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Costa Book Awards 2009 - Shortlists Announced

London author Christopher Reid has been announced as the winner of the Costa Book Awards 2009 for his book ‘A Scattering’ at an awards ceremony held in central London.

The five category winners in the running for the 2009 Costa Book of the Year award were:

Colm Tóibín – Winner of the 2009 Costa Novel Award for ‘Brooklyn’ – (Viking)

Raphael Selbourne – Winner of the 2009 Costa First Novel Award for ‘Beauty’ (Tindal Street Press)

Graham Farmelo – Winner of the 2009 Costa Biography Award for ‘The Strangest Man The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius’ (Faber and Faber)

Christopher Reid – Winner of the Costa Poetry Award for ‘A Scattering’ (Arete Books)

Patrick Ness – Winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award for ‘The Ask and the Answer’ (Walker Books)

The winning author was decided by a judging panel including writer & model Marie Helvin, musician, actor & writer Gary Kemp, actress Caroline Quentin, ITV’s Political Editor, Tom Bradby, actor & writer Neil Pearson, journalist Tom Fleming and authors Sandra Howard, Robert Lacey and William Nicholson. The panel will be chaired by novelist Josephine Hart. Christopher will receive a cash prize of £30,000.

www.costabookawards.com

 

 

The revolutionary Rabbit meets Ladybird

Nabaztag, the multipurpose Internet-connected Rabbit, teams up with Ladybird Books!

Ladybird, (an imprint of the Penguin Group) and Violet, the pioneer in ambient devices and Internet of objects, are delighted to announce a new partnership which will bring traditional books to life, by utilising the newest advancements in digital technology. The Nabaztag Rabbit can now recognize a real book and read it aloud.

The Nabaztag Rabbit has taken the world by storm since it was launched in 2005 to widespread critical acclaim. The WiFi enabled Rabbit is permanently connected to the Internet and can act, react, transmit or broadcast many types of content available on the net, - news, messages, music, text, alerts, radio etc. He also obeys to voice commands and recognizes objects of the real world.

From September this year, The Nabaztag Rabbit will also be sold with three Ladybird Tales: Goldilocks and the Three Bears; Cinderella and The Elves and the Shoemaker, which it will be able to read aloud thanks to a Ztamp* system designed by Violet. By registering the Ztamp glued under the cover Nabaztag identifies the book, retrieves the story from the Violet server and then reads it out loud. You can then navigate through the chapters of the story by moving the Rabbit’s ears. This book has even a memory so that the next time you swipe the book in front of Nabaztag, the Rabbit will remember the chapter where it stopped the previous time.

Stephanie Barton, Managing Director of Ladybird Books, said: “We are delighted to be joining Violet on this global initiative which will take the book, in its traditional form, on an incredible and exciting new journey. With Nabaztag we are able to harness new developments in digital technology and offer our customers a new dimension in the reading experience.”

Nabaztag provides Ladybird with a new platform on which to offer parents and children classic and much-loved stories through a completely new format. As a portable, small, sensorial and multidimensional device without the need of a PC screen, a connected book brings a new user interface to the Internet. Books can become enriched and enhanced by all sorts of interactive and online applications while still keeping their original paper form.

Rafi Haladjian, co-founder of Violet, adds: “Our partnership with Ladybird Books will allow us to continue showcasing at consumer level general public application of RFID technology. This revolution goes far beyond the impact of mainstream consumer electronics. Today we are connecting books - and tomorrow all of the objects that surround us. With the Ztamps Violet is paving the way for an amazing world where everything can be alive and connected to the Internet; infinite possibilities lie before us. We believe that we don’t need to create virtual avatars of our objects on computer screens to make them connected and intelligent. Objects will keep their original form but at the same time be enhanced and enriched by the services and content from the Internet.”

*Ztamp
Nabaztag is fitted with a RFID chip reader. The RFID (Ztamp) looks like a small postage stamp that you can stick onto any item you want Nabaztag to recognize. When Nabaztag perceives (“sniffs”) the presence of such objects, you can decide which services or actions you want to associate with the Ztamped objects. (Ztamps will be available End of September 2008).
Ladybird Books come with a Ztamp.

