Farseer Trilogy

Just finished reading the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. My friend Tash loaned them to me, and what a wonderful, escapist and totally-enthralling read. These are the perfect holiday fantasy books, and I was paying attention to the writing as I went. One thing she does effectively is describing place. I am a person who has little patience for drawn-out descriptions (so I actually preferred the movies to the books in the Lord of the Rings series - I'll duck my head for flung eggs now). But here, she could describe the scent of the pine trees in a forest, or walking along an enchanted, snow-covered road, and I felt like I was there. My memories from scenes in the books are almost visceral. They are perhaps a bit male-centered, with lots of focus on battles, soldiers, and castle intrigues. But there are some great strong women, such as Molly, the main character's lover and great love, and Kettricken, the Queen-in-waiting.

So if you are looking for a solid and engrossing fantasy read, and want to know you've got three long books to look forward to, I highly recommend these. Thanks to Tash for the loan!

Home Again

Back from Cornwall, which was gray, rained every day but one, but still worth the trip. We saw the Muse gig at Eden, and got to see behind the scenes when Rob (husband) interviewed Chris Hines, the Sustainability Director at the Eden Project. Rob was asking how they approach running gigs and keeping them enironmentally friendly. Very inspiring - they offset the carbon for all electricity, and are working towards recycling as much waste as possible, eventually to become waste neutral. It all makes you want to work harder at recylcing, composting, and reducing waste.


We also went to the pretty astounding Carnglaze Caverns. These were created by 200 years of mining, completely carved by children and men spending twelve hour days, removing blocks of slate to become roof tiles and building blocks. In some ways a sad memorial to so many days and years spent underground under pretty terrible conditions. But beautiful nonetheless. It made me think of David Almond's books, though I know that's coal mining, not slate. They also had a lovely Enchanted Dell, full of fairies, which could be twee, but was actually quite sweet. Children can count the fairies and get a sticker if they guess the correct number. Here's a picture of me with one of the larger ones.


We had one really sunny day, which was glorious (and thank god, it came before we started to grow mold). We forded our way up a gorse hill. It was worth it for the view.

Some may notice a quick redirect when the come to the blog. Turns out I set it up wrong, forgotting to add the html at the end. Thankfully the husband sorted me out, but it meant adding the redirect to those who have the old URL. Hey ho.

More children's lit stuff soon. I've had a fair bit of interest in the creative writing workshops I'll be teaching in Brighton starting in mid-October. And have correspended with others about the Brighton Children's Literature Festival. Set-up a lunch meeting with Daniel Hahn who is Brighton-based and edits the Ultimate Book Guides. He's asked if I want to write reviews for the picture book one they're putting together now. And I want to get in touch with as many south England-based children's lit people as possible to prepare for the Brighton Children's Lit Fest. I was also contacted by Jean Burke who runs a children's book festival in Bexhill, not far from Brighton. The next one will take place on September 30th and it's free! It will feature Ian Whybrow, whose book I am somewhat chagrined to say that I 'Americanized', changing it from Harry and the Bucketfull of Dinosaurs to Sammy and the Dinosaurs (that was a marketing decision - long story). I wrote an essay which talks about some of the changes made to this book and others that I edited. It's included in New Voices in children's Literature Criticism, edited by Sebastien Chapleu and published by Pied Piper Publishing.

Enough rambling from me.

Off to rainy Cornwall

We're leaving this afternoon for our summer holiday - perfect timing as there are gale warnings and rain predicted for the next several days. England needs it, but it should make for a soggy camping trip. The highlight will be seeing Muse play at The Eden Project, which is one my all-time favorite places in England. It should be nice, even in the rain.

We have gone for the last three years, seeing Air the first year, then Ian Brown last year. Air was fantastic, and a really blissful, transporting event. Photos are from Eden and the Air gig.

Not a very chidren's lit-related post, but there you go! Here's something. Child-lit folks from Rutgers are going to get blogging after fairrosa invited people to submit children's literature blogs, to be compiled at some later date. When that happens, I'll be sure to link.

Increasing diversity within the children's publishing world

An overcast Sunday afternoon in the south coast of England, and I've had too much coffee. Perhaps feeling Berkeley-inspired, I made an extra strong pot of french press, and my brain is jittering as a result.

Brooklyn Arden has a great post about how to become a children's book editor, with loads of tips and strategies. One of her suggestions is to get an internship (often unpaid), which is certainly a very good way to get into the business. The problem is, who can afford to do unpaid work for a publisher in order to then get a low-paying entry level job? There was much talk at the recent Diversity Matters publishing conference about how white and middle class the children's publishing industry is. People discussed why that might be, and the unpaid internships and overall low pay was one of the main reasons. Another was the invisibility of publishing as a career path for most children and university students. Are there ways to make this a clearer option, and to attract book-loving people from lots of different backgrounds?

