7976 General http://readinggroups.org/news/general/ en Copyright 2013 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:13:00 +0100 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 2013 Dagger in the Library Award longlist announced In March 2013 we were delighted to partner with the CWA and Dead Good Books, the crime community from Random House, to encourage readers, reading groups, librarians and library users across the country to visit their library and vote for their favourite crime writer in the 2013 Dagger in the Library. Nominations closed on April 1st and thanks to the help of hundreds of readers across the country, today the longlist of Authors nominated has been announced. The Longlist The thirteen authors in contention this year are: Belinda Bauer Alison Bruce S J Bolton Peter May Gordon Ferris Tania Carver Elly Griffiths Christopher Fowler Michael Ridpath Jane Casey Phil Rickman Alex Gray Frances Brody The winner will be chosen by a panel of UK librarians. About the Award The Dagger in the Library is one of six highly prized CWA Dagger Awards, which have been awarded to crime writers since 1955. It is a unique literary award in that it offers a chance for readers, reading groups, librarians and library users to nominate their favourite British crime fiction authors. The Dagger in the Library is awarded not for an individual book but for the author's body of work to date and helps emerging authors gain deserved recognition and publicity for their writing. Previous winners of the CWA Dagger in the Library award include Steve Mosby, Mo Hayder, Colin Cotterill, Stuart MacBride and Craig Russell. Get involved Find a crime reading group to join. http://readinggroups.org/news/cwa-dead-good-dagger-in-the-library-award-voting.html http://readinggroups.org/news/cwa-dead-good-dagger-in-the-library-award-voting.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 Harper Impulse are looking for new romance authors HarperCollins are launching a brand new romance imprint, Harper Impulse, and they are giving you the opportunity to submit your novel, novellas and short stories to be considered for publication. Have you got the love? What is Harper Impulse? ♥ Impulse is a new digital first imprint that will publish romance fiction for today's woman - bought to you from the women's fiction team at HarperCollins. ♥ Their aim is to find and publish new talented debut authors and import the hottest trends from the US. Whether that is through short reads for your mobile phone or epic sagas that span the generations - they want to proudly publish romance fiction that gets everybody talking. ♥ They are aiming to reach out to women who read everything from big summer bonkbusters to the most recent 99p read on the Kindle top 10. Women who love glossy magazines, chicklit films from favourite weepies such as The Notebook to laugh out loud comedies like Bridesmaids and the very best in original storytelling. What is Harper Impulse looking for? ♥ New writers who dare to be different - and the more the merrier. ♥ The imprint will publish from fun and fast adult and new adult genres to more mainstream novels; particularly contemporary, historical, paranormal and erotic fiction. ♥ They are looking for any length and really want writers who want to push the boundaries in terms of storytelling - whether that be mashing genres or experimenting with length - so be creative! Meet the Harper Impulse team. Get involved Impulse is simply looking for good stories. So, what are you waiting for? Submit your completed manuscript together with a covering letter and synopsis. Full submission guidelines can be found on the Impulse Facebook page. http://readinggroups.org/news/harper-impulse-are-looking-for-new-romance-authors.html http://readinggroups.org/news/harper-impulse-are-looking-for-new-romance-authors.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 Baldacci Challenge competition winner At the end of 2012 we launched the David Baldacci reader challenge in 500 libraries across the UK with Pan MacMillan. The campaign aimed to introduce readers to David's books and push him up UK libraries' Most Borrowed list. Competition winner We also ran a competition for the best library display during the challenge. We had some amazing entries and it was a difficult decision to select only one winner. In the end it was decided that Macclesfield Library pipped everyone to the post with their fantastic 'Get Hooked on Baldacci' display. Creative and bold, it was a winner with Pan MacMillan. Find out more To view all the brilliant displays, please check out our photoset on Flickr. Or read our blog interview with David Bladacci, where he answers our questions about the importance of libraries and the books he wish he'd written. http://readinggroups.org/news/baldacci-challenge-display-competition-winner.html http://readinggroups.org/news/baldacci-challenge-display-competition-winner.