Monday 11 March 2013

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Weekly Gossip

Here is your bookish new from the past week.

I'm going to start up with an acquisition this week, because it's HUGE! You know Liz de Jager? The awesome lady who was one of the three bloggers over at My Fvourite Books when it was still running? Well she's only gone and got herself a publisher - Tor!

Pan Macmillan’s Tor imprint is delighted to announce the acquisition at auction of an exciting young adult trilogy – by blogger-turned-author Liz de Jager. Senior Commissioning Editor Bella Pagan bought World Rights, excluding USA/Canada, via Juliet Mushens of the Agency group and the series starts with The Blackhart Legacy. The books are contemporary YA urban fantasies set in our world, but here fairytale legends exist. And only one family – the Blackharts – are able to see fae interlopers, never mind fight them. Part Artemis Fowl, part Brothers Grimm, this is a rollicking and original read from a fresh new voice in YA fiction. This will be perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, Sarah Reese Brennan and Melissa Marr.



Read more of this awesome news on the press release, and on Liz's website.

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More acquisition news, this time from Strange Chemistry, who have signed Rachel Neumeier with her YA novel Black Dog.

About Black Dog

Natividad is Pure, one of the rare girls born able to wield magic. Pure magic can protect humans against the supernatural evils they only half-acknowledge - the blood kin or the black dogs. In rare cases - like for Natividad's father and older brother - Pure magic can help black dogs find the strength to control their dark powers.

But before Natividad's mother can finish teaching her magic their enemies find them. Their entire village in the remote hills of Mexico is slaughtered by black dogs. Their parents die protecting them. Natividad and her brothers must flee across a strange country to the only possible shelter: the infamous black dogs of Dimilioc, who have sworn to protect the Pure.

In the snowy forests of Vermont they are discovered by Ezekiel Korte, despite his youth the strongest black dog at Dimilioc and the appointed pack executioner. Intrigued by Natividad he takes them to Dimilioc instead of killing them.

Now they must pass the tests of the Dimilioc Master. Alejandro must prove he can learn loyalty and control even without his sister's Pure magic. Natividad's twin Miguel must prove that an ordinary human can be more than a burden to be protected. And even at Dimilioc a Pure girl like Natividad cannot remain unclaimed to cause fighting and distraction. If she is to stay she must choose a black dog mate.

But, first, they must all survive the looming battle.


Doesn't it sound awesome?! Read the press release for more information.

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There are some great events with YA authors taking place at The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival later this month. Take a look at these!

ARE YOU YOUNG ENOUGH TO BE PUBLISHED?
Three writers who were first published in their teens talk about the experience, how they came to find a publisher, the impact, and their subsequent writing careers. Bidisha, whose first book, Seahorses, sold for £15,000 and was written when she was 14, 20 years ago, has gone on to have a distinguished career in journalism, fiction and non-fiction. Rhiannon Lassiter, whose first novel, Hex, was published when she was 19, has written 11 further novels, of which her most recent is Ghost of a Chance. Abigail Gibbs’s first book in The Dark Heroine series, Dinner with a Vampire, was first published online and received 16 million hits before she was signed up, at 18, for a two-book deal with HarperCollins (her book is now out in paperback).

4.00pm Saturday 23rd March
Tickets £6.

Read more here.

ANNABEL PITCHER AND SALLY GARDNER IN CONVERSATION
Two of our finest writers for young adults discuss their new novels and the themes that run through them. Sally Gardner’s Maggot Moon won the 2012 Costa Children’s Book Prize. The novel is set in an alternative 1950s and is a story of courage, friendship and rebellion, featuring dyslexic Standish Treadwell and Gramps who live with the undesirables in zone 7, under the brutal regime of the Motherland. Gardner’s works have been translated into 22 languages and have sold more than two million in the UK alone.
Annabel Pitcher’s Ketchup Clouds is a tale of love and betrayal centred around 15-year-old Zoe who has a dark and terrible secret she cannot confess to anyone. She tells her story in letters to an American criminal locked up on death row. Pitcher is also author of My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece.

6.00pm Saturday 23rd March
Tickets £11

Read more here.

Plus for those interested in writing, here are two other unmissable events:

BOOKCAMP
A three-hour master-class on children’s publishing.

Old friends on opposite sides of the fence, Leah Thaxton, children’s publisher at Faber and Faber, and Julia Churchill, of the Greenhouse Literary Agency, talk through everything you need to know about getting your children’s book published. That ranges from what an agent does, to what a publisher looks for, and includes everything in between and afterwards. It is a 360-degree guide to writing, pitching and publishing your children’s book – from picture book right through to sophisticated young adult fiction. We welcome back this popular three-hour session, including your chance to ask questions. Fun, revealing and incisive.

2.00pm Sunday 17th March
Tickets £25

Read more here.

CHALLENGING THE HOLLYWOOD RULES
A conversation about films, screenwriting, and challenging the Hollywood rules with scriptwriter, novelist and script guru Linda Aronson (Kostas, Dinkum Assorted, Singles, Kelp, The 21st Century Screenplay, Screenwriting Updated), with screenwriter Jean Buchanan, and with actor, singer and scriptwriter Pooky Quesnel (Doctors, Family Affairs). Chaired by novelist Elizabeth Edmondson.

4.00pm Sunday 17th March
Tickets £11

Read more here.

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News from the Scottish Book Trust:

Winners of Scottish Children’s Book Awards 2012 Announced

John Fardell, Jonathan Meres and Barry Hutchison have been named as the winners of the 2012 SCOTTISH CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS, Scotland’s largest Children’s Book Prize, which is voted for exclusively by children. The winners of the three age categories (who receive £3,000 each) were announced today during a special ceremony at Dundee’s Caird Hall, attended by 1,000 young people from all over Scotland.


Read the press release for more info.

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