I know the US and the UK are different places, but I think that both publishing industries (at least in the children's area) are very, very white places indeed. Last I checked, the UK has an 8% ethnic minority population, which rises to almost 30% in London (that's from census statistics). In the US, I think the overall population is closer to 30%, which becomes more like 50% in places like LA and New York (census again). It seems very clear that those who work in the publishing industry don't come close to reflecting that reality, nor do most stories published in the children's books.

So what do we do? Arts Council England sponsors internships. This is how they describe it on the website

The programme of traineeships run by Arts Council England, London is getting stronger with yet again another round starting in October 2006.

A joint-traineeship between the London College of Communication MA Publishing Course and publishers Serpent’s Tail is now on offer. The London College of Communication (LCC) has decided to waive the MA course fees for an applicant from a Black African, Caribbean, Asian or Chinese background.

This ongoing partnership with LCC and their participation to the Arts Council’s programme of positive action traineeships mean to address the under-representation of those ethnic groups on publishing courses.

I know that Alison Morrison, UK Marketing Director at Walker Books, came in through one of these ACE traineeships several years ago. Not only has she succeeded in the children's publishing world, but she and Elise Dillsworth, Editor from Virago Press, also co-founded the Diversity in Publishing Network. DIPnet lists the following aims and objectives on their website:

- To promote the status and contribution of people from diverse ethnic groups in all areas of publishing
- To provide a forum for discussion and the sharing of information and expertise
- To encourage communication and mutual support among people from diverse ethnic groups in publishing
- Where possible, to help with practical training for career development
- Work towards equality of opportunity and advancement for minority ethnic groups in publishing
- Undertake activity that informs, promotes and inspires others seeking to enter, or already working in, publishing
- To develop international links with other publishing industries to share knowledge and ideas
- To develop relationships with organisations and individuals whose aims are reflective of the Diversity in Publishing Network

Initiatives and organizations like this offer a good start. It's also important that those who work in publishing talk openly and honestly about the lack of diversity within the publishing industry, and how to actively change it. There are publishing companies, such as Pearson (parent to Penguin/Puffin, etc) who have developed a diversity strategy. As Francesca Dow from Puffin said at the Diversity Matters conference, by 2010 one in five school children in England will be from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds, so there is a clear business as well as a moral imperative for publishers to start to reflect this reality in both the books published, as well as those who work at the publishers.

In terms of the books published, of course there are the publishers who are already actively trying to make a difference. In the US, there are Children's Book Press, Lee & Low, Just Us Books, Polychrome, Cinco Puntos Press, Piñata Press, and the recently-relocated Milet Books. You also have the larger publisher with imprints, such as Jump at the Sun at Hyperion.

In the UK, there's Tamarind, Mantra, Frances Lincoln, and wonderful indepent projects such as the work done by poet, author, and activist Debjani Chatterjee. There are also distributors like Letterbox Library who help to make diverse books available, though many of them are imported from the US.

But there's so much further to go. I'll post the very detailed notes I took at the Diversity Matters conference on my website, so anyone interested can read some of the discussion which took place there. But if anyone has comments or suggestions, please leave comments on the blog. Open discussion is certainly an important way to go...

Inspirational lunch

Had lunch today with two semi-employed creative and talented friends. I thought it would be good for us to get together to help inspire each other, and it was really nice. Mike left academia where he's been teaching in the drama department, because he wants to do his own performing and theatre creation. And Rehana has a PhD in postcolonial literature and has been trying to find a job in academia - no small feat in this day and age.

I talked about my forays into techno-land, creating a website and blog. We discussed blogging in particular, their concerns that if they created one it would have to be formal/official and they would feel stilted. And I've thought, blogging is funny. Who is going to read it, what's OK to say, how much should you reveal about who you are? And what about the advantages or disadvantages of doing anonymous vs. identifying yourself? And does blogging attract people like me who tend to be loud (as an American, I feel I must keep up the stereotype in England), or self-revealing? And if you're in a field like academia, do you have to worry - what if other academics read your blog and don't think you're smart enough?

Not sure, but I'm enjoying the informality of it all. And since I see myself as straddling academia and practical-landia, perhaps it's easier for me to just expose myself, so to speak. Of course, who knows if anyone is reading this anyways, in which case it's all irrelevant.

