Ten-Minute Blog Break - 4th November

I'm in a post-conference state of over-stimulated tiredness (if such a thing is possible), but have valiantly dragged myself to my Blog Break chair to summarise another week's worth of great blog posts. Please wake me up if I... zzzzzzzz.

What?! I was just resting my eyes, OK? Look, why don't you go and visit Sarah Broadley (who I met in real life for the first time at the weekend), because she's been super-efficient at blogging her thoughts about the SCBWI Conference.

Catherine Friess (who I somehow failed to meet at the conference) has a really useful post all about book-related advent calendars. If you're fed up with chocolate or Lego for the kids this year, why not try one of her ideas?

Ukip supporters should probably click with caution on Jane McLoughlin's latest blog post. Emboldened by a controversy in the comedy world, Jane examines the subject of diversity in society and her hopes for reflecting that in children's fiction.

November brings PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but we mustn't forget Inktober, the far more sensibly-named drawing challenge that spanned October. Claire O'Brien inked her way to a picture every day last month, and shares the results and her thoughts on the experience.

Bridget Strevens-Marzo hasn't blogged since March, but that's clearly because she's been busy obsessively repainting the cover for her next book! A perfectionist through and through, Bridget shares some artwork from Tiz and Ott's Big Draw and brings us up to speed on everything she's been doing. She certainly seems to have a lot of wall space and drawing pins to display all those roughs!

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Stew Magazine is looking for your help as it enters its second year - join the Kickstarter campaign.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 7th October

I'm not keen on doing research because I just want to get to the writing, even if that subsequently involves staring at a blank screen for hours! But the Blog Break forces me to do my research, because otherwise, what would I write about?

Hopefully, you read Sue Hyams' excellent W&P post last week all about research, and she's not the only SCBWI writer thinking about the subject. Dave Cousins turns in his own fascinating blog post for The Edge, taking us inside his unusual research methods (weather diaries anyone?) And I also have to give a mention to Mark Jones, who is getting very excited about drawing maps.

There's more useful stuff in the blog post Sheila Averbuch has written, summarising SCBWI SE Scotland's session on getting the best from a critique. Critique can be hard for any writer, so do yourself a favour and learn some new coping strategies from Shelia's post.

Sadly, my dream job of ice-cream-powered spaceship pilot has yet to come up, but fortunately Layn Marlow is having more luck. Not with dairy-propelled interstellar vehicles, but rather a job illustrating the website of much-loved author Dick King Smith. Layn blogs about the opportunity and shares some of her sketches.

It's great to welcome Jane McLoughlin back to the Blog Break with her brand new blog, after what she describes as "a major Blogger mishap involving malware and dodgy addresses and other befuddling and frightening things". Jane picks up the TGFW (Thank God For Writing) baton that I mentioned a few months back and talks about the power (and pitfalls) of escaping into your own imaginary world.

After all that reading, here's a post that's mostly pictures! Candy Gourlay is just back from an incredible school tour on behalf of the Siobhan Dowd Trust and Authors for the Philippines, and she shares her vivid experiences.

There have been so many great posts this week that I've gone way over my self-imposed five link limit. But I just loved Vanessa Harbour's sage advice on redrafting and the marvelous title of her post: Are you STILL writing that book?

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine (September issue out now).

Nick's most recent blog post takes a look back at a year of Stew Magazine stories and teases out the common threads that bind them. What's the Story?

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 29th April

What does it take to get a book published? Is it simply a matter of persistence and luck? Can we writers/illustrators influence the process at all, or should we just get out of the way and let the gatekeepers decide?


These are the questions that the first of today's Blog Break selections had me pondering. Mike Brownlow's Ten Little Pirates has been a great success, yet it came very close to not happening at all. Mike's candid and fascinating article is the first of two great posts from Picture Book Den this week. The second comes from our Regional Adviser Natascha Biebow, who shows us Ten Really Cool Picture Book Openings.

Sam Zuppardi is pursuing a rather different project than children's books at the moment, illustrating the pieces for a board game called Stormy Weather. It looks like a lot of fun, and in an attempt to get you to stump up for the Kickstarter campaign, Sam has been posting his illustrations of various weather-controlling machines. Check out The Light Sharpener, The Thunderiser and The Solar Wind Tunnel.

I mentioned Patrons of Reading last week, and Jane McLoughlin has just become one! Her first duty for Kincorth Academy in Aberdeen has been to write the foreword for an anthology of pupils' work, and she shares those inspiring words on her blog.

