Just share what you've done to promote the joy of reading in your school.  The ten best, judged by Michael Rosen, the Best Children's Laureate Ever, will get £1,000 of books for their school.  Details here.  Good luck!  The Trust really does some wonderful work...

(Also, not a clue how to get rid of that A before the pound symbol...)

I'm just back from Edinburgh, where I had a terrific visit with Canongate, who'll be publishing my next adult novel in May 2013 (and don't worry, more YA novels are very, very much in the pipeline).  Again, it'll be called The Crane Wife, and it's lovely that you keep all asking questions about it, but I'm not saying anything yet at all, I'm afraid.  All in good time.

Meanwhile, I'm still writing, writing, writing.  Lots of stuff to come, lots of news to come, too, when it's all ready.  In the meantime, greetings to all the new commenters.  It's great to hear from you all, even if I can't answer every question (sorry!). I've also got buttons just there on the left for Twitter (on which I sark about quite regularly) and a Facebook fan page, if you're so inclined.  Good stuff coming...

What Is Love?, Deee-Lite -  the lyrics sheet to this actually says *speaks faux French*

Love Is A Catastrophe, Pet Shop Boys - Well, of course, that's what they'd say.

Love Is A LaserQuest, Arctic Monkeys - Ditto

Love Is A Stranger, Eurythmics - It's savage and it's cruel and it shines like destruction...

Love Is A Losing Game, Amy Winehouse - Oh, when she was on, no one could touch her.

Love Is Like A Bottle Of Gin, The Magnetic Fields - But a bottle of gin is not like love.

Warmest greetings to the new commenters, truly.  As ever, more soon.

Never mind, it's true!  The fantastic folks at Canongate Books have just bought The Crane Wife, my first adult novel in nine years, to be published spring 2013.

I'm pleased as punch.  ("pleased as Punch"?  Is it about Punch and Judy, thay saying?  We don't have Punch & Judy in America, and being pleased as fruit punch makes no sense, so...)  Anyway, very, very excited indeed, and don't worry.  This definitely does NOT mean that I'm not going to write any more teen fiction.  Not even a little bit.  Lots more to come on that front, stay tuned.  I TOLD you there were big announcements on the way...

Little Red Corvette, Prince - Fabulous song, and - looked at one way - completely obscene.  So don't look at it that way.

Little Tornado, Aimee Mann - Oh, no, no, you don't know, you don't know.

All My Little Words, The Magnetic Fields - Now that you've made me want to die/You tell me that you're unboyfriendable.

A Little Respect, Erasure - Oh, you sing along, you know you do, and we all miss that high note.

Little Lion Man, Mumford & Sons - Everyone seems to moan about Mumford & Sons, but this is a great running song, especially when you sing the naughty word very loud.

Big Love, Jim Moray - And one "Big" song; Jim Moray's cover of Fleetwood Mac, revealing it was a stomping folk song all along.

Greetings to all the new commenters - I do promise that all movie news will be here first - and as I said, more soon.

Yeah, I know.  Seriously.  I don't even know what to say next.  Charlie Kaufman!  I just can't tell you how excited I am about this news...

Greetings to all the new commenters; I really am sorry I can't respond to them all (I'd have no time to do any other writing!), but I do read every single one.  There's some exciting bits of news brewing, so as I always say, more soon...

I'm also at the LA Times Book Festival this Saturday!  And tickets go onsale (for all of $1 each) today.  If you're in the neighbourhood, check it out.  I'm on with Mal Peet and John Corey Whalley at the Davidson Continuing Education Centre venue (it's a big place). 

And greeting to all the new commenters.  I'm sorry I don't have time to answer every question, but I do read them all, including the reference to his Chaos Walking tumblr.  More soon, but I am going to have a busy week or two...

Also, I know there's quite a bit of confusion lately on Amazon over the A Monster Calls paperbacks.  We're trying to get it fixed, but here are the correct links.  This is the illustrated paperback (an absolute steal at the price) and this is for a smaller, less expensive, non-illustrated paperback coming out in September.

I'd always recommend the illustrated one (it's lavish, and cheap!), but there've been a lot of requests for the smaller, non-illustrated one, so why not have something for everyone?  I'm cool with that.

Don't forget I'm in Los Angeles next week at the L.A. Times Book Fest, but in the meantime, greetings to the new commenters and, as ever, more soon...

I've just finished reading Louisa Young's wonderful My Dear I Wanted To Tell You and am currently halfway through Philip Roth's Indignation.  Possibly not for younger readers, I reckon.  I'm also giving Game of Thrones a try, why not?

The last film I saw was Wrath of the Titans (yep, that's what I said), and the last play I saw was when I took my brother and his family to see Les Miserables, which you can judge all you like, it's a good night out.  Three days before that I saw Complicite's incredible Master and Margarita at the Barbican.  Again, really, really not for younger viewers, but then again...

The last music downloads I made were Jonsi, The Decemberists, The Hunger Games soundtrack (it's really quite good) and Seth Lakeman, and on telly I'm currently watching Game of Thrones, Mad Men and 30 Rock, which makes me laugh and laugh and laugh ("Remember when I insulted stubborn people?  That took forever to sort out.").

So that's me in a cultural snapshot on Easter 2012.  You?  Warm greetings to all the new commenters.  More soon...

Kingdom of Rust, Doves - An amazing song from a shamefully overlooked band; great running track, too.

Prince Charming, Adam and the Ants - As ever, ridicule is nothing to be scared of.

Killer Queen, Queen - Who doesn't keep Moet & Chandon in a pretty cabinet?

Kingdom Come, The Civil Wars - The best track from The Hunger Games soundtrack.  But you knew that.

The Queen's Rebuke, The Decemberists - Because if you don't own Hazards of Love yet, what makes you think you're welcome on my website?

Enjoy, but in the meantime, greetings to all the new commenters.  I do read them all.  FYI, I've been getting a few PR requests through the site, which is great, but best is if you try the Contacts tab above and go directly to the right source!  More soon...

Only a quick hit today, as I'm buried in writing, but greetings to all the wonderful new commenters, young and less young.  I do read every single one.

Greetings to all the new commenters!  More soon...

More soon, greeting to the new commenters!

I found out today I've been shortlisted twice for the extremely prestigious Jugendliteratur Prize, the top literary prize in Germay and one of the top literary prizes in the world.  It's a tremendous honour, and if you're German-speaking, check out the German A Monster Calls.  It's called Sieben Minuten Nach Mitternacht.

A Monster Calls has also been shortlisted for the also very cool UKLA award, which is also a huge honour.  So a good week!

In the meantime, don't forget I'm at the Oxford Literature Festival next Saturday, greetings to all the new commenters, and just to say I went to the premiere of The Hunger Games movie last night.  Fans are going to love it...