Tagged and It

As a new blogger, I've been reading around to see what others are doing/saying (also at work with not much to do). I just found a list on Big A little a's blog with questions to answer and a challenge to those in the 'kidlitosphere' to give their answers. Well, here goes:

1. One book that changed your life?
The Phantom Tollbooth worked for me as well. That and the Prydain chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. I learned something from both, which I read over and over. From Tollbooth, I learned not to look at my shoes when I walk (for fear the beautiful surroundings will disappear), and from Prydain, I learned that being lucky has everything to do with how you look at the world.

2. One book you have read more than once?
Loads, though I used to reread much more as a kid. Kurt Vonnegut's books and (perhaps embarrassingly) Clan of the Cave Bear were heavily dog-eared.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
A tricky one. Just one book? I loved The Brother Karamazov, but would probably become suicidal if it's all I had to read. Nope, can't think of one.

4. One book that made you laugh?
I don't laugh out loud at books very often. I think the Jack books by Jack Gantos made me chuckle frequently, as well as the Joey Pigza ones.

5. One book that made you cry?
Again, I don't cry at books, really. But two come to mind. I cried each time I came to the death scene in Pedro and Me by Judd Winnick. And at the end of Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey.

6. One book you wish had been written?
Many books by Diana Wynne Jones, because she's so darn clever and fun. In fact, I'd like to have all her books on a desert island, in one big compendium (that might grow as she adds new ones). Specifically, Hexwood.

7. One book you wish had never been written?
Dunno. I was totally creeped out by reading Helter Skelter about the Charles Manson murders. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't have been written. Even more controversially, perhaps we'd be better off without some religious texts (Bible?) for all the trouble it's caused.

8. One book you are currently reading?
I'm reading Philip Reeve's upcoming book soon to come out with Bloomsbury. It's called Larklight, has the same humor as the Mortal Engines books, but is even more whacked out (if that's possible). Crazy outer space creatures mix with a Victorian world of space travel. And just finished the Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman. While I thought the writing clunked at times, it was a compelling play with timeslip and alternative universes, and she had an interesting and contemporary cast of teens that look more like our world than most.

Must go - husband is ready to meet at the car. Is this a tag team?

Day o' Networking

Ah the joys of email. I have been sitting here in the privacy of my own home, but in touch with scads of scholars at the touch of a button. I am constantly amazed at the ease of communication and networking in this digital age.

I posted to Child-lit, a listserv run through Rutgers University, which I am often shy to do. If you are a children's literature enthusiast, especially in terms of critical and academic discussion of children's literature, this is the place to be. The volume of emails can be large, but there are so many provocative conversations. Now the discussion is on representing Christianity in children's literature, which has expanded to question the place and role of religion in society, whether ALL American children's literature is effectively Christian (a point made by June Cummins), and a wonderful list of thoughtful books 'by dead people' on religion from Mitali Perkins. She said she's happy to get new book suggestions now from current (living) writers.

My posting was about upcoming children's literature conferences and events, as Australian children's lit maven Judith Ridge said her friend was looking for something overseas in the warm months of 2007. So I wrote about the Children's Literature International Summer School, which I run. Here's what I posted:

In July 2007 we’ll be running the 4th biennial Children’s Literature International Summer School (CLISS) at Roehampton University in London, so this seems like a good opportunity to give people some details in case they want to mark their calendars. Basic information is on the website, but I can give you a bit more information now as well:
http://www.ncrcl.ac.uk/cliss/about.htm

CLISS will take place from 11-15 July, 2007, with the following international tutors running seminars and giving lectures: Dan Hade (USA), Gillian Lathey (UK), Kerry Mallan (Australia), Michelle Martin (USA), Rod McGillis (Canada), Maria Nikolajeva (Sweden), and Lisa Sainsbury (UK), amongst others. CLISS runs based on strands, which are still being finalised, but will mostly likely include Comparative Children’s Literature, Creative Writing for Children, Gender and Children’s Literature, Juvenile Publishing, Origins and Developments, and some sort of Visual strand (possibly politics and visual texts). Creative writing includes lectures by published authors, as well as creative writing workshops; and the publishing strand will include presentations by people working within the publishing industry, as well as seminars which examine implications of how the industry runs as a whole. Some of you may have read about CLISS from the special edition of The Lion & the Unicorn that came out featuring papers from the 2003 CLISS (and co-edited by Lissa Paul who was one of our tutors).

You can sign up on the mailing list to be contacted when we start taking bookings by emailing me at my work address:
L.Atkins@Roehampton.ac.uk.

