DFB Story Blog whip-cracker Tilda (pictured right) has requested us Storybloggers to write about our favourite stories of the year.

Well that’s a really tough call for this author who’s read (and LOVED) gazillions of stories this year.

So I thought ’twas more like the season to wax nostalgic for all those stories I have adored in Christmases past.

This past year there has been some controversy about school reading schemes vs ‘Real Books’ … but growing up in the Philippines at a time when there was hardly any local publishing for children, I discovered many of my favourite stories in reading schemes. These were imported from the United States and so featured no Filipino characters whatsoever (but that’s another story) … so it was all fantasy to me.

My Christmas favourite was a short story that never failed to bring a tear to my eye called A Tree for Nick by Mary Lou Brown (originally published in 1959).

A Tree for Nick was about a brother and sister decorating a tree for a Christmas tree competition. Except they couldn’t help thinking about their eight year old brother Nick, who was blind.

So they left out the shiny, sharp edged foil stars and the electric lights that burned Nick’s hand when he accidentally touched them last year. Instead, on went the soft fuzzy sheep and candy canes and the old horn that hooted when you blew it and the old tinkling music box. The tree they ended up with wasn’t pretty – but you could feel and taste and hear it.

‘Wheee!’ breathed Nick, his face shining with happiness. ‘This is the prettiest tree I’ve ever seen!’ Read the rest of this entry »

I was thrilled to hear that DFB was doing a prequel to Frankenstein (This Dark Endeavour is by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel – who was a bit of a child prodigy in the children’s book world like Mary Shelley herself who wrote Frankenstein at age 18) – but when I read the synopsis, I realized that – because it’s a prequel – it is highly likely that one important thing might be missing from the book: Frankenstein’s monster! Say it isn’t so!

1831 engraving for Mary Shelley’s book reveals a buff monster

I’ve loved Frankenstein’s monster since I saw the black and white movie starring Boris Karloff … and I’ve weirdly identified with monsters of that ilk throughout my reading and movie watching life.

You know, the kind of monster whose grotesque exterior conceals a human soul? Read the rest of this entry »

Talking of stories, Candy Gourlay – author of TALL STORY and blogger extraordinaire – is here to spark off our first wave of storyblogs. Thank you Candy!

‘Tilda

I love taking pictures but I hate having my photo taken. I can happily go for years without having a single picture taken of me.

But last year I became an author.

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you heard of Hay Fever?..

Several DFB authors and illustrators authors caught it this year! Sarah McIntyre, Candy Gourlay and The Etherington Brothers all went down with bad cases of the contagious fever this year, from attending Hay Festival 2011.

Symptoms?

Shivers of excitement, blistering friendliness and a rash of book-lovers..

The cure?

A strong dose of workshops, talks and festival antics, taken with a marquee-ful of your favourite authors and illustrators!

So what did these lovely DFBers get up to all weekend?? Well…

Robin & Lorenzo Etherington(AKA The Etherington Bros) -  sold out their workshop(!), and it sounds like they had a blast monkeying around with their 200+ fans(!!). . When I asked Robin what his festival highlight was, I was  hit with a wave of enthusiasm and a list as long as my arm. But I think that ‘Finally getting to perform our show for our respective wives and see them really enjoy it’ and ‘getting papped by ten year olds and knuckle bumped by a legion of new readers’  were probably two of their more memorable experiences! Check out what else they got up to on their awesome blog here. Or for more details of what these boys can teach and show you, have a look around their new Comic Club site..

Sarah McIntyre and Candy Gourlay appeared as part of a triple-decker event alongside a favourite author of theirs, Geraldine McCaughrean – what a treat for the audience!  And beforehand, when Sarah heard the weather forecast, she drew this fantastic picture of how their trio might end up -

 - but, of course, the event was far from a wash out.

And, needless to say our fantastic authors didn’t leave it at that, they also ran their own their own talks and workshops! You can read Candy’s hilarious blog about the group experience, and of course her own workshop here. Candy’s writing workshop was all about legends… and there were some brilliantly silly ideas.

Sarah was also full of fun and seemed to meet up with nearly ALL the festivalgoers at Hay – even the Duchess of Cornwall!! For the lowdown on how Sarah a)wangled and b)handled this, check out Sarah’s blog, here.

Hooray for Hay, and for our truly brilliant authors who helped make this year’s festival such a success!!

(And if all that wasn’t enough, see how much fun was had by the many celebrity and non-celebrity attendees here.)

….er, um,  for some reason I have been putting this off.   Okay then, I confess, I am a blog virgin. This is my first ever blog. Not really something I should be boasting about these days I suppose. And not really of interest to anyone else but me.   But then   I loudly promised everyone at the very well attended (including the Philippine Ambassador no less) launch  that my first blog would be about Candy’s book Tall Story.  And not wanting to let his excellency and everyone else down here  it is.  And a bit late.   I think the danger for a publisher is that you want to say ‘Read It, just read it, it’s wonderful’ about every single  new book you publish.   And that really isn’t very interesting is it? Here’s what springs to mind about Candy:   Of all the writers I have ever edited and published only one other writer has ever inserted herself into her prose in quite the same way Candy does.  And that is Jacqueline Wilson. I am not saying they write the same way. Not at all. They don’t.   But both of them,  just like with Brighton rock , have their own personality and tone of voice echoing all the way through,   in every sentence, every phrase and every lick and curl of their prose.  They both write inimitably, with passion and humour and intelligence.  And when you are lucky enough to  meet them in person you can see exactly why they write the way they do.  I think this quality is particularly important in a children’s book.  Candy’s story just flows into the reader, like a jug of story being tipped into the head.  And its a very good story.  And I am very proud and pleased to be publishing it.

Now go and read it dammit.

..from our new blogspot here at DFB! We’re both excited and nervous about this new space on our site, where we’ll be updating you on our goings-on both in and out of the office – it’s a bit like first-date nerves! We really hope you’ll love it.

We’ve found a heady match with Candy Gourlay though, and her loveable debut novel, TALL STORY. Candy’s jaunty humour really sparkles in this story, but she also manages to weave in some exotic Filipino magic, making this a really flavoursome read. Mmmm!

…And we went to Candy’s fantastic launch for TALL STORY last night! It was a really vibrant event at Waterstones, Islington, buzzing with family, friends, neighbours, and a whole host of other Candy supporters! We even got badges!! You can see me sporting mine in my photo, but here’s a close-up!

It was a really fun, energetic and emotional atmosphere. The Ambassador for The Philippines - Antonio M. Lagdameo – even attended! 

But I think that for me, the highlight was the collective performance of Bob Marley’s ‘One love’ – which Candy’s family and extended family (from her neighbourhood & beyond!) had filmed, sung and practised to perform for us all. There were both English and Tagalog verses that were performed live alongside pre-recorded footage of singing, dancing and general hilarity both in The Philippines and the UK. It was really emotionally-charged and uplifting, really bringing home Candy’s TALL STORY themes of family, home and unity, despite distance. And I was really impressed with the young performers!! You may want to keep your eyes glued to Candy’s site for a glimpse of it..

Anyway, enough rabbiting for now – I’m sure the others want to tell you more about our antics!..

TTFN,

Tilda!