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 How 9 libraries 100 books was started You may remember that we blogged about a lovely project - 9 libraries 100 books - a little while ago that Natasha Pryce is running in association with Lambeth Libraries. We're really pleased that Natasha has now written us a blog post about how she came to start the project and how she has been getting on: As a child I used to read a lot. At every available opportunity I would escape to a neglected corner of whatever local library I was living near full of anticipation for the journey I would be taking that day. I was convinced I was Roald Dahl's Matilda and that I could read every book ever written. Having a father in the military meant changing schools and homes frequently and often books and libraries replaced friends and loneliness. I experienced countless different libraries over the years, from military libraries to school libraries; I would seek them out wherever they were for comfort, solace and entertainment. When I was 12 I spent three years using an American one that had vending machines and so I was able to combine reading with my other great love-eating! Armed with a variety of Frito-Lay snacks I would bury myself knee deep in Stephen King whilst attempting to consume them without making any noise, for those of you who eat crisps you will know that this is impossible. I devoured any book I could get my hands on, nothing was too big or daunting. The only thing that mattered was what I was going to choose next. Indiscriminately selected, from Virginia Andrews shockingly macabre family saga's which I read in secret, (too embarrassed to admit I liked them), to Jack Kerouac's entire oeuvre to impress a boy (which failed miserably but did encourage my favourite teenage phase of wearing a black polo neck for a year and smoking cigarettes that were so strong they made my throat hurt). Being able to go to a place where you were encouraged to read what sat on the shelves sparked a curiosity in the world around me. Going on their adventures made me want to have more of my own. Hearing about faraway places spurred me to travel. Reading about people and encountering characters leading their lives, whether they were extraordinary or not, has without a doubt shaped the person I am today. Even as a place of study, they would help focus my mind and make an essay with a deadline an opportunity to discover new books but when I finished university, I stopped going to libraries almost overnight. Reconnecting with libraries and books It wasn't until the child was born that I found myself back in them again. Armed with her little library card she would choose the books she wanted and refused anything I suggested (thus the basis of our relationship ever since). It was around this time that I was reminded of how important libraries were to me when I was growing up and I couldn't help but wonder where my appetite for reading had gone. Why was it that I never borrowed anything anymore and perhaps more importantly, why was I reading vampire romance novels on my iphone with a cracked screen when I was approaching 30? And so that is how it all started. After another embarrassing sing along session with my daughter at Clapham library, which saw me flailing around to 3 little monkeys lying in the bed, I knew something had to change. Over a bottle of wine with a friend, who I now hold wholly responsible for all this, I set myself a challenge, a quest to reconnect with libraries and reading. In one year, and using my 9 glorious local libraries in Lambeth, I decided to read the entire BBC's Top 100 reads. As my favourite columnist Lucy Mangan recently said "a little knowledge goes a long way." With an expensive education system libraries are one of the only free resources available. After all, books aren't just entertaining stories, they are an insight into the past, can sum up the present and offer an alternative view of the future. Books develop vocabulary; they widen our frames of reference and can offer unique takes on social issues and the world around us. This challenge was also a way to self improve post university without having to incur another huge loan. It just all seemed so easy... With all my good intentions and determination I started confidently on holiday in the south of France, reading in the sun overlooking fields of sunflowers. However just as I started, I had a full time job offer and so embarked on a new career nervously wondering how I was going to juggle reading 100 books with working. Since then the challenge has been a struggle to say the least and it has taken me a while to find a rhythm to reading that keeps me on target for finishing in August 2013. Part of my daily routine I have had to make it part of my daily routine in the way an avid gym member makes time to lift weights, or whatever else it is they do there that looks so much like torture. The silver lining in all this is vast and bright. Faced with a demanding job and long hours, the challenge seems more relevant. How can we find the time to resist buying or downloading a book when time has become so precious and the amount we have to tackle increases? Well, the answer is that it becomes infinitely more satisfying. I can't describe how good it feels to get lost amongst the books of a library after working for 8 hours. Finishing a book on your lunch break, on the tube or at 1 o'clock in the morning is deeply fulfilling and each one is like a small victory, an achievement that makes it all worthwhile. Small acts of kindness So far I have met people whose lives have been set on course after receiving their library membership card, been heartened by small acts of kindness from librarians, contributed to the library coffers with my substantial fines and have been surprised and inspired by the way in which people use libraries, from children to the elderly and all