‘We spent a morning with delightful, thoughtful young people, which brings home the fact that our government should not be asking Serco to lock up innocent children. It is done in our name and we should say a loud No.’ Michael Bond sent a message from Paddington Bear: ‘Whenever I hear about children from foreign countries being put into detention centres, I think how lucky I am to be living at number 32 Windsor Gardens with such nice people as Mr. and Mrs. Brown. Mrs. Bird, who looks after the Browns, says if she had her way she would set the children free and lock up a few politicians in their place to see how they liked it!’ Notes to editorsThe UK Border Agency arrests and detains between 1000 and 2000 asylum-seeking children every year, although there is no evidence that families with young children abscond. Dave Wood, UKBA Director of Criminality and Detention, told a Parliamentary Committee in September 2009: ‘Whilst issues are raised about absconding, that is not our biggest issue. It does happen but it is not terribly easy for a family unit to abscond.’Source: Hansard http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhaff/970/09091604.htm <http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhaff/970/09091604.htm>
Medical establishment’s protestThe Royal Colleges of Paediatrics and Child Health, General Practitioners and Psychiatrists and the Faculty of Public Health on Wednesday issued a joint statement condemning the Government’s detention policy and calling for it to end ‘without delay’.
The Lorek report NHS paediatricians and psychologists, Lorek et al, reported in the international peer-reviewed journal, Child Abuse & Neglect, (October 2009) that children locked up at Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre were ‘clearly vulnerable, marginalized, and at risk of mental and physical harm as a result of state sanctioned neglect.’ The doctors recorded children’s ‘sexualised behaviour’, older children’s tendency to wet their beds and soil their pants, the ‘increased fear due to being suddenly placed in a facility resembling a prison’, the ‘abrupt loss of home, school, friends and all that was familiar to them.’ www.childrenssociety.org.uk/resources/documents/media/18565_full.pdf
Parliamentary Motion94 MPs have signed Chris Mullin MP’s parliamentary motion EDM1982 urging the Government to stop detaining children:http://communicatoremail.com/In/3720007/0/jRX8sdagTA8flbe0iFZPFh-kL5yf3D14/
On-line petitionIn only two months, more than 2500 people including hundreds of health professionals, lawyers, teachers & social workers, Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster, dozens of leading writers, plus Emma Thompson and Colin Firth signed a petition calling on the Government to stop detaining children. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoChildDetention <http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoChildDetention>
WOMEN FOR REFUGEE WOMEN arranged Naidoo & Littlewood’s visitContact: Natasha Walter020 7065 0772
END CHILD DETENTION NOW coordinated the author letter Contact Esmé MadillMobile 0777 3350018

Dear Mr Brown,
As writers and illustrators of books for children, we urge you to stop detaining children whose families have sought asylum in the UK.We strongly support those doctors represented by the Royal Colleges of Paediatrics & Child Health, General Practitioners and Psychiatrists, the Faculty of Public Health and the Children’s Commissioner Sir Al Aynsley-Green, in the concerns they have expressed about the trauma being experienced by children whose families have sought asylum in the UK.
These children have already had their worlds torn apart and witnessed their parents in turmoil and in stress. No wonder that paediatricians and psychologists report that child detainees are confused, fearful, unable to sleep, suffer headaches, tummy pains and weight loss and exhibit severe emotional and behavioural problems (Child Abuse and Neglect 2009; 33: 573 - http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/resources/documents/Campaigns/19432.html.) <http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/resources/documents/Campaigns/19432.html.)> .
The UK Border Agency asserts that ‘Treating children with care and compassion is a priority’, but it continues with the policy of child detention which has been shown to harm children. The Government must end child detention, now.

Beverley Naidoo
Michael Rosen
Jacqueline Wilson
Michael Morpurgo
Quentin Blake
Carol Ann Duffy
Michael Bond
Benjamin Zephaniah
Philip Pullman
Jackie Kay
David Almond
Jamila Gavin
Lynne Reid Banks
Tim Bowler
Meg Rosoff
Francesca Simon
Elizabeth Laird
Jeremy Strong
Louisa Young (Zizou Corder)
Mary Hoffman
Linda Newbery
Gillian Cross
Julia Donaldson
Catherine and Laurence Anholt
Bernard Ashley
Tony Bradman
Catherine Johnson
Celia Rees
Ifeoma Onyefulu
Karin Littlewood
Niki Daly
Chris Cleave
Bali Rai
Eleanor Updale
Prodeepta Das
Debjani Chatterjee
Moira Munro
Anne Rooney
Elen Caldecott
Frances Thomas
Gwen Grant
John Dougherty
Julia Green
Karen King
Katherine Langrish
Leila Rasheed
Leslie Wilson
Mary Hooper
Ann Harries
Ann Turnbull
Rosemary Stones
Shereen Pandit
Nicki Cornwell
Valerie Bloom
Anna Perera
Maya Naidoo
Graham Gardner
Alan Gibbons
Jan Needle
Anthony McGowan
Paul Stewart
Chris Riddell
Katharine QuarmbyAlly Kennen
ENDS

