In its fifth year, the KS3 Books Award is organised by Birmingham Schools Library Service. All secondary schools plus five special schools across the city have received parcels of the 14 titles and librarians and teachers have spent the past two months encouraging reading groups to take part.
A final winner will be named in March 2009.
See article in the Birmingham Mail.
Note: Bad Blood made it to week 5. The winner was Scared to Death by Alan Gibbons
I’ve been asked some new questions for the Facebook fan page.
Facebook members go here to see the questions, you may need to log into Facebook or join the group.
I have damaged my MacBook (as yet I’m not sure how badly/expensively). I have lost data (9 days worth – don’t know yet if it’s recoverable). I have lost access to my normal file structures. My email is a mess.
Um. If you want to connect with me electronically, you may be out of luck. If there’s anything urgent, please phone.
WOE. WOE IS ME.
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Rhiannon and Arram at the Guardian award
I’ve been sick with a nasty cold recently so I’m late in updating my blog about the Guardian Award. The party was held in London, in the old press room. Writers and judges mingled with book world folk and the junior critics and I found myself the centre of a swarm of well-dressed and self-possessed young people who politely asked me to sign copies of my book and autograph books and to have my picture taken.
I did meet Nancy Netherwood and her sister Evie, as well as a host of Twilight fans (all team Edward), an intense and determined aspirant young writer called Arram (pictured top right) who I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see publishing her own work in another five to ten years.
Rhiannon and R? at the Guardian award
Shout outs also to the very pretty girl in the polka-dotted dress, the critic’s friend who was given my book because her friend thought she’d enjoy it and the brunette in the pink top whose picture is below. I promised her a copy of this photo but being ill has driven it out of my mind, except I *think* it began with an R – let me hear from you, my friend.
The award was won by Patrick Ness for The Knife of Never Letting Go.
I’ve been sick with a nasty cold recently so I’m late in updating my blog about the Guardian Award. The party was held in London, in the old press room. Writers and judges mingled with book world folk and the junior critics and I found myself the centre of a swarm of well-dressed and self-possessed young people who politely asked me to sign copys of my book and autograph books and to have my picture taken.
I did meet Nancy Netherwood and her sister Evie, as well as a host of Twilight fans (all team Edward), an intense and determined aspirant young writer called Arram (pictured right) who I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see publishing her own work in another five to ten years. Shout outs also to the very pretty girl in the polka-dotted dress, the critic’s friend who was given my book because her friend thought she’d enjoy it and the brunette in the pink top whose picture is below. I promised her a copy of this photo but being ill has driven it out of my mind, except I *think* it began with an R – let me hear from you, my friend.
The award was won by Patrick Ness for The Knife of Never Letting Go.
Thanks to a tip from my friend Farah, I got hold of today’s Guardian to find an article about this year’s competition. Young critics (aged from 8 to 16) have been “shadowing” the award and the article is about their impressions of the books.
“Bad Blood is a chilling read, not to be read after dark…” warns Nancy Netherwood of Rhiannon Lassiter’s dark family tale shot through with hints from the supernatural. Not that it deterred her. Nancy loved the clever plotting and strong characters, describing it as an “incredible book, combining modern family troubles with a world of sinister magic”. Tommie Hassall, from Westbourne School, was also gripped. “The book’s pace is riveting. It holds the reader in the haunting world of the supernatural but does not shy away from the reality of the modern-day family, homosexuality and mental illness.”
I’m going to the award ceremony tomorrow so more news will be forthcoming soon, including the name of the winner. I should also be meeting some of the young critics so I’ll look out for Nancy and Tommie there. Nancy in particular has a name that makes Bad Blood a very suitable choice for her…
Today I have achieved techno-joy in managing to syndicate my blog on my Facebook as notes. This is awesome because I won’t have to update in multiple places when I’ve got news to share.
If you’re a LiveJournal user, you can also find the RSS feed here: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/lassiter_rss
I’ve just heard I’ve been longlisted for the Angus Book Award for Bad Blood. That takes my tally of longlistings to five. Huzzah! I haven’t actually won an award yet but it’s encouraging news.
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Waterstones signing
Waterstones signing in Witney, Oxfordshire on 6th September 2008 with authors Rhiannon Lassiter, Sarah Singleton, Mark Robson and Mary Hoffman.
Rhiannon and the other three authors signed books from 12 noon to 2pm and chatted with with bookshop customers.
On Saturday 6th of September, I went to the Waterstones in Witney, Oxfordshire, to sign copies of my books. As well as Mary Hoffman, authors Sarah Singleton and Mark Robson were present signing copies of their books.
Mark I know from his excellent advice on self-promotion at events like this. He’s inspired me to create some postcards and bookmarks to hand out at events. Sarah I’ve heard of because several people have told me that our writing is similar. I bought a copy of her Heretic which she kindly signed for me and she bought a copy of Bad Blood which I signed for her – so we should be able to discover whether there are similarities between us.
Mary and I signed books from 12 noon to 2pm (Mark and Sarah stayed longer) and we all chatted with with bookshop customers. I recommended Robert Muchamore’s CHERUB series to a couple of people and bought the latest myself. I also now have a copy of City of Stars by Mar, so I’ve got plenty of reading to get on with. And that’s in addition to the Arthur C. Clarke hopefuls which are arriving thick and fast.
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