The writing process blog tour is unstoppable. It cannot be stopped, I tell you, until it has consumed every creative person with a Blogger or Wordpress account! This week's poor unsuspecting innocents are Maureen Lynas, K.M. Lockwood and (making his Blog Break debut) James Nicol. Thankfully, someone had the good sense to tag Mark Jones, who tries his best to make the blog tour implode by writing his entire entry in the persona of a "crazy mutant shrub."

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is a former Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine.

Nick's life as an author is filled with ups and downs, so he made a graph of them! Ride The Roller Coaster of Writerly Emotion.

Conference Blog Break

Thanks to everyone who has told me about their SCBWI-BI conference blog posts so far. I'm happy to keep this post updated over the next few days, so do send me a link to whoatemybrain-conference@yahoo.com.


Addy Farmer was first out of the gate with a poignant photo of her front car seat. You'll have to read her blog to find out the significance of that!

My offering brought together Playmobil, drug-smuggling camels and general showing off. Mel Rogerson, on the other hand, failed in her attempt to "take stacks of photos, say hi to everyone I knew and get a decent amount of sleep." She has, however, found time to write a list of the five things she brought home from the conference.

Ever one for the grand gesture, our conference party co-host Jane McLoughlin takes Mel's list and doubles it, finding ten reasons to love the SCBWI conference. Meanwhile, K.M. Lockwood's post celebrates the "mad, wonderful thing we do" (which in her case is wear a lot of purple and a rather fetching hat).

However, even Madam Lockwood's outfit for the conference party was trumped by George Kirk's dress, which was made out of recycled men's ties! George contributes one of the most uplifting posts, as she blogs about losing heart and finding it again, all thanks to the SCBWI conference. Awww.

Finally, Celia J. Anderson just sneaked under the deadline by fifteen minutes with this blog. Celia, I'm very impressed you manage to post this, even though your brain was threatening to implode!

That's it for now on the conference, but I can't resist mentioning a snippet of non-Winchester news. My near namesake Nick Cook has finally signed a deal for his Cloud Riders book series, after an epic quest across time and space to the outer reaches of publishing. Although Three Hares Publishing are brand new, Nick thinks that they "will be a force to be reckoned with." I'm sure fellow SCBWI member Christina Banach is hoping the same thing, as her debut novel has also been acquired by Three Hares. Well done to both!

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.

Nick's already mentioned his blog post, so he's going to use this space to give big congratulations to Words & Pictures Editor Jan Carr on winning the OCA!

Conference Goers - All a Twitter

David Richardson

There will be reviews and articles from the SCBWI Winchester Conference on the Words & Pictures blog over the next week. But to give us an early flavour of the events of the weekend, here is a compilation of some of the tweets from eager and happy conference goers.



Of course, there’s so much to do even before the conference starts. As noted by Molly Ker Hawn ‏@mollykh. ‘Frantically trying to finish a dozen things before I leave for #scbwicon. Tick tock...’ she tweeted on Friday.

Meanwhile Maureen Lynas‏ @MaureenLynas was ‘Enjoying a lovely rail journey on the way to the  SCBWI_BIconference in Winchester." Although there was a 20 minute delay!

Friday Night Pizza

Sheila Averbuch noted, the conference is an ‘Incredible opportunity to meet agents and editors in children's publishing.’

It all begins with the Friday night meal, and this time Friday night was Pizza night! “Half of us! Pizza chaos. Actually very orderly really thanks to the amazing @julietclarebell”.

Incredible opportunity to meet agents and editors

As regards the various sessions to help writers and illustrators, Jane Hardstaff‏@JaneHardstaff4htwitted “Excellent workshop by @MostlyReading and @CRALP'45% of new discoveries are made by word of mouth, bookshops and school visits.'”

Here are a couple of agent wish lists – thanks to Emma Greenwood.

First: Agent @mollykh#wishlist is contemp UK romance, cults, WW1, MG with strong literary and funny voice, narrative non-fiction.  

Second: Comm Ed Random House Natalie Doherty #wishlist - sinister ghost story beautifully written, genuinely funny MG. No direct queries.

The ‘Best thing about the conference,’ according to Miriam Craig is ‘meeting so many people all obsessed with reading and writing’.

Two titbits from the Malorie Blackman session. Miriam H Craig‏@miriamhcraigsaid: “For Malorie Blackman the plot comes first in development of story, but she spends the most *time* on the characters.”

And Emma Greenwood reported that Malorie said 'Write from the heart. Sell from the head'.