Adrian Mitchell Celebration

It is hard to imagine a more fitting or joyous evening to celebrate the talents of Adrian Mitchell than yesterday evening (9 December) at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The platform full of poets and musicians, the stage decked with bunting and the tone of the evening from the very outset fitting for the man. The evening began with music in the auditorium whilst we took our seats then the performers wandered on to the stage, chairs being moved, Clive Rowe appealing to us in the cheaper seats and then Michael Rosen calling the proceedings to order in the nicest and best possible way. Carol Ann Duffy showed why she is such an exciting Poet Laureate and the list of names continued with all the poets reading a poem of their own and one of Adrian's - the musicians playing and (mostly) his daughters - all blessed with wonderful voices - singing his songs.

To name names and to make all of you jealous the line up was (in no particular order) Michael Rosen, Brian Patten, Jackie Kay, John Hegley, Michael Horovitz, Patience Agbabi, John Agard, John Berger, Andrew Marr, Carol Ann Duffy, Liz Lochead, Roger Lloyd Pack, Roger McGough, Jonathan Pryce, Pete Moser, Mike and Kate Westbrook, Andy Roberts, Joanna Macgregor, Clive Rowe, Caitlin Stubbs, Beattie Mitchell, Sasha Mitchell and a whole further wonderful line up of musicians and singers.

The poems and the music was in turn humourous and reflective. And best of all no one hogged the limelight. The evening was filmed but whether this was purely for their own record I don't know, but it would make a great DVD.

All performances were greeted with tremendous applause, but none more so than the fine song Victor Jara of Chile sung by Beattie Mitchell and accompanied by Andy Roberts on guitar. Andrew Marr mentioned that Adrian's play Jubilee Singers where you can hear this moving song will be on Radio 4 sometime next year.

The evening over-ran but didn't feel a second to long and was bought to a close by his wife, Celia, and a rousing rendering of Marie Lloyd from Mind your head.

What did feel too long was the grid-lock on the A13 because LimeHouse Tunnel was closed for some reason - but arriving back in Suffolk in the early hours was a small price to pay.

The last collection of Adrian Mitchell's poems Tell me lies has just been published by Bloodaxe, illustrated by Ralph Steadman and available for just £10.95 direct from the publisher if you don't have a local friendly bookshop sales@bloodaxebooks.com and his last children's collection Umpteen Pockets from Orchard Books and wonderfully illustrated by Tony Ross plus Shapeshifters with extraordinary illustrations by Alan Lee is published by Frances Lincoln.

You can read the interview with Adrian Mitchell on the Carousel website under issue 30 - this took place during the summer of 05 and as Adrian had admired Chris's blue jacket he wore it at the celebration last night.

Postman Pat live at a theatre near you!

Premier Stage Productions are bringing Postman Pat and his brand new live show ‘A Very Royal Mission’ to theatres across the UK from February 2010. The tour will play 150 dates in over 90 venues across the country, opening at Epsom Playhouse on 13 February. For further tour details see below and also visit the new dedicated tour website www.postmanpatlive.com where new dates will be announced.

Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books

John Fardell, Lari Don and Keith Gray have been named as this year’s winners for the 2009 Royal Mail Awards, Scotland’s largest children’s Book Prize which is voted for exclusively by Scottish children themselves.

Author/Illustrator John Fardell won the Early Years category (0-7) for his first picture book Manfred the Baddie (Quercus), Lari Don won the Younger Readers category (8-11) for her first book First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts (Floris Books) and best-selling teenage fiction author Keith Gray won the Older Readers category (12-16) for the acclaimed Ostrich Boys (Random House). They will each receive £3,000 and a prize presented to them by Adam Ingram, Minister for Children and Early Years who commented:
"These awards play a valuable part in helping children to discover the joy and pleasure of reading a great story. Nearly 30,000 children have been reading from the selected lists and voting for their favourite books and it's impressive that so many have been involved. That's why I am delighted to be at the Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books and help hand out the prizes to these worthy winners!"

Record numbers of children took part in the voting process this year, with nearly 30,000 children from all over Scotland actively involved in the awards compared to 18,000 in 2008 and just over 10,000 in 2007.