 

 

“Wouldn’t you rather be free, just for a day, than spend a lifetime in a cage?”
Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing
Written by: Guo Yue and Clare Farrow
Illustrated by: Helen Cann
GUO YUE is well known in the music world for the soaring beauty of his bamboo flute playing and compositions. He has performed and recorded worldwide, creating sounds which, in the words of one film director, ‘haunt the soul’. Yue and his wife, Clare Farrow, are also the authors of an adult memoir, Music, Food and Love.
CLARE FARROW is a writer and journalist specializing in modern contemporary art. She and Yue have two young children and live in Richmond, London.
HELEN CANN enjoys using patterns in her artwork and she has a large collection of reference material from around the world, taken from textiles, ceramics, furniture, jewelry— even body paint.
It’s the summer of 1966 and Mao Zedong’s communist regime is about to move to a new level. Little Leap Forward lives in Beijing, with his mother, brother, and four older sisters. When he is not running errands or attending school, he loves to play the flute and to fly kites.
One day, Little Leap Forward and his best friend capture a small yellow bird. Little Leap Forward wants her to accompany him on his flute – but behind the bars of her bamboo cage, she is not happy. What will he do – persist with his experiment or set her free?
In a year when China is banning the sale of wild songbirds, ending a 2,000 year history of selling and trading caged thrushes, this story of a young boy learning about freedom of spirit is all the more timely. Little Leap Forward’s touching story is based on author Guo Yue’s boyhood experiences of the Cultural Revolution in China. Sensitive, authoritative and deceptively simple, it offers young readers many intimate and powerful insights into one child’s life and dreams as the Cultural Revolution tightens its grip.
As China modernises and prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games, interest in this superpower and in the rapidly changing lives of its people is escalating. The games in Beijing this August will bring half a million international and 2.5 million domestic spectators to a newly sanitised city.

 

 

 

 

Ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, DK launches “Watch Me Grow: Panda” in Chinese and English

Proceeds of the book to be donated to the Chengdu

Panda Research Centre to support earthquake aftermath

DK celebrated the publication of the Chinese language edition of Watch Me Grow: Panda with a launch at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in the capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday 16 July.
Watch Me Grow: Panda was published in English in the UK earlier this year and is aimed at 6+ children. The Chinese launch was attended by panda experts, representatives from DK's UK and Chinese offices, journalists and primary school students.
All photos in both the Chinese and English-language editions were taken by Chief of the Research Base, Zhang Zhihe and the book features Jing Jing, a female panda at the Base, telling the story of her habits and lifecycle. Born in August 2005, Jing Jing has been chosen as one of the mascots of the Olympics to be held in Beijing next month.

DK has pledged to donate the global profits from sales of “Watch Me Grow: Panda” to support the Research Base and its important work in the wake of the May 12 earthquake, which damaged many mountainous panda habitats in Sichuan Province. The panda is an animal unique to China, and 85 per cent of pandas live in Sichuan Province. John Makinson, Penguin Group Chairman and CEO, says: “We are proud to support the vital work at the Chengdu Panda Base, both in teaching young people about this endangered and fascinating animal, and in donating the proceeds from ‘Watch Me Grow.’”

A planned launch of “Watch Me Grow: Panda” was postponed out of respect for the victims of the recent Sichuan earthquake. The decision now to hold an event in Chengdu ahead of the August Olympic Games was made in part to highlight the difficulties faced by the Chengdu Panda Base, which relies heavily on income generated by tourists and visitors. Says Zhang Zhihe, Director of the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center, daily visitors currently stand at less than 100 per day – down from an average this time last year of more than 4,000 per day. “We expect that over the next six months, the total loss of tourist income will be more than RMB12 million,” he says. “This decreased income affects our ability to provide for the needs of our pandas – and this is why the publication of ‘Watch Me Grow’ is particularly important to us at this time. By reading this book, children and parents around the world can learn more about pandas and their homeland. Conservation education begins with children.”

 

New online burrow for Peter Rabbit!

Peterrabbit.com has relaunched this week moving Peter Rabbit into a new era of digital technology!

Publisher Frederick Warne has created a website which retains the charm of Beatrix Potter’s illustrations whilst providing visitors with a richer, more fulfilling online experience. A dynamic new children’s section, based on the idea of a pop-up book, provides interactive games and activities for parents to enjoy with their children. A new online bookshop offers gift-buyers a far more intuitive and informed shopping experience and collectors and fans can find the definitive information on Beatrix Potter and her work.