Malorie said 'Write from the heart

Eventually, Sunday comes and it’s time for reflection. For some, it is as tweeted by Nicky Schmidt‏@NickySchmidt14h. "@miriamhcraig: Shattered!" The conference does that! Hope you had fun! #scbwicon.

Or you may feel as did Dave Cousins when he said ‘I always thought sleep was over rated anyway!’

Gemma Cooper tweeted: Such a fantastic weekend at #scbwicon - Thanks to all the @SCBWI_BImembers for being so friendly and welcoming (as always)

There were other thanks too:-  Thanks to @JoWyton@Abbietheauthorand many other brilliant volunteers for such a fantastic & inspriring @SCBWI_BIconference by Jane McLoughlin‏@JBMcLoughlin2h.

Congratulations & ENORMOUS thanks to Natascha Biebow, 15 years British Isles RA. Wonderful dedication! We're so lucky to have her! #scbwicon.

Keep a looking out for more from the Conference on Words & Pictures!

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David is working hard on his next project while awaiting the UV 2014 long list announcement. He helps with the London Professional Series Events for SCBWI and is Words & Pictures' Events Editor. In his spare time he works as an adult tutor.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 12th November

Due to a scheduling mix-up on my part, we came about this close to not having a Blog Break this week. But it's OK, because no-one needs to know. Oh, wait - did I just say that out loud?



Continuing the comics theme from last week, Dawn Finch came up with this gem of a post. As both an author, librarian and owner of a cat named after a comic(!), Dawn puts the world to rights about graphic literature and its power as a "gateway drug" to lifelong reading.

Lorraine Gregory's latest post comes with a clear disclaimer: "the author accepts no responsibility for any harm that comes to you or others through using these techniques." What techniques are these? Well, Lorraine has developed a range of philosophies that writers can adopt to make their lives easier. Are you Superstitious Extremus or Optimism Overloadus? Find out here.

Jane McLoughlin's been practising her "no marking" dance this week. That's because, as an ex-teacher, when she goes to a school nowadays she doesn't have to judge the students, just enjoy their company. That's why she's blogging In Praise of Author Visits.

Writing a book without words sounds hard enough, but telling a wordless story about domestic violence for a special needs publisher would be way beyond my skill set. Fortunately, Anne-Marie Perks is more than up to the job, and her Big Little Tales post gives us a window on a creative process that is unusual, fascinating and rewarding.

Finally, Mark Jones is at it again, and as usual I've no idea if he is a genius or just a bloke in a hat who should get out more. But if you've ever wondered where awesome ideas come from and how to have more of them, Mark's your man. Probably.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.

This week on his blog, Nick outlined his Achievement Points system for making rejection fun! (OK, almost fun)

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 16th July

After me complaining last week that there wasn't enough new blog content, suddenly there's too much! Still, as problems go, it's definitely one I can live with...



Nicky Schmidt has popped out of her foxhole to write a blog this week, and the results are as invaluable as ever. Following up on her earlier posts about brands and author platforms, she takes a sharp look at the use of social media for author marketing. Are those tweets actually reaching your readers, or are you simply hanging out with your friends and calling it work?

You may think that dystopian is dead, and the end of the world is so over, but nobody seems to have told the readers that. On the Demention blog, Claire Merle highlights an annual blogging event called Dystopian Domination, which is into its 4th year and showing no signs of running out of steam. We may all be going to die, but at least dystopian fiction has a bright future!

Jane Clarke is blogging this week about a phenomenon she calls DARN-it-dipity. This not-at-all-made-up word describes the awful sensation you feel when you come up with a fabulous new concept, only to discover that someone else has beaten you to it. It's perhaps most acute for picture book authors, who have to think up very bold and simply-rendered story ideas, but I'll bet there's quite a few high-concept novelists who've fallen foul of it too.

With Undiscovered Voices 2014 open for submissions, it's great to hear from some former winners. Sharon Jones's debut novel Dead Jealous has just been published by Orchard, so Sharon is sharing a blog post with her agent Jenny Savill to tell us how Undiscovered Voices literally changed her life. Meanwhile, Jane McLoughlin (one of the 2010 winners) reflects on life a year after the publication of her debut At Yellow Lake. Bruised by the closure of the Frances Lincoln children's fiction list, Jane nonetheless finds room for optimism in this tough writing life.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round digital guru. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.
For his latest blog post, Nick considers whether it's a case of Bang Goes the Story for popular cinema, and how children's books should react to the trend towards ever-bigger spectacle.