those in between. Personally speaking, since starting I have been on the road a lot, journeying to magical worlds near and far, discovering the history of India's independence, learning about the courts of Kings and Queens and travelling back in time to my awkward teenage years. Somehow I have kept the pages turning and whilst I have to admit I am a little behind, I am confident that it is the journey that is most important here, not the goal, and like any journey worth taking it can be daunting and nerve wracking, but ultimately, worth it in the end. Get involved You can keep up to date with Natasha's blog posts and how she is getting on here. Take the challenge yourself or with your reading group and reconnect with your local library. Join 9 libraries and 100 books on Twitter and Facebook. Discover Lambeth Libraries. Find a reading group to join in Lambeth. http://readinggroups.org/news/how-9-libraries-100-books-was-started.html http://readinggroups.org/news/how-9-libraries-100-books-was-started.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 Quick Reads 2013 launches On the day that Quick Reads 2013 launches, new research shows that a quarter of UK adults (over 12 million people) have only picked up a book to read for pleasure once or less in the past six months. Quick Reads, however, are an excellent way to get more people into reading, and actress Kara Tointon has been announced as the Quick Reads 2013 celebrity ambassador. She will be encouraging more people to get reading, using Quick Reads. Further research from the National Research and Development Centre's (NRDC) research also reveals the impact of reading. You can read the press release here. The Quick Reads 2013 titles are: Today Everything Changes by Andy McNab (Corgi Books) Love is Blind by Kathy Lette (Black Swan) Wrong Time, Wrong Place by Simon Kernick (Arrow Books) A Dreadful Murder by Minette Walters (Pan Macmillan) A Sea Change by Veronica Henry (Orion Books) Doctor Who, The Silurian Gift by Mike Tucker (BBC Books) Since its launch in 2006, the Quick Reads initiative has loaned more than 3 million books through libraries and distributed over 4.3 million books through supermarkets, bookshops, workplaces and prisons. Quick Reads are great for using with our Six Book Challenge programme. Get involved Read the titles in a reading group using the reading group questions to guide your discussion of the Quick Reads titles. BBC Skillswise will also be featuring a Quick Read book for reading groups each month, starting with Today Everything Changes by Andy McNab in March. Get involved with Quick Reads online, using: Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheQuickReads Twitter: @Quick_Reads Use the Twitter hashtag: #quickreads. You can can also add a Quick Reads twibbon to your facebook and twitter profile pictures. Website: www.quickreads.org.uk Blog: thequickreads.blogspot.co.uk/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/quickreads/ You can use the Quick Reads 2013 ideas pack to get information about Quick Reads 2013 and suggestions for how to promote Quick Reads in your libraries. There is also a variety of learning resources produced by NIACE. http://readinggroups.org/news/quick-reads-2013-launches.html http://readinggroups.org/news/quick-reads-2013-launches.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 Anne Frank app launches for Holocaust Memorial Day One of the most celebrated books of all time, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, is launched as a richly immersive iPad and Nook app today. Sixty five years after it was first published by Anne's father, Otto Frank, the diary has been brought to life digitally for a new generation of readers and existing fans alike. We are honoured to be working on this project with Penguin. 4 young people involved in The Reading Agency's Reading Activists work were invited to an exclusive preview event in December where they got to test the app before anyone else! About the app The app has been created by Viking, Penguin, digital producers Beyond The Story and the Anne Frank Fonds Basel. Transforming the book from flat text into a fully immersive user experience, the entire diary text is enhanced by interactive, multimedia embedded content, relevant to where the reader is in the story. By simply tapping on a word, digital readers can explore Anne Frank's world through unprecedented historical context - video interviews, audio clips, archive images, education material and original illustrated features. This gives modern readers a greater sense of what living in hiding looked, sounded and felt like, and what, in turn, was happening outside the walls of the Secret Annexe where Anne spent two years before she and her family were betrayed to the Nazis. Features of the new app 21 video clips from Academy Award-winning documentary-maker Jon Blair, director of Anne Frank Remembered Over 40 audio clips, including commentary from Miep Gies, one of the helpers who risked her life to aid Anne and her family in hiding The full, definitive text - including the five missing pages discovered in 1998 -together with exclusive audio extracts read by Helena Bonham Carter Context-sensitive notes, historic documents and hand-drawn maps Specially commissioned introduction by Buddy Elias, Anne's first cousin and only living relative Translated facsimile pages from the original diary Dual timelines