Stephanie Barton, Managing Director Frederick Warne, said, “It is vital that Peter Rabbit remains relevant and contemporary. By embracing the latest developments in digital technology we have been able to bring the storybook characters to life, with new flash games, sound and animation. As an extremely astute business woman, Beatrix Potter was ahead of her time in harnessing the opportunities that Peter Rabbit afforded as a brand, and our digital developments reflect that same ethos by offering children access to a classic, much-loved literary character on multiple platforms.“

The new website delivers for all users on every level, whether it’s parents looking to introduce their children to Peter Rabbit for the first time or collectors searching for memorabilia. But don’t take our word for it, log on to www.peterrabbit.com and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear your comments!

 

 

Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire
Derek Landy

RRP £12.99

Just when you think you’ve saved the world…
"You will kill her?" the Torment asked.
Skulduggery sagged. "Yes." He hesitated, then took his gun from his jacket. "I'm sorry, Valkyrie," he said softly.
"Don't talk to me," Valkyrie said. "Just do what you have to do."
Valkyrie parted her tunic, and Skulduggery pointed the gun at the vest beneath.
"Please forgive me," Skulduggery said, then aimed the gun at the girl and pulled the trigger.

With Serpine dead, the world is safe once more. At least, that’s what Valkyrie and Skulduggery think, until the notorious Baron Vengeous makes a bloody escape from prison, and dead bodies and vampires start showing up all over Ireland. With Baron Vengeous after the deadly armour of Lord Vile, and pretty much everyone out to kill Valkyrie, the daring detective duo face their biggest challenge yet. But what if the greatest threat to Valkyrie is just a little closer to home…?
Praise for Skulduggery Pleasant

Hugely enjoyable – a thrill-a-minute adventure.' Jonathan Stroud

'It's exciting, pacy, nicely handled and fun. I sincerely hope Landy revisits these characters.'
Philip Ardagh, Guardian

'A gripping debut.'
Phil Hogan, Observer

'Skulduggery Pleasant serves up a thoroughly satisfying blend of humour, magic and adventure. Once you've met Stephanie and Skullduggery, you'll be clamouring for a sequel.' Rick Riordan

"A remarkably accomplished debut with wonderful dialogue."
Robert Dunbar, Irish Times

"[Landy's] fight scenes are perfectly pitched. His characters are exceptionally well drawn and delightfully colourful… Reading [this book] is like riding a rollercoaster.” Irish Independent

"Landy's witty style will win him fans of all ages… With writing of this standard, a rattling plot and definite potential for cross-over appeal, it's a good job Harry's [Potter] resigning before he's forcibly retired." Irish Mail on Sunday

"Humour and magic combine in this thrilling adventure."
Waterstone's Books Quarterly

 

 

 

The Magic Returns...
HarperCollins announce global digital strategy for Narnia

The movie adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis took $750 million at the global box office and the HarperCollins tie-in programme was the most successful ever with 15 million titles sold during the film period release. From July 2005 – February 2006, Narnia book sales in the UK alone increased by 980% and The Chronicles of Narnia sold over 100 million copies worldwide in over 70 countries and in 48 different languages.

On the 27th June 2008, the magic of Narnia returns with the release by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media of Prince Caspian; one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year.

Following on from the unprecedented success of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (LWW), HarperCollins UK are delighted to announce a global return of the ‘Read it before you See it’ marketing and pr campaign to promote their comprehensive Prince Caspian film-tie in programme which includes tie-in editions of Prince Caspian, activity, puzzle and colouring books, young reader editions, as well as groundbreaking new titles including The Chronology of Narnia, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Official Illustrated Movie Companion, The Crafting of Narnia: a Behind the Scenes Visual Guide, The Chronicles of Narnia: A Pop-Up Adaptation of CS Lewis’s Original Series by the acclaimed Robert Sabuda and audio editions read by Kenneth Branagh, Michael York, Alex Jennings, Lynn Redgrave, Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Northam and Patrick Stewart respectively (May 2008).

