Find out what's new on our websites, where we've been, what's on our minds and the things we're doing.
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Interview with David Vann
Posted Wednesday October 7th 2009
by James SmithDavid Vann's new book is hard to describe. Not quite a novel, but not quite a collection of short stories either, Legend of a Suicide takes a pivotal moment in one family's life – the death of the father 'by his own hand' (as they used to say) – and reworks it over six chapters/stories. Facts and points of view are slippery things, though, and the reader can often feel strangely disoriented by Vann's book.
We wanted to find out more, so asked the author some questions. He was kind enough to reply.
> At the end of Legend of a Suicide you acknowledge some pretty heavyweight writers. How intimidating was it to put your own work out there?
I don’t feel intimidated by great writers, or even really envy them, because I realise it’s not a competition. We each write what we can. I try to understand and ingest their work and hope that some aspect of it might appear in my own. No writer is truly original. We’re all using what has come before. And publishing, seeing one’s work out in the world, is a gift and immensely satisfying.
> The University of Massachusetts Press seems an…
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Happy Children's Book Week!
Posted Monday October 5th 2009
by Katherine WoodfineToday is the first day of Children’s Book Week 2009 – our annual celebration of reading for pleasure for children of primary school age.
This is the 78th year that Children’s Book Week is being celebrated in schools, libraries and other venues across the UK – and in the last few weeks, I’ve been inundated with requests for extra copies of our special Children’s Book Week pack.
The pack contains resources for teachers, our Best Book Guide, plus a bookmark and posters, beautifully illustrated by award-winning illustrator Emily Gravett. Copies were automatically sent out to all state primary schools, special schools, hospital schools, children’s librarians and teacher training institutions in the UK back in June, but we always receive lots of additional requests from everyone from registered childminders to universities, all of whom want to explore and enjoy reading for pleasure during Children’s Book Week. If you want to take a look at the pack yourself, you can download it from our website.
It’s also been great to hear news from schools, libraries and all kinds of other venues across the country, who have been telling us all about their events and activities taking place during Children’s Book…
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Laura Dockrill's Favourite Author: Patrick Hamilton
Posted Monday September 28th 2009
by Laura DockrillLaura Dockrill, aka Dockers MC, is one of literature's newest and brightest hopes, with her rudeboy onstage poetry persona and delicate funny and touching books like Ugly Shy Girl. Having seen her step offstage, a banshee of foul-mouthed hilarity, we thought we'd simply ask her who her favourite author was. And what a good choice, the down and outer himself, Patrick Hamilton. Dockrill was named one of The Times' 2008 literary ones to watch and her book Ugly Shy Girl, with its winning combination of diary-like confessional and diagrams and illustrations is a beautiful tale of teenage misfittery.
My dad is good for two things- shepherds pie and books, he has always been my guinea pig in the universe of the literary world, in fact come to think of it I have never had a bad recommendation from him. I met Patrick Hamilton’s words when I was 19 years old; my dad plonked this gigantic novel, Crash, onto the pub table. I was like, 'really?' but was completely captivated on the bus home and that book, four years later, is still my favourite book of all time. Not only is Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky beautifully written, technically flawless-…
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At the Child Health Conference, London
Posted Friday September 25th 2009
by Elaine BielbyI attended the Child Health Conference, 'Implementing Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures', in Central London on 17 September 2009. The delegates were a mix of commissioners, health visitor lead officers, speech and language therapists and people from third sector organisations. The conference brought delegates up to date with Government priorities and progress on the Child Health Strategy, which was published in February 2009.
Heather Gwynne, Director, Chief Nursing Office Directorate, Department of Health, stressed the critical importance of a healthy childhood from the very start, as well as the development of brain formation, attachment and action on child health and wellbeing. The mental health strategy ‘New Horizons’ will help inform adolescent mental health services. This will require innovation in partnership working especially with the third sector.
The Government's current ‘action on health visiting’ hopes to transform the workforce by looking at direct entry training programmes to address the shortfall in the number of health visitors.
The two-year Transforming Community Services programme is a wider strategy which will be prioritising the very best start in life for maternity and early years; emotional resilience and mental health; young people’s health; and disabled children.
Judith Smyth, Commissioning Support Programme, DCSF, put a question to…
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Letting go of Patrick
Posted Thursday September 17th 2009
by James SmithAll good things come to an end, and Patrick Ness’s tenure as Booktrust’s first-ever online writer in residence is no exception.
It’s been an exciting six months: Patrick’s written 20 blog posts, ten sets of writers’ tips and an exclusive short story about how Viola came to crashland on Todd’s planet (if you’re a fan of The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer – and why wouldn’t you be? – you’ll realise what a coup this was). ‘The New World’ has been viewed more than 1,500 times since the end of June.
Patrick’s also been interviewed by a class of knowledgeable and enquiring teenagers, and a teacher has written a lesson plan for The Knife of Never Letting Go.
Somehow during all of this, he found time to finish the third book in the Chaos Walking series, which we were told in 3 August’s blog entry is to be called Monsters of Men. Another exclusive!
And (can there really be an ‘and’?) he ran the London marathon, bloodying his leg in the process, but getting himself patched up and carrying on regardless.
Throughout Patrick’s virtual residency we have been given a fascinating insight into the…