Undiscovered Voices: Changing Lives

By Nicky Schmidt

One of the “Big Events” on the SCBWI-BI calendar is the biennial Undiscovered Voices competition. Offering unpublished and un-agented UK and European SCBWI members a unique window of opportunity, the competition is the proverbial golden carrot of dreams and hope dangling before a writer’s nose. And if you’re wondering why, then, very simply put, being an Undiscovered Voices winner can be a life-changing experience.


I spoke to three authors, Bryony Pearce, Dave Cousins and Jane McLoughlin, to find out how winning Undiscovered Voices has changed their lives.

What made you decide to enter Undiscovered Voices – and did you harbour any secret hopes and dreams?

My final decision to enter was driven by a combination of hope and laissez-faire. I had a completed manuscript (Windrunner's Daughter) and nothing to lose. I really wasn't expecting to win, just hoping that maybe someone, somewhere would like it and that they might remember my name if and when I decided to submit to publishers. 

Secret dreams? Certainly. Hopes? Not a chance! For years I’d been getting up at 5am to do an hour’s writing before work, but never produced anything I was happy with. However, my wife had read an early draft of 15 Days Without a Head and she persuaded me to send it to Undiscovered Voices. I have much to thank her for!

Luckily, I had just shown my manuscript At Yellow Lake to a literary consultant who suggested it might be suitable for the competition. I don’t know if I harboured any secret hopes or dreams, but I remember thinking that an honourable mention would be pretty good...

How did it feel when you discovered you were one of the Undiscovered Voices?

I was utterly shocked and completely delighted. Sara O-Connor called and left a message to call her back. I had no idea who she was (not being an SCBWI member at the time) and her message hadn't mentioned Undiscovered Voices, so when I finally got hold of her we had a moment where I had no idea what she was talking about. When it finally hit home I was over the moon. To go from outright rejection to winning a competition was a huge step. It felt like going from nothing to everything. It was amazing.

Surreal – especially when I started to receive emails from agents and editors! But I don’t think I truly believed it, until I had a copy of the anthology in my hands, and saw the story in print.

At first I was confused. Sara Grant left a message on my answering machine, and I couldn’t figure out why my sister-in-law in the USA would be calling me about At Yellow Lake. The similarity in their accents is uncanny! Once I realised who it actually was, and why she was calling, the excitement set in.

Once your piece appeared in the UV Anthology and the launch party took place, what happened?

I had two swift offers from agents. One from one of the judges and one from an agent who had read it as a result of the win. I had to choose between the two - it was a difficult decision. Then I had to rewrite Windrunner as my agent wanted many changes. Finally it was sent to publishers ... and rejected. A lot.

In the meantime I was developing close friendships with some of the other winners, and keeping up with their own news. Sarwat Chadda, in particular, landed a huge book deal for his Undiscovered Voices entry and it was both inspirational and a little depressing - why was mine getting rejections, while his was getting snatched up?

I decided to take a break from being rejected and write another book. This novel, Angel's Fury, was bought by Egmont in 2009 and published in 2011. My next book, The Weight of Souls will be published by Strange Chemistry in August and Windrunner's Daughter has had a total rewrite and is going back out to publishers this year.

Angel's Fury was long-listed for the Branford Boase, won the Leeds Book Award and has been shortlisted for the Cheshire Schools Book Award. 

Things are great.

That year, the judges were allowed to contact the winners straight away, so by the time the anthology appeared, I had already signed with my agent Sarah Manson.

At the start of the launch party, all the selected authors were fairly terrified I think, but the two Sara’s (Grant and O’Connor) were brilliant, introducing us to agents and editors. In the end, I had a great time. It was incredible having respected industry professionals coming up and saying nice things about the story.

Afterwards, a number of publishers contacted Sarah, asking to see the full manuscript. While it was tempting to send it off straight away, there were sections I still wasn’t happy with, so we waited. I rewrote the second half completely and then did a couple of full edits with Sarah until we both felt that the story was a strong as it could be. Only then, did she send it out.

Waiting to hear was like endless Christmas Eves! Then, after all the years of typing and dreaming, everything happened really fast – offers, meetings with editors – and then I had to choose!

By the time of the launch, At Yellow Lake had already been turned down by several agents who’d asked to see a full manuscript, so I wasn’t feeling too confident. But the launch itself turned out to be much more auspicious than I could have imagined, as I met my wonderful editors who really understood what I was trying to say with the book. I have to add, though, that it was many, many months, before I actually signed a deal with Frances Lincoln, and I didn’t sign with my agent until after I signed the deal. Not a straightforward journey, by any means, but a very exciting one!

