December 2009 Archives

This will probably be my last entry for the year (even writers deserve a rest now and then), so just to say happy holidays to everyone who's been so great to me through 2009!  And here's to a great 2010, where all kinds of things are coming...

In 2010, Monsters of Men will be released of course (May in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and September in the US and Canada), as well as in German (details when I have them).  2010 will also see French and Spanish versions of The Ask and the Answer (details when I have them, too), as well as The Knife of Never Letting Go in Swedish, Turkish, Hebrew and Korean!  How cool is that?

Other good things to come:  On the fifth of January, I'll find out if I've won the Children's Book category of the Costa Award (shortlisted against some very good people, so keeps your fingers crossed for me).  In February and March, I'll be touring Australia and New Zealand doing publicity, starting at the Perth Festival and ending at the Somerset Festival in Queensland, with lots of stops inbetween.  Stay tuned for a detailed calendar.  And I'll also be teaching on an Arvon Foundation course in June.

And of course, I'm writing.  About what, I can't say just yet, but there's more to come.  I've been so busy, in fact, I can barely keep up with all you commenters!  Very sorry about that, so a big hello and thanks to Emily, Larry, Rachel (I couldn't possibly comment, Rachel), Amanda from Canada, Kyra (you rock, too), Jessica B, Emily (see above for Australia!), Geoff, Alexis, Olivia (I'd love to come to Galway), and Nigel McD (no advice (I'm not even sure how it's done) but lots of good luck).  Thank you all and happy new year.

A quick hit today (I'm busy writing, writing, writing; things I can't quite tell you about yet, but it'll be exciting, trust me).  Today's hit is particularly for Canadians.  CBC Radio has a book programme called The Next Chapter, and this week they did children's book recommendations and had a nice little natter about The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and The Answer, which is very cool.  You can dowload the podcast here (it's "The Next Chapter", 14 December). 

I've always liked Canadians.

And a quick hello to the new commenters, from Z to A:  Zelda, Amber, Jessica, Annemarie (always great to hear from parents), Zead (always great to hear from France), Emma, Sam, Jolene (great to hear from Singapore, too), and Ayaat.  You guys are great, really, I love hearing from you all.

It's been a busy week!  Not much time for updates, but I've got a few minutes just to say that The Ask and the Answer has been included in a number of new year-end round-ups, from as far away as the Ottawa Citizen, the BookPage in America, and both the Irish Independent and the Irish Times (by the wonderful Robert Dunbar).

There's also an especially excellent paragraph about it in today's Independent on Sunday by Daniel Hahn, one of the Booktrust Teenage Prize judges.  Very nice.

The Ask and the Answer was also discussed on yesterday's Saturday Review on Radio 4, along with The Graveyard Book and Guantanamo Boy.  Great to be featured, really pleasing.  You can listen to it here for a week, I think.  The discussion starts at about 30 minutes.

And hello to the new commenters (quite a few of you):  Samina, Xin Yi, Andrew, TJ, Christian, Killian, Gemma, Jess, Shaunna, Alison, Ciara, and Jamie.  Phew!

I'm finally over that pesky cold; I don't think the English weather is helping at all, it's been freezing and wet lately, pretty much everyday. 

But a nice mention for The Ask and the Answer in a year-end round-up in the Telegraph by Philip Womack, who incidentally gave The Knife of Never Letting Go one its very best reviews in The Literary Review.  Cheers for that!

I also wanted to mention a very excellent blog from the US called Books Not Bombs.  It's run by a high school student called Jackie and is full of good book reviews and young adult book news.  Great stuff, check it out.

And hello to the raft of new commenters!  Brian of Wexford (& his impressive ampersand), Rebecca, Ashley, Amanda from Canada (I know the feeling, Amanda), Sam (hi again!), Renee (cheers for all that, esp. about the writer's tips), Aideen, Mady (if there are ever open auditions, I'll be sure to post them here), Jolene, Marta, Aine, and Jessy (I'd have no problem with you writing to Summit at all, Jessy).  Great to hear from you all.

Since I've been back from holiday (in rainy Cornwall), I've been in rainy London, with a very rainy cold that hasn't left me feeling like updating much.  So, with no news, just a big hello to newest commenters:

Hello again to Jenny, who seems to have bought more than her fair share of copies, and to Ciara (cheers for liking that article, I believe it).

Hello to Natasha, who has an excellent question about the "I heard a maiden call" song.  The song is an old English folk tune called "Early One Morning", the version I used in my head is by Jim Moray.  Download it, it's pretty cool.

Hello to Georgia (Paddy is fine, Patty is not), Emma (no casting plans for Viola just yet, but I'll keep you all posted), Joe (Cheers, and I couldn't possibly give that info away), Lynne (very kind, thank you), Cassia (I always wrote, though my favourite subject was probably whatever was last in the day), and Conor (thinking up what animals would really say was probably the most fun I had in the book).

Cheers to you all, and just to remind you that you can download the free Viola story here and see the cover of Monsters of Men here.  More news to come, I assure you...