I expect we’ll start to take bookings towards the end of this year, around November. But I’m happy to give people more information in the mean time (including projected fees). You can see more about the last summer school and the programme on the website. We’ve had child-litters attend in the past, particularly Ernie Bond who brought a group of students from Salisbury – it was great to have him and Patty Dean there. And we hope to see more of you in July 2007.

Best,
Laura

As a result, I heard from an academic, Joe Sutliff Sanders, Assistant Professor of Children's Literature at Missouri Southern State University. He sounds like he does really interesting work in the areas of multicultural children's literature, graphic novels, and historical girl's popular novels. I love this field!

I also sent out a massive email to children's literature scholars about the Child and the Book conference. Here's what I wrote:

Dear children’s literature scholar,

I hope you don’t mind being emailed in this way. You are either already a friend of the Child and the Book postgraduate conference, or your name has been suggested as a good person to contact. I am writing on behalf of the Child and the Book steering committee, the collective group of people who have been involved in running this conference since 2004. We are currently trying to spread the word to graduate and postgraduate students who are working in the field of children’s literature, and hoped that you would be able to help by alerting any students that you have, or forwarding this information to others in our field.

The Child and the Book is an annual conference which brings together postgraduate (MA and PhD) students from all disciplines whose work is concerned with children and literature. This exciting event attracts international delegates and provides a unique opportunity for postgraduate students to meet, present and discuss their research. Conferences have taken place so far at Roehampton University in London (2004), the University of Antwerp in Belgium (2005), and the University of Newcastle in England (2006). The most recent event attracted over 80 people from 19 countries, and included presentations by 36 mostly PhD scholars. We also had the participation of the IRSCL board and Seven Stories: Centre for Children’s Books. You can see details from all previous conferences at the general conference website: http://www.ncrcl.ac.uk/childandbook/Index.htm. You can email me if you have general questions about the conference, at L.Atkins@Roehampton.ac.uk

The 2007 conference will be hosted by the Department of Western Languages and Literature at Bogaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey, from 30 March - 1 April 2007, with Zohar Shavit as a keynote speaker. You can find the call for papers, as well as details about the event, at their website: http://www.cb2007.boun.edu.tr. Please contact Anthony Pavlik at cb2007@boun.edu.tr with questions about that particular event.

I am pasting the call for papers below. It is important to us that this event attract as international a group of scholars as possible, so the price is kept to a minimum. We appreciate any help you can give in spreading the word.

The 2008 event will be held at Buffalo State University in upstate New York, USA. Please contact Professor Karen Sands-O'Connor at SANDSK@BuffaloState.edu for further details.

Please let me know if you would like to have your name removed from this email list, or if you have any suggestions of someone to add. We really appreciate your help.

All the best,
Laura Atkins
Member, steering committee, Child and the Book conference, with Nolan Dalrymple (UK), Michele Gill (UK), Vanessa Joosen (Belgium), Anthony Pavlik (Turkey), Liz Thiel (UK), and Katrien Vloeberghs (Belgium)

PROPOSALS: Lost in Translation

In an increasingly globalising world, English (as the dominant language of business and the internet) is almost inevitably a carrier of western ideologies and social, religious and cultural mores that do not always sit well in other cultures. Translations do increase the number of literary works available to young people, widening their literary experiences, introducing them to other countries, and, hopefully, promoting a more international perspective, a greater understanding between cultures. Yet most translations are from English, few are into English; there is a decided imbalance in what is translated and for whom. In countries without their own substantial tradition of children’s literature, where, when making reading choice decisions, parents do not have the same background/experiences on which to draw as parents in the original market, or when translated books are used, for example, in the area of education, this issue can be problematic in terms of intercultural interference. Of concern, too, are questions such as the choice of texts, the nature and the extent of changes from the original to the target language, and the nature of the gate-keepers (especially publishers with their own commercial interests).

Of course, “translation” can also be thought of in broad terms, not just the literal translations between languages. Adults writing for children “translate” the world and its rules and codes, the re-tellings of traditional/canonical stories “translate” from one period to another, films (and video games) can be seen as “translations” of books (and vice versa), and books (and other media) “translate” cultures. These acts of mediation are not without their own problems and issues.

In the tradition of this conference and its intention to reflect a broad spectrum of current graduate research, proposals are invited from all disciplines and from inter-disciplinary teams for twenty-minute papers addressing any aspect of “translation” in children's literature. In addition, the conference offers various subthemes which will enable the final programme to reflect the diversity of current studies in children's literature. Thus, papers may also consider any of the following areas of interest, which may or may not touch upon the main theme:

· Literary theory and children's literature
· Gender studies – masculinist, feminist or queer theory approaches
· The politics of children’s literature
· Ideology and/or reader response
· The voice of the child
· Popular culture and children’s literature
· Education and children’s literature
· Publishing and children's literature
· New voices: new trends

The deadline for receipt of proposals is October 15, 2006.