featuring family images from Anne's life before the war, historic wartime images from international archives and specialist commentary on key events Expertly curated themes and 'Story Trails' for a deeper, more in-depth reading experience Exclusive access to the archive of the Anne Frank Fonds, founded by Anne's father Otto Frank, including previously unreleased material Reviews of the app "Anne Frank has always been a great inspiration - she wanted to be an actress and would, I am sure, have been fabulous. She was acute, witty, a brilliant writer, a person with endless curiosity about other people and with a breathless energy that always makes me feel happy when I read her. Ironic but true." Emma Thompson, actress. "That the diary of a young person should have become one of the most enduring reminders of the darkest of times helps us to remember something else. That children never start wars, but if we listen carefully we will always hear their voices there." Morris Gleitzman, author. "I was about twelve when I first read the Diary of AnneFrank, a year or so younger than she was when she wrote it, and to me she seemed a bit like an older sister, gossipy, intimate, and direct. There was a voyeuristic thrill in reading about the details of her daily life, the tensions in her family which reminded me of my own family, especially her fraught relations with her older sister, the squabbles with the new arrivals, her secret romance, and of course her love of writing. She seemed so grown up and thoughtful in the way she reflected on everything around her, and on big questions like destiny and religion.Her disappearance and death are not in the diaries of course, and when I discovered the details they came as a terrible shock." Marina Lewycka, author. The Anne Frank app is available from the Apple App Store and Nook Store for £6.99. Extras A down-loadable reader's guide to this app will be available shortly. http://readinggroups.org/news/anne-frank-app-launches-for-holocaust-memorial-day.html http://readinggroups.org/news/anne-frank-app-launches-for-holocaust-memorial-day.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 9 libraries 100 books: reconnecting with libraries and their books We've just come across this lovely project 9 libraries 100 books being run by Natasha Pryce in association with Lambeth Libraries. 9 libraries and 100 books is an opportunity to fall back in love with libraries and their books. Natasha has taken up the challenge to read more and reconnect with libraries to make them an important part of her life once again. Until August 2013, she'll be reading the entire BBC's Big Read 100 Top list. For every title on the list, she'll visit one of the 9 libraries in her borough to borrow the books, blogging about her experiences along the way. As Natasha says '9 Libraries, 100 books' is less about reviews and instead focuses on rediscovering the wonder and magic that libraries and books hold for us. Natasha will also be reading selected books alongside special guests who are supporting the challenge. Read Ruth Gray's guest blog post about her visit to the CLR James Library in Dalston and borrowing On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Ruth is the editor of The Library Book (by Profile Books) which brings together some of our most outstanding writers who tell us all about how libraries are used, why they're important and describe libraries real or imagined. Get involved Watch out for Natasha's blog post on Reading Groups for Everyone in the New Year, where she'll be telling us more about the project and how she's getting on. You can keep up to date with her blog posts here. Take the challenge yourself or with your reading group and reconnect with your local library. Join 9 libraries and 100 books on Twitter and Facebook. Discover Lambeth Libraries. Find a reading group to join in Lambeth. http://readinggroups.org/news/9-libraries-100-books---reconnect-libraries-and-their-books.html http://readinggroups.org/news/9-libraries-100-books---reconnect-libraries-and-their-books.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 Launch of our Chatterbooks West Midlands school project We're really pleased to announce that we're working with Peters Bookselling Services and 10 West Midlands schools from Birmingham, Coventry and Worcestershire on a special children's reading groups' project. Together we'll be setting up 20 new Chatterbooks children's reading groups to encourage children's love of reading. The project will be especially targetted at children who don't think reading is for them. Running untill July 2013, the project helps more schools offer children the chance to be part of a lively reading group, and to assess the impact of this experience. We are running training sessions for schools on setting up and running children's reading groups, plus activity packs and support. The Centre for Applied Research in Psychology at Coventry University will be helping with the evaluation of the children's responses and changes in their reading skills and attitudes. All of this is being possible by the generous funding and support of Peters Bookselling Services. Our training day at Peters The project launched in October with a special training day at Peters in Birmingham for teachers from all the schools taking part, plus Worcestershire literacy advisers, and librarians from Coventry and Worcestershire School Library