How do you feel your life changed by being an Undiscovered Voice?

The obvious change would be getting an agent. Getting off that slush pile and onto the first rung of the ladder was a huge step that would have taken so much longer without SBCWI and Undiscovered Voices. Also it was a giant confidence boost. I hadn't shown my work to anyone at that point (except Cornerstones) and having a competition win was enough of a boost to make me feel as if I had a talent worth nurturing and to brave those publishers. 

To say that being an Undiscovered Voices author changed my life is no exaggeration. The story I entered – 15 Days Without a Head – is now being published in nine different languages across the world, and I’ve been a full-time author for two years. I am currently working on my third and fourth books for Oxford University Press, and I spend my days writing, visiting schools, libraries and book festivals all over the country. Most mornings when I sit down at my desk, I pinch myself, because I still can’t quite believe that this is my job – all thanks to Undiscovered Voices.

For me, being included in the anthology led directly to being published and signing with a wonderful agent. That’s the good, life-changing, news. The very good (and life-changing) news is that by being included in UV2010 I was introduced to my fellow anthology writers, who have become great friends and have been a continuous source of support since the initial launch in 2010. This has probably been the best thing about being a UV writer for me.

Finally, what would you say to a writer considering entering UV? Why should they do it, how should they prepare, and what might they expect?

 

Preparation is important. I worked on those 2000 words until I couldn't see any more improvements to make, because I figured everyone else would be doing the same thing. Apart from that I'd say, what have you got to lose? The worst thing that can happen is you don't win. The Sara's won't come round to your house with big sticks and beat you until you promise not to write another word. In fact even if you don't win, you might find you get short-listed in which case at least some of the judges liked your work. 

Enter because it's the first step to getting your manuscript out of your bottom drawer, enter because it's brave, enter because you are a writer and writers need their work to be seen. And enter because you might win.

And if you win, what can you expect? Your work in print for the first time, a boost out of the slushpile, the start of your career, a party and hopefully some lifelong friendships. 

Do it! What have you got to lose? I didn’t think I’d be selected, and could easily have decided not to enter, but look what happened – dreams can come true!

How to prepare? Read last year’s anthology – look at the quality of the writing and storytelling. Then, get your extract as strong as it can be. When you reach the editing/crafting stage, I find that reading out loud can help to identify sentences that need tightening, stilted dialogue, and anything else that isn’t quite working.

It is also important to be honest in your writing. Don’t try to write what you think the judges want. Tell your story, your way, and you have a chance of producing something original.

Finally, send in your entry, then forget about it and keep writing.

And if you get the call to say you’ve been ‘discovered’…hold on tight and enjoy the ride!

Good luck!

There’s no reason NOT to enter, if you’re sure that your work is ready—meaning your MS is complete and is as good as you can possibly make it. We are so fortunate to have this opportunity in the UK, and the anthology commands an amazing degree of respect, so go for it!

If you should be one of the lucky writers included in the UV2014 anthology, be prepared for a wonderful, heady experience! Of course not every writer’s road to publication or success is trouble-free or straightforward (mine hasn’t been—and still isn’t!) Not everyone will get an agent or a deal at the outset — for some it may take years. It’s important to remember, though, that being included or shortlisted for the anthology is probably the best writing credit a UK based children’s writer can have on his or her CV, and nothing can ever take that away!

So, there you go - life changing experiences really do happen! And if you want to be agented and published, here’s YOUR opportunity. If you’re a SCBWI member in good standing and reside in the UK or one of the current 27 countries of the EU, 4 European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, or 5 candidate countries, enter Undiscovered Voices 2014.

GOOD LUCK!

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For more information about Undiscovered Voices, and how to enter, please visit the Undiscovered Voices website.

To learn more about Bryony, Dave and Jane, and their respective novels, please visit their websites:

Bryony Pearce  – 2008 UV winner and author of award winning Angel’s Fury and soon to be published The Weight of Souls

Dave Cousins  – 2010 UV winner and author of award winning 15 Days Without a Head and Waiting for Gonzo

Jane McLoughlin  – 2010 UV winner and author of award-nominated At Yellow Lake

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As well as being a regular feature writer for Words & Pictures, Nicky also runs the SCBWI_BI YA E-Critique group.  She blogs at Absolute Vanilla

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 9th April

Heavens, has another week gone past? I'm really glad all of our clever Scoobies have been blogging so hard this week, because it gives me plenty to talk about. So without further ado...