Skellig on the London stage over Christmas

Live on stage at the Bloomsbury Theatre!14th December - 23rd January 2010 Based on the Whitbread award-winning book by David Almond, this spellbinding adaptation comes to the Bloomsbury Theatre following a sell-out run at the Shaw Theatre last autumn. promises to be a truly unique treat this Christmas! Watch the trailer online at http://www.birminghamstage.net/shows/skellig Ages 7+ Tickets:Full Price £17.50Concessions £13.50Children £12.50Family of Four £54 (not available on line)School rate £9.50, teachers go free (call for details)Group discounts available for bookings of ten or more. Box Office: 020 7388 8822www.thebloomsbury.com

BookTrust Teenage Prize 2009

Neil Gaiman is winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2009.

The Graveyard Book tells the story of Nobody ‘Bod’ Owens, a child abandoned in a graveyard after the vicious murder of his parents and sister by The Man Jack. Raised and educated by the ghosts that live there, Bod encounters terrible and unexpected menaces in the horror of the pit of the Sleer and the city of Ghouls. It is in the land of the living that the real danger lies as The Man Jack is determined to find Bod and finish him off.

Neil Gaiman is listed as one of the top ten living post-modern writers, and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. He is the creator of the iconic DC comic series The Sandman, the only comic to ever make the New York Times Bestseller list. His books have been adapted for a number of successful films, most recently the animated adventure Coraline.

In his acceptance speech, Neil paid credit to the authors that had inspired him: ‘Sometimes when we look big, and seem to see further, it's because we are standing on the shoulders of giants. The field of children’s literature has seen many giants, and those of us who toil in the field make our contributions using what we've learned from those who came first. ‘I'm proud of The Graveyard Book. But I know I got to stand on the shoulders of giants in order to write it. There were two writers of children's fiction who influenced The Graveyard Book. Foremost, obviously, Rudyard Kipling, and his short story collection The Jungle Book; less obviously Pamela "P.L" Travers, and her Mary Poppins stories. And everyone else: the writers I learned from as a young reader, and the writers I've learned from as a writer: a host of other craftsmen and women I learned, or borrowed, or stole from, to build The Graveyard Book.

This year’s shortlist was: Auslander by Paul Dowswell (Bloomsbury)The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury)Ostrich Boy by Keith Gray (Definitions)The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine (HarperCollins)The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant (Puffin)The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Walker)

Perform a Poem website

Michael Rosen launched Perform-a-Poem, the first e-safe site for children's poetry performances, at the National Theatre on 3rd November.He said:“I’m hoping that Perform-a-Poem will give an opportunity for children and teachers to experiment and play with poetry in an exciting way. All poems have a voice; sometimes this voice is best heard silently, but most poems enjoy being spoken and performed, because this is how we get to feel a poem.”
Perform-a-Poem, a unique poetry performance website for primary school children, encourages children to write, choose, perform, film and edit poems. Their poetry video performances can then be uploaded by their teachers, and browsed and enjoyed by children in other schools as well as families and friends.
To browse the site log on to www.performapoem.lgfl.net <http://www.performapoem.lgfl.net>

Illustrated Children's Books

A copy of this beautifully produced book published by Black Dog Publishing arrived yesterday when I was sweeping up leaves. At first glance the book looks splendid, but that was before reading the text. Review follows shortly on the review section of this blog. enid stephenson

Mal Peet and The Guardian Award

The popular writer for young adults has won the Guardian Award for Children’s Fiction with his novel Exposure, the third book featuring cynical sports journalist Paul Faustino


Walker Books congratulates Mal Peet on his recent award success for his blistering account of celebrity and the power of the media in making and breaking people’s lives. Mal Peet is no stranger to awards success, having won the Carnegie Medal for his novel Tamar and the Branford Boase and Smarties Award for Keeper, his first Paul Faustino novel. Inspired by Othello, Exposure is an engrossing, revealing read for older teenagers and adults, tackling issues of race, fame, poverty and greed. Mal Peet's writing appeals to a wide audience, but it has been particularly praised for its ability to appeal to male teenagers. Believing that writing for teenagers does not necessarily mean writing about teenagers, Mal's cast of characters are primarily adult. The quiet star at the centre of this novel, as with his previous books Keeper and Penalty, is Paul Faustino (who some might say bears a few similarities to the author himself!).

