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Philip Pullman
Did you see the article on The Guardian website confirming that Philip Pullman's next book is going to be an anthology containing his versions of 50 of his favourite Grimm's Fairy Tales? I'm looking forward to seeing his take on the classics like Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel - I love a good fairytale retelling - but I'm even more curious to discover new to me stories like Hans-My-Hedgehog and Godfather Death. The book will be published in September by Penguin Classics and has been timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the original Grimm's Fairy Tales.
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Have you heard about the Chipping Norton Literary Festival being held from the 20th to the 22nd of April? It sounds like a great opportunity to meet some fabulous authors! Unfortunately I won't be there but I'd love to hear all about it from anyone that does go. Here is the press release with all the details or you can find out more at the Chip Lit Fest website:
20th – 22nd April 2012
Fifty events throughout Chipping Norton
Hear your favourite author and learn how to become one too.
For aspiring writers, Chipping Norton Literary Festival sets the tone. There are lots of events on getting started, finding your ‘voice’, keeping focused, finding your genre, as well as one-on-one meetings with established authors and other writers.
Come April, Chipping Norton will be in the news again as organisers launch the town’s first literary festival. The event will take place at venues convenient to the centre of Chipping Norton and will include speakers such as Mark Billingham, Joanna Trollope, Colin Dexter, Katie Fforde, and Sir Andrew Motion. In total about fifty literary luminaries will be participating.
For aspiring or developing writers there are a host of useful workshops and panel discussions on topics such as…
- How to break into freelance writing
- Life writing
- Writing historical fiction
- Author, agent & publishers
- Bringing your characters to life
- A rough guide to travel writing
- Writing humour
- Writing short stories
- Crime Writing Workshop
- How to Get Published – panel discussion
- Book Groups and the Novel chaired by Sue MacGregor
The idea originated via WOW, the West Oxfordshire Writers group. Local to Chipping Norton, they meet twice a month to discuss creative writing, how to get published, and how to go about writing within various genres. Thus the Festival has a host of events which will be of interest to aspiring writers.
And in addition to being known for its array of celebrity residents and now putting itself on the map with the ChipLitFest, as it is known, Chipping Norton itself is a fine example of Georgian market town architecture and a splendid setting for taking in talks as well as the town.
Other Topics and Events include:
Fiction
Emily Barr, Elizabeth Buchan, Julie Cohen, Josceline Dimbleby, Katie Fforde, Louise Harwood, Veronica Henry, Angela Huth, Prue Leith, Jill Mansel, Sir Andrew Motion, Joanna Trollope, Fiona Walker.
Crime/Mystery
Mark Billingham, Helen Black, S.J. Bolton, Colin Dexter, Sophie Hannah, Dan Waddell
History and Biography
Carole Angier, Sally Cline, Mick Conefrey, Robert Hardman, Mark Johnson, Penny Junor, Ian Mathie, Fiona Mountain, John Julius Norwich.
Gardening
Cotswold Gardening – panel discussion with Roddy Llewellyn,
Robin Lane Fox, Andrew Lawson
Humour
Guy Browning, Jasper Fforde, Graeme Garden, John O’Farrell,
Sandra Smith.
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Jonathan Stroud
Random House Children's Books have announced that they have signed a deal to publish a new supernatural thriller by Jonathan Stroud in 2013. The book is going to be called Lockwood & Co and will star three young operatives who work for a Psychic Detection Agency fighting an epidemic of ghosts in London. Sounds fab doesn't it, it's just a shame we have to wait so long to get our hands on it! Check out Jonathan Stroud's blog for more information.
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If you're a fan of I Am Number Four by Pittacus Law then you'll definitely want to head over to the Facebook fan page on Monday (the 2nd of April). To celebrate the paperback release of The Power of Six on the 12th of April Penguin Books have created a game where using your knowledge of the series could win you some fantastic prizes. The Power of Six Quest won't be up on Facebook until Monday but here is a bit more information about how it works and the prizes that will be available. Good luck to everyone who enters!
We have created a Facebook game called The Power of Six Quest - a game show that draws on your knowledge of the books to help the Loriens fight against the Mogadorians and track down one of the characters in the book, Seven.
Points are collected by speed of which contestants answer questions (there's a countdown clock for added urgency and pressure!), accuracy of answers and how many friends a player recommends to play the game. Prizes are awarded to players who collect the most points.
The amazing prizes Prizes include:
- a holiday to Spain for Seven nights!
- an ipad
- a kindle
- special release hardbacks of The Power of Six
- advance special release hardbacks of Rise of Nine (published in August)
- DVDs of the film I am Number Four
Game play will be open to all from 2nd April 2012 at our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/IAmNumberFourBook
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OK well I think that's everything for now so I'm going to leave you with the book trailer for Gemma Malley's new novel The Killables. The book was released in the UK yesterday and sounds fabulous, I'll be reading my copy soon so keep an eye out for my review.
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