With a dedicated Narnia brand champion employed to work in the UK and with foreign publishers to create marketing synergy across all international territories, HarperCollins are putting digital marketing and social networking at the forefront of their plans. With the creation of a dedicated microsite – www.discovernarnia.co.uk – to go live on 21st February, and the launch of a specially developed flash game in addition to Prince Caspian Facebook and Bebo profile pages, HarperCollins aim to drive the online community to the books by immersing them in the magic of Narnia before the box office opens.

Alison Ruane, Children’s Marketing Director, HarperCollins says:
"Building on the success of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, we are focussing our communications firmly on digital channels in the lead up to the Prince Caspian film release. By tapping into social networks, on-line communities and existing fan forums we intend to convert Narnia film-goers into fan of the books on a global scale."

Supported by a major Disney marketing campaign, a specially developed Narnia Widget will feature evolving content and images from the movie and messages about the books and will drive traffic to the HarperCollins microsite. Education channels will also be targeted via the Collins education division with a mailing to all primary schools of a classroom kit and competition package to win a class trip to see the movie.

 

Extract from JIMMY COATES: SABOTAGE by Joe Craig

Publication Date: 1st October 2007 Price: £5.99

Jimmy Coates: Sabotage is the fourth instalment of eleven year old Jimmy’s ongoing mission to overthrow NJ7, the secret government agency.

Jimmy Coates is a boy with a difference. He is only 38% human. Jimmy has been genetically engineered to function as a government assassin, but his abilities are not supposed to develop until he is fully grown. His programming has malfunctioned and Jimmy is fighting back. He must resist his instincts to kill and find out the truth about his family and the government that created him.

Here below is an extract from the book, destined to be another huge hit, especially with teens...

01 EXILE
When you know the British Secret Service wants you dead, it’s hard to relax. But Jimmy Coates was forcing himself to try. Every second that passed, every mile he was driven away from New York, it became a tiny bit easier. No hand burst through the window of the car to grab him. No sirens pierced the quiet drone of the road. He had really done it. He had fooled NJ7, the top-secret British intelligence agency. They thought he was dead.

According to NJ7 files, Jimmy Coates – the boy their scientists had genetically designed to grow into a killer – had been terminated by machine-gun fire and his body lost in New York’s East River. They could call off the search. Jimmy didn’t want to let himself smile. Not yet. He wasn’t far enough away.
“Welcome to Blackfoot Airbase,” announced Agent Froy, the CIA man who had grasped Jimmy by the shoulder
to lift him out of the East River a few hours before.
The black sedan slowed down and Froy pulled into a driveway. The iron gate in front of them rolled back
automatically. Jimmy sat up in his seat to look for whatever device must have identified the car. His eyes scanned the foliage that lined the road. The hedge wasn’t a hedge; he noticed that immediately. It was an iron wall, six metres high and at least a metre thick, constructed to resemble a line of Leyland cypress trees and painted dark green.
In a second, Jimmy picked out four security cameras and a laser scanner all concealed in the fake hedge.
A cockroach couldn’t get into this place without being microwaved by the lasers first.

