Click here to see the latest press releases about the 2011 award winners.
Monsters of Men
by Patrick Ness
published by Walker BooksGet video and audio from the ceremony, view the Carnegie shortlist or read more on the winners
FArTHER
illustrated by Grahame Baker-Smith
published by TemplarGet video and audio from the ceremony, view the Greenaway shortlist or read more on the winners
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Truth in Fiction
From StarMag, 19th June, 2011
By DAPHNE LEE
IT’S been several years since Kuala Lumpur played host to a literary festival, so the city’s book lovers were understandably excited when Malaysian writer and poet Bernice Chauly announced the Writers Unlimited Tour KL/Makassar 2011 a couple of months ago.
At the time, there was some doubt whether the festival would happen as the organisers were having problems raising the necessary funds (a common problem faced by arts and literature groups all over the world). Fortunately, Chauly’s appeal for RM22,000 was met in the nick of time by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia.
Stories that are the Cat's Whiskers
By DAPHNE LEE
From Tots to Teens, 19th June, 2011
So, I hope you’re eager to learn of more fictional felines this week.
One of my favourite novels about cats is Jennie by Paul Gallico. Unfortunately, it is no longer in print. However, you can find secondhand copies online.
It’s about a boy, Peter, who is transformed into a cat and is cared for by a cat, called Jennie, who
has been abandoned by her owners. If you’re familiar with the way cats behave, you will realise that
Gallico was obviously very fond of and familiar with cats. In fact, he also wrote The Silent Miaow
which is a manual, supposedly written by a cat (translated from the feline into English by Gallico),
that “instructs stray kittens and homeless cats in how to obtain, captivate, and dominate the families of their choice.”
There’s also The Three Lives of Thomasina (readers of a certain age may remember the 1960s Disney adaptation) and Honourable Cat, a collection of poems and essays about cats.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Furry Muses
From Tots to Teens, The Star
12th June 2011
ABOUT three weeks ago, we adopted a cat (left). His name is Igor and he is four years old, which makes him about 32 in human years – a bachelor in his prime, although, as he’s been “fixed”, he won’t be fighting other Toms for the love of the neighbourhood she-cats.
Igor is beautiful – large and muscular, with white fur, touched with cream, and ice-blue eyes. He has a mean stare and I have this theory that he amuses himself by thinking of ways to kill us in our sleep. However, I don’t think he will act on his fantasies just yet as I feel he is rather pleased with his success in training us to scratch his back and tickle his chin and toss his catnip-filled mouse in the air.
Igor is a great source of amusement and joy to the whole family. I think it’s only a matter of time before he sneaks into my writing. Already, during my evening walk the other day, I was thinking him into a book. The things he gets up to – he got very excited over the unrolling of my yoga mat – and even his expressions, which range from dreamy to scathing, are all begging to be made into stories and turned into illustrations.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Gruffalo creator Julia Donaldson is new children's laureate | Books | The Guardian
Gruffalo creator Julia Donaldson is new children's laureate
Donaldson plans to promote music and drama and champion libraries during her tenure as the new children's laureate.Link to this videoJulia Donaldson, known to millions of unsleepy children and their drooping adult bedtime readers as the creator of the Gruffalo, he of the "terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws", has been appointed the new children's laureate.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Guardian children's fiction prize | Books | The Guardian
Guardian children's fiction prize
Julia Eccleshare introduces the longlist of eight titles
David Almond at his home in Humshaugh, Northumberland. Photograph: Mark Pinder for the GuardianThere are eight books on the longlist for this year's prize. Established in 1967, the award has an outstanding list of previous winners, including Leon Garfield, who won the inaugural prize for Devil-in-the-Fog, Alan Garner, Joan Aiken, Ted Hughes, Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson, Meg Rosoff, Patrick Ness and, last year, Michelle Paver. It is the only children's prize to be judged by writers; I was chair of this year's judges Michelle Paver, Julia Golding and Marcus Sedgwick.
Continue reading "Guardian children's fiction prize | Books | The Guardian" »
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Old Tales Made New
From Tots to Teens, 15th May 2011
By DAPHNE LEE
I’M in the midst of editing a collection of stories based on traditional tales from the region (Malaysia and Singapore).
When I first thought of collecting stories for this anthology, I imagined it would be for children. I didn’t grow up with Malaysian fairytales, myths and legends. Like many Malaysian children from English-speaking families, I was raised on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. I was baptised in the Catholic church and so Christian mythology was part of my life.
As an adult I felt something was missing. Why did I know European fairytales, myths and legends and not the fairytales, myths and legends of the country in which I lived and belonged? The obvious reason was because my parents never told me any of the latter. My mother would occasionally relate bizarre stories, of Chinese origin, about a filial son who went to incredible lengths to prove his love for his aged mother, but for most part she (and my sisters) read me stories which included fairytale staples like Snow White, Cinderella, The Goose Girl, The Bremen Town Musicians (my favourite) and Rumplestiltskin.
We had a few lovely hardbound copies of fairytales by Andersen and the Grimms. We did not own any collections of Malaysian traditional tales. This was why I thought of compiling one. However, this was several years ago and since then a few anthologies, including two fully-illustrated ones, have been published for children.
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