BfK News: May 2004
NEWS
Diversity in publishing?
In Full Colour is a survey undertaken by the Arts Council in conjunction with the Bookseller on cultural diversity in the publishing industry. It concludes that if publishers fail to employ a more culturally diverse workforce, they risk losing out on the spending power (£32bn) of Britain’s ethnic communities.
Tops in libraries
Jacqueline Wilson has overtaken Catherine Cookson as the UK’s most popular author in public libraries according to Public Lending Right.
‘A near-miraculous triumph’
‘A near-miraculous triumph’ is how Archbishop Rowan Williams described the stage version of Philip Pullman’s anti-Christian polemic, ‘His Dark Materials’ in an article in the Guardian (10.03.04). Williams explains that he read the books and the play as a ‘sort of thought experiment’.
More Potter?
J K Rowling has hinted (during an internet web chat for World Book Day) that she may write a seventh Harry Potter book. ‘Probably not. But I’ll never say never’ were her actual words.
William Mayne
William Mayne, winner of the Carnegie Medal in 1958 and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 1993, has pleaded guilty to 11 indecent assaults on young girl fans in the 1960s.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Words About Pictures
Dear Editor
The reasons I had wanted very much to participate in the Words About Pictures workshop, and found that the day more than fulfilled its promises are:
* to support Quentin Blake’s ambitious and necessary project of the Quentin Blake Gallery of Illustration, which will promote just that kind of stimulating exchanges, conferences and workshops, cross-fertilizing relevant experiences.
* Because I have welcomed the ‘debate’ aired by Rosemary Stones and Quentin Blake about picture book awards in these very columns of BfK – and this workshop was a perfect answer.
* Because I knew the programme of the day was devised in such a balanced way to include the intellectual viewpoint of an eminent critic (Joanna Carey), the empirical hands-on approach from expert practitioners, publishers (Walker), and the life account from frontline illustrators: Emma Chichester Clark, Sara Fanelli, not to mention the master himself, Quentin Blake, who is both the exemplary emblematic illustrator and the lucid analyst.
* And it would be also a lively mix of theory and practice, since we had a ‘real time’ exercise to graft hard on!
* And because I felt the day would be a stimulating model for that type of exercise to be developed in France, my country, where we desperately need more training, more knowledge about children’s books – where picture books in particular are neither reviewed enough nor introduced in schools enough.
Christine Baker
Editor-in-Chief, Editions Gallimard, 5 Rue Sébastien-Bottin, 75341 Paris, France
PRIZES
Harvey Darton Award 2003-2004
The Harvey Darton Award ‘for a distinguished contribution to the history of English children’s literature’ has been awarded to Jane Cooper for Mrs Molesworth: a biography (Jane Cooper at Pratts Folly Press, Crowborough).
Bologna Ragazzi Award 2004
The Fiction Award went to La Grande Question by Wolf Erlbruch (Editions Etre); The Non-Fiction Award to The Tree of Life by Peter Sis (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) and the New Horizons Award to the Shabaviz Publishing Company (Iran).
British Book Trade Awards
David Fickling, publisher of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, won Editor of the Year while his company won the Stora Enso Design and Production Award for work by Heidi Lightfoot and Daniel Edwards on Lyra’s Oxford. Jacqueline Wilson received the Bookseller’s award for services to bookselling.
W H Smith People’s Choice Book Awards
J K Rowling won the fiction award for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Publishers’ Publicity Circle Awards
The Bookseller Award for Hardback Fiction went to Clare Hall-Craggs of Random House for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The Ottakar’s Award for a Children’s Book went to Justin Somper of JustSo and Tamar Burman of Walker for Eagle Strike.
EVENTS
The Illustration Cupboard
Tony Ross and Friends
An exhibition of original book illustration artwork by Tony Ross (all work is for sale) will be held from 17-22 May at The Illustration Cupboard at Thomas Williams Fine Art, 22 Old Bond St, London W1. The exhibition is available for viewing on The Illustration Cupboard website www.illustrationcupboard.com from 7 May. Further information from The Illustration Cupboard on 020 7610 5481, or illustrationcupboard@yahoo.com
