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Liz Hyder: ‘I feel like I’m in a weird cheese dream’ [15 Dec 2019|07:00am] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/15/liz-hyder-bearmouth-book-interview The author of acclaimed YA book Bearmouth on striking gold in a slate mine – and what you can’t learn from other writers • The Observer critics’ pick of the best children’s and young adult books of 2019 Liz Hyder, 42, was born in London and studied drama at Bristol University. While working as a publicist at the BBC, and later as a freelance PR consultant, she wrote six novels, none of which were published. Her seventh, Bearmouth, about a child called Newt who lives and works deep inside a Victorian coalmine, came out in September to glowing reviews and was named “children’s book of the year” by the Times, which described it as “A Christmas Carol for 2019”. Hyder lives with her husband in Ludlow and is completing another novel. What have the past few months been like for you, since the publication of Bearmouth? I feel like I’m in a weird cheese dream – this is Camembert-at-3am-on-New-Year’s-Day levels of weirdness. I pinch myself every day. It’s not often I’m speechless, but I really am dumbfounded, flabbergasted, all those things, by the response. Continue reading... post comment

The best children’s books of 2019 for all ages [15 Dec 2019|11:59am] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/15/the-best-childrens-books-of-2019-for-all-ages From mental health to the climate crisis, children’s books are tackling the hot topics of our age. Here, Fiona Noble looks back on the year and, below, our pick of 2019 in each age group A decade ago, it seemed likely that children’s books would fall victim to the digital age, paperbacks cast aside for Kindles, picture books swiped on iPads. A recent survey of 1,000 parents by charity BookTrust revealed that 26% were subcontracting bedtime stories to Alexa or other home assistants. But the same study showed that 83% preferred “real” books and the sustained boom in the children’s book market is testament to this. David Walliams may have dominated the charts again – he is likely to have the year’s three bestselling children’s books – but, as our reviewers’ choices reveal, look deeper and range, quality and innovation abound. Children’s books have never been more relevant, echoing the big issues of the day. Titles about mental health and emotions are everywhere, from Sam Copeland and illustrator Sarah Horne’s funny Charlie Changes Into a Chicken (Puffin) and Rebecca Westcott’s Can You See Me? (Scholastic) – whose co-author is 11-year-old Libby Scott, a girl with autism – to Bryony Gordon’s teenage self-help guide You Got This (Wren & Rook). Michael Morpurgo and Onjali Q Rauf were among those addressing the refugee crisis in Boy Giant (HarperColllins) and The Boy at the Back of the Class (Orion) respectively, while Malorie Blackman’s return to the world of Noughts & Crosses in Crossfire (Penguin) combined taut thriller with themes of racism, division and media bias. Continue reading... post comment

Toni Morrison remembered by Walter Mosley [15 Dec 2019|04:00pm] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/15/toni-morrison-remembered-by-walter-mosley 18 February 1931 - 5 August 2019 The US crime writer remembers a literary great whose deep intellect, humanity and moral force inspired a generation of black Americans • Joe Casely-Haye remembered by Chris Ofili • Read the Observer’s obituaries of 2019 in full Toni Morrison and I had that certain kind of friendship common among writers; we saw each other at literary gatherings such as readings, galas and sometimes at special events. So, it was a surprise some 18 years ago when she asked me, along with the poet Rita Dove, to emcee her 70th birthday. I was deeply honoured and had a great time with Rita winnowing down the long introductions that some of the presenters asked for. That was a room filled with love. Everyone, it seemed, was there, from Angela Davis to Oprah Winfrey to the great Igbo novelist Chinua Achebe. The love contained in that room was cast from a material drawn from the soul of suffering, liberation, and gratitude for the great woman’s ability to shine a light on wounds so deep and so old that the victims were barely aware of their infirmities. Continue reading... post comment

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