Services, who will be supporting the project with advice and resources. Participants spent the day planning together and sharing ideas for session activities, and went away keen to get going with their Chatterbooks reading clubs: 'A very good/useful course - can't wait to see how it develops in our school' 'I felt I could go away and start my own Chatterbooks group' Get involved If you would like to know more about the project please get in touch. Thinking of starting a Chatterbooks reading club in your school? Check out our training in January 2013 and our resources If you're already running a Chatterbooks reading club in your school, do get in touch, we'd love to hear your stories. http://readinggroups.org/chatterbooks/new-chatterbooks-project-with-west-midlands-schools-and-peters-bookselling-services.html http://readinggroups.org/chatterbooks/new-chatterbooks-project-with-west-midlands-schools-and-peters-bookselling-services.html Chatterbooks General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 The Wellcome Trust Book Prize shortlist announced The shortlist for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize 2012 has been announced. The full list, which includes three novels and three works of non-fiction, is as follows: The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates The Train in the Night by Nick Coleman Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif Perfect People by Peter James A Man of his Time by Rose Tremain Circulation by Thomas Wright This varied shortlist explores a range of themes from illness and the science of risk-taking through to the morality of genetic engineering and modern biology. Last year, a work of fiction won the prize for the first time with Alice LaPlante's Turn of Mind. The winner of the 2009 prize was Keeper by Andrea Gillies and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot won the 2010 award. The winner of the 2012 Wellcome Trust Book prize will be announced at the Wellcome Collection, London, on 7 November 2012. If your reading group or book club are reading any of the shortlisted titles, do tell us what by posting a comment below. http://readinggroups.org/news/the-wellcome-trust-book-prize---shortlist-announced.html http://readinggroups.org/news/the-wellcome-trust-book-prize---shortlist-announced.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 announces judging panel Now in its eighteenth year, the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 was set up to celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in writing by women throughout the world. Known from 1996 to 2012 as the Orange Prize for Fiction, it is the UK's most prestigious annual book award for fiction written by a woman and also provides a range of educational, literacy or research initiatives to support reading and writing. The judges for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 have been confirmed as: Miranda Richardson, (Chair), Actor Razia Iqbal, BBC Broadcaster and Journalist Rachel Johnson, Author, Editor and Journalist JoJo Moyes, Author Natasha Walter, Feminist Writer and Human Rights Activist "This is a new departure for me and I am honoured to be working with judges who combine fine minds with, I suspect, great good humour," commented Miranda Richardson. "I look forward to sharing with them the delights of finding new insights into our existence, through the unique voices of the women entering this year's competition. It will be rigorous, and hopefully, fun. It is an exciting responsibility and I very much look forward to beginning the journey." Set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote international fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible, the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 is awarded for the best novel of the year written by a woman. Any woman writing in English - whatever her nationality, country of residence, age or subject matter - is eligible. The winner will receive a cheque for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze figurine known as a 'Bessie', created and donated by the artist Grizel Niven. Both are anonymously endowed. The Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 will be awarded on June 5th at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London following a series of public events. Known as the Orange Prize for Fiction between 1996 and 2012, previous winners include Helen Dunmore for A Spell of Winter (1996), Anne Michaels for Fugitive Pieces (1997), Carol Shields for Larry's Party (1998), Suzanne Berne for A Crime in the Neighbourhood (1999), Linda Grant for When I Lived in Modern Times (2000), Kate Grenville for The Idea of Perfection (2001), Ann Patchett for Bel Canto (2002) Valerie Martin for Property (2003), Andrea Levy for Small Island (2004), Lionel Shriver for We Need to Talk about Kevin (2005), Zadie Smith for On Beauty (2006), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for Half of a Yellow Sun (2007), Rose Tremain for The Road Home (2008), Marilyn Robinson for Home (2009), Barbara Kingsolver for The Lacuna (2010), Téa Obreht for The Tiger's Wife (2011) and Madeline Miller for The Song of Achilles (2012). http://readinggroups.org/news/womens-prize-for-fiction-2013-announces-judging-panel.html http://readinggroups.org/news/womens-prize-for-fiction-2013-announces-judging-panel.html General News Wed, 22 May 2013 16:56:39 +0100 0