In the world of children's writing, we men often feel like an endangered species, so it's good that Mark Jones is joining me to bring up the testosterone levels (a bit). A self-styled Book Monkey, Mark has fearlessly continued his Amazing Writing Advice column this week, covering the tricky subject of book translations and how to do them on the cheap using Babelfish (I can only hope that his rampant xenophobia is meant to be ironic, or I'll have our illustrious Words & Pictures editor chasing me with a very large red pen). Mark's ramshackle advice is both useless and hilarious, and you can read the entire series by clicking here. Look out for the genius idea that is Game of Phones and find some simple but foolproof tips for increasing your word count (sample advice: "Make one of the characters a teenage girl. They never shut up.")

Not content with hogging the limelight a fortnight ago, Sally Poyton is at it again, starting a brand new group blog called Space on the Bookshelf. Together with fellow SCBWI members Jo Wyton and Nicki Thornton, Sally is looking to create a niche in the crowded world of children's book blogging, by offering in-depth coverage on each book via a range of perspectives. The first selection is My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish by SCBWI-BI's very own Mo O'Hara, and it receives reviews by the site bloggers and also by a real live child (who contributes some fetching drawings). In addition, Space on the Bookshelf offers interviews with Mo and her editor at Macmillan Books, as well as an innovative Spotlight on Writing feature that analyses the book from a children's writer's perspective.

In general, writers have been making a lot of noise this week, none more so than Jane McLoughlin (and if you've met her, you'll know that that's not an insult!). Over a couple of posts, Jane has been telling the alternately sad, bizarre and hilarious story of why she stopped writing for five years and how she started again. But our SCBWI illustrators have also been beavering away quietly in the background - our featured illustrator Bridget Strevens-Marzo gives us a whirlwind round-up of her recent projects, Trish Philips shows us step-by-step how she created a stunning mixed media artwork, and Sam Zuppardi (another man, hooray!) has found something very nasty living in the wallpaper.

Elsewhere, it's been a sombre couple of weeks for the arts, with a raft of much-loved people passing away, including brilliant actor Richard Griffiths and quintessential American film critic Roger Ebert. Like many others, I was greatly shocked by the news that author Iain Banks is "officially Very Poorly" with terminal cancer. Banks is one of our greatest living novelists - let's hope this advance notice will give us the chance to celebrate that fact before it's too late.

Nick.

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Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round digital guru. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.

Read Nick's latest blog post on The Art of Transgression.

Carnegie Nominees, SCBWI Salutes You!

Dave Cousins

The Cilip Carnegie Medal is perhaps the most coveted prize in children's fiction. Awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Previous winners read like a roll call of the best stocked library: Meg Rossoff, Patrick Ness, Neil Gaiman, Mal Peet, Frank Cotterell Boyce, Siobhan Dowd. It sits alongside the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration as an acknowledgement of success to be yearned for. To be longlisted for the Carnegie Medal is an honour, a moment in your writing career to treasure.

Elizabeth Wein

 SCBWI's Dave Cousins' 15 Days Without A Head , Jane Mcloughlin's At Yellow Lake, and Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity all made the longlist for 2013. Huge congratulations to all three of them for such a fantastic achievement and an extra loud round of applause for Elizabeth Wein.

 Elizabeth is the author of The Winter Prince and The Lion Hunter series, set in Arthurian Britain and ancient Ethiopia. Her most recent novel for teens, Code Name Verity, is a World War II story about the unbreakable friendship between an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot and a Special Operations Executive spy. Code Name Verity is on UKLA Book Award Short List the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award Short List and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Short List! This wonderful book has also won the ALA Printz Award Honor Book and the SCBWI Golden Kite Award Honor Book as well as being and Edgar Award Nominee AND, it hit the New York Times Bestseller List for three weeks in January February of this year. In addition to all that, drum roll please.... Code Name Verity has now been SHORTLISTED for the CILIP Carnegie Medal!

Jane Mcloughlin

 I’ll give you one second to get your breath back before I tell you, unsurprisingly, foreign rights for translation of Code Name Verity have just been announced in Publisher's Marketplace for sales to the Netherlands (at auction!), Italy, Sweden, Turkey, in addition to complex and simplified Chinese. A Spanish edition is out this month.
 Dave Cousins, Jane Mcloughlin and Elizabeth Wein, SCBWI salutes you!
May you go on to more and more success. Don't miss Candy Gourlay's interview with Elizabeth Wein.