On his recent Guardian award win, Mal says,

“I’m totally thrilled to win the Guardian prize. I’ve been buying the newspaper for 35 years, so I’ve worked for it! In fact, if you subtract the prize money from what I’ve spent at the newsagents, the Guardian is way ahead on the deal! I don’t mind – the Guardian prize is very special. It’s judged by other writers so it’s pretty likely that if you win it, you deserve it.”The announcement of the award coincided with a rather exciting week for Mal. He says, “It’s turned out to be a great week. I just delivered my new book to Walker. Always a nervous event, it’s called Life: An Exploded Diagram and is about a teenage love affair, nuclear missiles, mad families and explosions. Life doesn’t get much better than when you finish a novel and win the Guardian prize in the same week as your birthday and your wedding anniversary. I pass people in the street and hear them mutter, ‘who’s that grinning loon?’.”

Crossover Books

I enjoyed listening to John Connolly on R4's Today programme this morning, Friday 9 October. You can catch him on Listen Again - push the timer along to about 2.47 mins into the programme. He was talking with John Humphries about his latest book and then the dreaded word Crossover happened and here is a rough transcription of what was said:

John H: Crossover books are meant to appeal to both children and adults

John C: That's a word if any author used they should be beaten with a big stick. It is a marketing exercise...cynicism...books that are aimed to draw in an adult readership and to do that you have to wink over the shoulder of the children to the adults.

John H: You patronise the adults or you go over the head of the child

John C: You patronise both. You infantalise the adult and you patronise the child so everyone loses out.

Guo Yue during a spell binding performance to a full house of school children at The Purcell Room, London on 8th October. Guo Yue and his wife Clare Farrow told the story of Little Leap Forward (published by Barefoot Books) with photographs, traditional Chinese Music (Guo Yue is a professional musician), kites and much more. The story is Guo Yue’s own story about how one little boy made a gesture, in the middle of a Revolution, that asserted his individuality and compassion, and belief in freedom. Guo Yue and Clare Farrow are also doing workshops in schools and have three more performances – The People’s Theatre, Newscastle (9 October) and two performances on 4th November at the Library Theatre in Manchester.The Children’s Bookshow is a national tour of the best children’s writer’s and illustrators which takes place in the autumn and presents a brilliant line up of writers in theatres across England. For more information see http://www.childrensbookshow.com/

London Children's Film Festival

Lucky London children being able to easily attend this excellent 8 day festival - 21-29 November - based mainly at the Barbican. Authors Michael Rosen and Frank Cottrell Boyce will be there, a whole range of British and international films, workshops and a retro tv treat from the 80s including Count Duckula and Dangermouse (what happy memories!). www.lcff.org.uk

SLA School Librarian of the year 2009

Congratulations to Lucy Bakewell of Hill West Primary School In SuttonColdfield - the SLA School Librarian of the Year 2009.
Photograph by Philip Paul .

Virtual writer in residence

Catherine Forde, the best-selling author of such acclaimed teen novels as Fat Boy Swim, Sugarcoated and most recently Bad Wedding, is Scottish Book Trust’s second Virtual Writer in Residence. She will be following in the successful footsteps of Keith Gray who inaugurated the role last year, and took up the post on Monday 5 October. You can see her first creative writing tips and tasks at www.scottishbooktrust.com/children-and-young-people/online-writer-in-residence

Quentin Blake at the National Theatre

Quentin Blake will be appearing on stage at the National Theatre in two platform events over the coming weeks.

Saturday 3rd October 2009 at 10.30am Roald Dahl Day To celebrate the fourth annual Roald Dahl Day, his principal illustrator Quentin Blake will draw live on stage, in the company of actors who read from Dahl’s ever-popular books.
This platform is followed by a book signing, but please note that Quentin will only be able to sign one book per person.

Friday 13th November 2009 at 6pm Quentin Blake and David Walliams Little Britain’s David Walliams is joined by his illustrator to talk about his new children’s book, Mr Stink, a hilarious tale of family secrers….and a tramp in a shed.
Followed by a book signing.
Tickets are £3.50, or £2.50 for concessions.

To book please contact the National Theatre Box Office on 020 7452 3000 or go to www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Bath Children's Literature Festival

　
The Festival opened on September 18th with a hugely successful discussion between Lorna Bradbury (Deputy Literature Editor of the Daily Telegraph) and Malorie Blackman. She captivated her audience by telling them about Double Cross the fourth book in the Noughts and Crosses trilogy!!
Carousel were delighted to sponsor a session in the Guildhall for families and young children. With an audience of about one hundred excited readers they learnt how Annette and Nick Butterworth created their wonderfully warm and reassuring stories about Jake, the well meaning dog who enjoys life but gets into lots of scrapes. Enthusiastic child artists joined in the game of Squiggles and left with their creations rolled up under their arm.
Bathed in sunshine, it was a pleasure to walk between the different venues for a packed programme of events for children of all ages. The Festival’s final weekend is February 26th – 27th. For details of events visit www.bathkidslitfest.co.uk