BfK News: November 1989
BfK moves to New Offices
On 1st November 1989 we moved to a new office just round the corner from Effingham Road. Not that it was easily come by. It was a greengrocers shop for over fifty years and, when we took it over, closely resembled the inside of a very ancient potato sack. We spent several weeks rebuilding, replumbing, rewiring, re-everything. The only things we didn’t touch were the walls and the roof!
And what a morale booster it’s turning out to be, just at the moment when we’re looking next year for the largest surge of growth we’ve ever had since BfK itself was launched in 1980. We have already begun work on a BfK Green List (coming Autumn 1990), and this summer we commissioned an Anti-Sexist Guide, the third volume of Judith Elkin’s Multicultural Guides for the 12-16s and a thoroughly revised edition of the 0-7 and 8-12 (to be combined into one publication). These should be published between Autumn 1990 and Easter 1991. And that’s not counting a couple of other projects which we are still negotiating and which could happen in the first half of next year. By the time all this comes to pass, we could well be looking for new offices all over again!
The telephone number hasn’t changed and there are now two lines so it should be much easier to get through. If you have written to us at 1 Effingham Road, don’t worry; it won’t be lost.
Here’s the new address:
Books for Keeps
6 Brightfield Road
Lee
London
SE12 8QF
Telephone: 01-852 4953 (2 lines)
The Pan and Macmillan School Library Award
As the leaflet says: `Would you like £5000 worth of books for your library?’ That’s the first prize and a more enticing one it’s hard to imagine. This new Award, recently announced by Macmillan and Pan, is open to infant, junior, middle and lower secondary schools in Britain and Eire. Winners and runners-up need to convince the judges (including the Earl of Stockton, Brough Girling, Diana Wynne Jones, Roger McGough and our own Chris Powling amongst other glitterati from the children’s book world) that their school makes the best possible use of its book resources. The Award calls for an account, using a diary or journal format and with the full participation of the children, of how book resources are employed within and without the curriculum, how the library is utilised, and how you might make use of £5000 worth of books. The closing date for receipt of entries is 10th April 1990. Our advice? Go for it and send off for an Entry Form by writing to Pan/Macmillan Children’s Books, Marketing Dept, Pan Books Ltd, Cavaye Place, London SW10 9PG.
BfK Annual Subscription Price Increase
As from 1st January 1990 we are going to raise the price of an annual subscription to BfK. The subscription rates therefore for the coming calendar year are as follows:
UK annual subscription: £9.30
Europe and surface worldwide: £13.50 Airmail rates on application
THE SOUTH BANK CENTRE THE POETRY LIBRARY
The Poetry Library Children’s Section
The Poetry Library, South Bank Centre, has recently opened a Children’s Section in its new purpose-built library in the Royal Festival Hall. The collection, consisting of about 2,500 modern poetry books for teachers and children, also includes the Signal Poetry Collection, recently rehoused from Book Trust.
There are two copies of every book in the Library – one for lending and the other kept permanently available for consultation in the reference collection. There is also a growing collection of audio and video cassettes of poets reading and performing their own poems. Some of these are available for borrowing.
In addition, Teachers’ Packs of Information on Poetry for Children are available free. These contain booklists, news of competitions and events, information on poetry magazines, publishers of poetry and a list of different subjects and themes indexed in the Poetry Library.
Class visits from schools are welcome but it is advisable to arrange these at least one week in advance. Teachers’ days, organised by the Education Department of the South Bank Centre in conjunction with the Poetry Library, are planned to run throughout the year.
The Poetry Library is situated on the Red Side, Level 5, Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, London SE1 8XX. Opening hours: 11am to 8pm, seven days a week. Membership free. For more information, contact Dolores Conway on 01-9210664.
Children’s Books of the Year 1989
0 86264 262 0, £3.95
Just published by Andersen Press in association with the Children’s Book Foundation is the annual guide to the best children’s books published during the year. Best, that is, according to the selector, Julia Eccleshare, who has picked 308 titles from over 5,000 books published for children over the last twelve months.
The Federation of Children’s Book Groups
22nd Annual Conference
6th-8th April 1990 at Chester College, Chester
The 22nd Annual Conference has as its title Yesterday, today, forever … and will be highlighting the rich choice of good books available to children today with an equally rich choice of speakers, all of them authors. They include Michael Rosen, Geraldine McCaughrean, Bob Wilson, Hazel Townson, Brian Jacques and Julia Jarman. A full residential weekend for non-members is £70, with a reduction for members. Daily rates are also available. Closing date: 24th February 1990
Further details from: Liz Youngs, 12 Argarmeols Road, Formby, Liverpool L37 7BU (tel: 07048 73789). ∎
the annual guide to the best children’s books published during the year. Best, that is, according to the selector, Julia Eccleshare, who has picked 308 titles from over 5,000 books published for children over the last twelve months.