CONFERENCE LANGUAGE
The conference will be held in English.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION
Please email your proposal to Anthony Pavlik: cb2007@boun.edu.tr

Please note: If you need an early decision on your proposal in order to secure funding and/or travel visas, please indicate this when you send in your proposal.

IMPORTANT DATES
Deadline for Submission of Abstracts and Proposals: OCTOBER 15, 2006
Acceptance Notice: by NOVEMBER 15, 2006
Deadline for Conference Registration for Presenters: DECEMBER 15, 2006
Announcement of the Conference Programme: DECEMBER 20, 2006
Deadline for Conference Registration for Non-presenters: JANUARY 31, 2007
* Conference Registration Fee for Non-presenters after JANUARY 31, 2007 will be DOUBLED.

FURTHER INFORMATION
If you have any questions regarding the conference please see the website, http://www.cb2007.boun.edu.tr/, or contact Anthony Pavlik at cb2007@boun.edu.tr

I've already had a friendly email back from Lissa Paul, who taught on the first CLISS that I managed. Lissa teaches children's literature at Brock University in Canada, and works particularly in areas of poetry and multicultural children's lit. She's also a co-editor on The Lion & the Unicorn, one of the best children's literature academic journals available (and coincidentally founded by my father's oldest friend, Roni Natov, who has become my children's literature fairy godmother - or should that be earth mother?).

So in one day sitting in my blue living room in Rottingdean, I've emailed people all over the world (Child-Lit has over 1,000 subscribers), and heard from academics in the US and Canada. As my husband knows, I have a bit of a phone phobia, so email for me is a wonderful thing!

And here's cat Thomas, enjoying the blueness...

Booming Brighton Children's Lit

I had a great meeting today with John Davies from The South. This is a literature organisation based in Brighton. Here's how they describe themselves:

THE SOUTH is a leading creative writing organisation developing talent, audiences, readers and communities in Brighton & Hove, Sussex and the south of England.

We’re a friendly organisation that has fun with words. We offer a supportive creative network for all kinds of writers and poets.

We work in partnership with other bodies locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

We have a deep commitment to freedom of expression, diversity and equality of opportunity.

John is full of enthusiasm for literature stuff, and was excited about the idea of developing some children's literature-related events. So, we've agreed that I'll teach creative writing workshops at the Brighton Writer's Centre for six weeks, starting October 19th. We've also going to work towards a Brighton Children's Literature Festival some time in the spring. I'll update the blog with details as they come together.

If you are a Brighton-based or just generally south England children's literature writer or illustrator, do get in touch since this event will highlight children's literature of and from the south of England. We also hope to showcase illustration and have some sort of exhibition, so this should be a great event for all sorts of people. It'll be kid-friendly as well, maybe with poetry workshops. So feel free to write with any suggestions or ideas.

This feels like a good start towards developing more of a cohesive Brighton children's literature scene, since there are so many people in this area doing creative work. And since I love living down here, I'd like to find and become a part of what's happening in the area as well. This meeting feels like a very promising start.

I'm quite excited about the creative writing workshops. Have been reading from Writing Down the Bones by Nathalie Goldberg, which connects to my Berkeleyesque approach. I want these workshops to create a very safe, small community of people exploring their creativity, feeling open to write what and how they want. Spending three years as an editor, I got tired of having to be so mercenary in rejecting submissions. I'd rather work with people who want to try writing, not with the main goal of getting published (though that's great if it works), but just to develop their own writing, and find the honest place to tell the stories that they want to tell.

Officially blogged

That's it, I've joined the world of the blogged, or bloggers. This is part of me technologising and setting up my own website: www.lauraatkins.com. That's for the formal stuff: who am I? Want help with your children's book manuscript? Looking for a consultant on diversity and children's publishing? It's all there, plus creative writing workshops, etc.

This is a place for the informal me, but still related to children's book stuff. What am I reading? Have I been to an interesting event, or read something scintillating? What about reviews or awards?

Also, what is it like to try to make money doing something you love, without compromising for a filler job? I'm doing my best to find ways and means of making a living doing children's lit stuff, because I love reading children's books, have experience as an editor, lecturer, etc., and would rather do this than work at a pub. So watch this space to see how it all goes.