He twisted in his seat as they drove through and watched the gate slide back into place. The last sliver of
the rest of the world disappeared. He was cut off from everything, sealed inside Blackfoot, the classified military airbase on the outskirts of Piscataway, New Jersey.
Jimmy’s family was a lifetime away. He had left his sister Georgie and his best friend Felix Muzbeke with Felix’s parents back in New York. They were also in the care of the CIA. Jimmy could see them now, in the safehouse apartment above a Korean restaurant in Chinatown. He didn’t know when the CIA would relocate them, but he hoped it would be soon.
Meanwhile, his mother had been on her way to find Christopher Viggo, the former NJ7 agent who had helped Jimmy escape Britain. Viggo had run off back to Britain, full of anger. Jimmy pictured him trying to overthrow the Government single-handed.
He had to hold on to the hope that he would see them all again. Even if it wasn’t for several years, whatever happened or however he changed, Jimmy knew he must always remember his family.
But Jimmy had no idea how he would change. Inside him was a powerful organic programming. It enabled him to do amazing things, but day by day the assassin instincts in his DNA took over more of his mind, subduing his human voice. Would that voice become just an echo in his memory? And what if his memory itself was pushed aside to make room for the assassin’s skill?
For a horrible minute, Jimmy imagined himself in a few years’ time, about to turn eighteen. His programming would be fully developed – what would he feel when he looked at a picture of his mum? Or Georgie? Would they be like forgotten files, lost in the back of a computer’s hard-drive, never accessed? Jimmy tried to imagine looking without any hint of
emotion, thinking of them as just two more faces. It made him feel sick, so he closed his eyes and dropped
his head back on to the leather.
A few seconds later, the car stopped abruptly. Jimmy sat up. The long driveway had opened out to reveal an expanse of concrete stretching for at least two miles ahead of them. Right in the middle was a one-storey breeze-block bunker, covered in a jumble of satellite dishes.
The wind whipped across the tarmac, buffeting the side of the car. There was none of the noise or bustle found at a commercial airport. The place was deserted.
“Where are the planes?” Jimmy asked.
Froy was busy punching numbers into his mobile phone. “That’s what I’m going to find out,” he grumbled. Then he barked into his phone, “Where’s our plane?!”
Jimmy leaned forwards, but he couldn’t make out what the person on the end of the line was saying.
“Get one down here now! Anyone!” Froy went on. “I don’t care about the weather conditions. Colonel Keays is overseeing this operation himself. There are only two people more powerful than Colonel Keays: the President and God Almighty. Have either of them called you? No. So get the closest military air vehicle out of the sky and on to that runway.”
Froy snapped his phone shut and stuffed it back into his pocket. “Sorry, Jimmy. An operation like this is usually planned weeks in advance. This obviously had to be a bit last-minute.”
Jimmy felt the panic swirling in his chest. He had to get as far away from NJ7 as possible, as quickly as possible. Every second he spent sitting in the back of that car was a second too long.
“Don’t worry,” Froy reassured him. “Your plane was diverted to McGuire because of high winds, but I’m not going to let a little breeze get in our way. I’ve told them to ignore the weather. They’ll find us something.”
How long will that take? Jimmy wondered – though he didn’t dare say it aloud. He scanned the sky. With nothing to distract him, he couldn’t help returning to one thought he wanted more than anything to forget about for now – his father. It still seemed amazing to Jimmy, but Ian Coates had just taken over as Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Already the man had shown that he planned to continue the policy of not letting the public vote. He called it ‘Neo-democracy’ and the more Jimmy found out about it, the worse it sounded. The Government held on to absolute control, with no opposition, and everything was run by the Secret Service.
Even worse than that, Ian Coates had threatened to go to war with France over a tiny misunderstanding. The only thing that had stopped him so far was the fact that the American President wasn’t going to support him unless Britain spent billions of dollars on American weapons.
In spite of all this, the one thing that stuck out for Jimmy was the moment when Ian Coates had revealed that he wasn’t Jimmy’s biological father. Jimmy took a deep breath. It doesn’t matter, he insisted inside his head. He’s nothing to do with me now. Forget his lies. Jimmy longed to believe the words he was repeating to himself. But underneath it, he could feel a mist of confusion. Britain could never be his home as long as the Neo-democratic Government was in power – his
fake father included.
Suddenly, Jimmy felt his muscles tense up. He could hear something. A drone.
“Here it is,” announced Froy.
The noise was huge now, and getting louder all the time. The shadow of the plane loomed over them. Then Jimmy saw it – like a sharpened bullet, the EA- 22G Growler scythed through the wind. The slim grey fuselage was almost camouflaged against the sky, but the fins were tipped with red and they flashed like flames. Then, with the thunder of the plane touching
ground, a glimmer of sunlight caught the emblem on the side of the cockpit – a white star on a navy disc.
Jimmy gasped. For the first time, he was awed by the power of the organisation that was taking care of him now. Colonel Keays hadn’t just used his CIA resources – now he’d mobilised the US airforce. Jimmy felt a smile creep over his face, confident that they would be able to escort him anywhere in the world in safety.
But where? Jimmy laughed at his own stupidity. In all the fuss of escaping NJ7 and the trauma of leaving
his family behind, he hadn’t thought to ask where in the world he was going to be taken.
“Where will it…?” he started, almost overcome by excitement. “I mean, where am I…?”
Froy broke into a huge smile.
“I hope you like Mexican food.”