An Author Embodies His Books’ Childlike Spirit
Christopher Capozziello for The New York TimesThe illustrator and author Tomi Ungerer is experienceing a career renaissance. Several of his children’s books have been reissued and a documentary about his life will be released this fall. More Photos »
By PAMELA PAUL
Published: June 28, 2011
Continue reading "The Child in Tomi Ungerer Remains Undimmed - NYTimes.com" »
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.
23 June 1947 - 8 May 2011
On May 8, 2011, Margaret Lim has passed away peacefully in the arms of her loving husband and children. She had lost the fight against cancer and ended her journey on earth, leaving behind lovely memories in our hearts.
Margaret’s work of passion will live on at this blog and, soon, some of her unpublished work will be posted, as well.
We would like to share the following dedication by Margaret’s sister Aileen:
“Maggie passed away on Sunday, 8 May 2011, in Germany. It is a very significant day that is so representative of her life. God could not have granted her a better gift as it was Mother’s Day, and as a creative writer, she would have appreciated the symbol very much. She also only left towards the end of the day, a mother to the last.
Looking back, I realise that she had that special touch of a mother in the way she played her roles in life: as a friend or as a family member – aunt, cousin, niece, sister, wife, and of course mother.
She was always generous, considerate and well-intentioned. She was full of mirth, amidst her seriousness. She never spoke ill of anyone. When an appropriate occasion arose, she always spoke proudly of her immediate family – Wolfhart, SuJen, Einhard, Ken.
I am certain that where she is now, she is shining among the angels, and is so very happy. And why not? In her relatively short life, she has done a lot, achieved a lot, and in no small way as a children’s writer. In this world of children, she was always in touch with God.
Although she and I were supposed to make several small journeys together, and she was supposed to travel to see her relatives and friends, she has gone on a greater Journey, after fulfilling her life’s purpose.
If we celebrate the fulfilled life of this wonderful soul, and be happy with her, our hearts will be healed. And we will remember her in our thoughts as if she has not left us.
Like her paternal grandmother and father who went before, whom she deeply loved, and to whom she dedicated two of her books, she was full of a Mother’s Love.”
- Aileen Lim
Shaun Tan wins Astrid Lindgren prize
World's richest children's literature award goes to Australian author-illustrator, described as a 'masterly visual storyteller'
Shaun Tan was awarded the Astrid Lindgren prize for being 'a masterly visual storyteller'. Photograph: Martin Argles for the GuardianThe Australian author-illustrator Shaun Tan is the winner of this year's Astrid Lindgren prize – the richest children's literature prize in the world, with a purse of 5m kroner (£490,000).
Tan is the second Australian to be awarded the prize in its nine-year history, following Sonya Hartnett's win in 2008.
Continue reading "Shaun Tan wins Astrid Lindgren prize | Children's books | guardian.co.uk" »
This calls for a massive re-read of all Diana Wynne Jones's books.
Her books started me reading fantasy fiction and she remains my favourite creator of stories in that genre.
Read The Guardian obituary here.
Directors Shaun Tan (right) and Andrew Ruhemann win the Oscar for best animated film for 'The Lost Thing'. Picture: AP/Matt Sayles Source: AP
MORE than a decade ago Shaun Tan was an unemployed illustrator not sure where his life was headed.
In the end, life has worked out nicely for the 37-year-old born in Fremantle, Western Australia, but now a resident of Melbourne.
Tan, you could say, is an accidental Oscar winner.
"I started off as an illustrator with no formal training other than high school," Tan said, stunned as he stood backstage at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood with his gold statuette for short animated film The Lost Thing, won with British co-director Andrew Ruhemann.
The 15-minute computer generated and hand-painted movie was only supposed to be a picture book.
"I originally wrote this story in 1998," Tan said.
"I was an unemployed illustrator. I wrote it on the kitchen table of my share house, worked on it for a year, developed it as a picture book, which was then published in Melbourne around 2000. "
The story is set in Melbourne and is about a boy who, while collecting bottle caps near a beach, discovers a strange creature that seems to be a combination of an industrial boiler, a crab and an octopus.~ AAP
Posted via email from daphnelee's posterous
N.B. View the film of The Lost Thing here.
An Oscar for Shaun Tan?
By Chelsey Philpot --> February 24, 2011
Shaun Tan
Photo by Inari KiuruShaun Tan may have to make room on his shelves for an Oscar. The award-winning author and illustrator best known for his wordless graphic novel, The Arrival (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Bks., 2007), has been nominated in the Best Short Film (Animated) category for The Lost Thing, where he makes his directorial debut along with co-director, Andrew Ruhemann.
Based on Tan's 2005 picture book of the same name, The Lost Thing (Simply Read) tells the story of a curious boy who discovers an odd-looking creature on the beach—and learns about cruelty and indifference while trying to help it find its place.
We caught up with Tan at home in Australia before he headed to Los Angeles to attend the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony on February 27.
Entertainment & Arts
22 February 2011'Lost' Enid Blyton book unearthed
An unpublished and previously unknown Enid Blyton novel is believed to have turned up in an archive of the late children's author's work.
Mr Tumpy's Caravan is a 180-page fantasy story about a magical caravan.
It was in a collection of manuscripts that was auctioned by the family of Blyton's eldest daughter in September.
"I think it's unique," said Tony Summerfield, head of the Enid Blyton Society. "I don't know of any full-length unpublished Blyton work."
The collection was bought by the Seven Stories children's book centre in Newcastle.
Blyton, who died in 1968, remains a children's favourite and a publishing phenomenon thanks to such characters as the Famous Five, the Secret Seven and Noddy.
An estimated 500 million copies of her books have been sold around the world, with updated and reprinted versions of her most popular stories still selling eight million copies a year.
Continue reading "BBC News - 'Lost' Enid Blyton book unearthed" »
Debut writer wins Costa award
Phil Miller, Arts Correspondent
5 Jan 2011
Jason Wallace, 41, a web designer, has won the Costa Children’s Book Award for Out Of Shadows, set in newly-independent Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.
By winning the category, he receives a cheque for £5000, but also a chance to win the overall Costa Book of the Year prize, worth £30,000, which will be announced on January 25.
The judges declared Wallace’s book to be an “extraordinary debut novel” and “unanimous winner”, saying: “This compelling portrayal of a nation in crisis gripped us from start to finish and has stayed with us since.”
Continue reading "Debut writer wins Costa award - Herald Scotland | News | Home News" »
Detail of an illustration by Kate SlaterIn Red Dust Road (Picador) Jackie Kay writes lucidly and honestly about being the adopted black daughter of white parents, about searching for her white birth mother and Nigerian birth father, and about the many layers of identity. She has a rare ability to portray sentiment with absolutely no sentimentality. Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns (Random House) is a fresh and wonderful history of African-American migration. Chang-rae Lee's The Surrendered (Little, Brown) is a grave, beautiful novel about people who experienced the Korean war and the war's legacy. And David Remnick's The Bridge (Picador) is a thorough and well-written biography of Barack Obama. The many Americans who believe invented biographical details about Obama would do well to read it.
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