The Kate Greenaway Award 2013

First established in 1955 and named in honour of the 19th Century illustrator, the annual Kate Greenaway Medal is the UK's most prestigious prize for children's book illustration. Presented by CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), which also administers the Carnegie Medal, a list of past winners of the Greenaway is a pantheon of some of the most iconic names in British children's illustration. 
Bridget Strevens-Marzo considers this years shortlist.


The Kate Greenaway Award 2013 will be announced on June 19, 2013.

Jim Kay, winner of the 2012 CILIP Kate Greenaway Award, for his illustrations to A Monster Calls writes in his blog

"For me, illustration is all about making mistakes work for you. An illustration will never be ‘right’, but you do the best you can in the time you are given – a work of art is often a a continuous string of little accidents and problems that you fix as best you can. I beat myself up a lot about things going wrong while I’m working, it’s not necessarily an enjoyable process, but one that is still exciting because it is so unpredictable... Anyway, the important thing is to have a go, and not worry too much when things go wrong.” 

I think this is a great quote to set against the struggle we all have to ‘succeed’ at least in our own terms, if not in terms of a career, other people or a market. And talking of success, there’s the common quibble that the same names come up again and again in awards, and many haven’t had the recognition they deserved. I think it’s important to distinguish illustration contests (particularly where illustrators are asked to do unpaid on spec work), with awards for book illustration like the Kate Greenaway which selects one “book of outstanding artistic quality” rather than an illustrator or a style.

“The whole work should provide pleasure from a stimulating and satisfying visual experience.” 

See all the criteria here.

The judging process of both Carnegie and Kate Greenaway is a long serious business, explained in more detail in Nicki Schmidt’s informative W&P interview with Ferelith Hordon, Chair of the Carnegie Kate Greenaway (CKG) Judging Panel in 2011.  

What I hadn’t realize that the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway awards have some other important functions. They are getting kids all over the UK looking into the whole process of children’s books. This is thanks to its accompanying shadowing scheme, described by 2012's CILIP Carnegie Medal winner, Patrick Ness as:

"one of the very best things in the entire book world." 

Stanchester Community School Shadowing Group Fiesta en la Biblioteca Reading Club

Each year thousands of children and young people “shadow” the judging process, forming groups to read the shortlisted books, write reviews and debate which they think should win. In 2012 over 90,000 children took part. You can read reviews by kids of all ages across the UK here. A couple of kids' responses to illustrations caught my eye: 

“I thought the illustrations in this book were well worked on and all of the little details using paintbrushes were carefully drawn. Some frames were added by paint. The author made his pictures, the introduction and the conclusion stand out.” 

“the (younger) children thought that the book had been scribbled in, as the illustrations did not represent the animals...I didn't think that the drawing of the wolf was good as it represented a porcupine more than a wolf!" 

And there are illustrations too by children inspired by the books in the Greenaway Gallery. Giving troubled kids and reluctant readers the power to voice an opinion, away from the classroom and playground, is helping to get them into libraries, as these videos testify. 

Now to the Kate Greenaway 2013 shortlist itself:  If you’ve not had a chance to delve as deeply into the books as kids across the UK, you can cheat! Each shortlisted illustrator explains what their book is about here along with fascinating glimpses into their processes. Only Jon Klassen is missing, perhaps because he’s US based, but there's plenty about him on the internet. The “little string of accidents” is a common theme among them, as is the importance of drawing. 

Chris Haughton for example advises to keep drawing what you’re really interested in, and in his case it was “accidents”. That and the question ‘what if...’ is what led to Oh No George. 

In Emily Gravett’s case, she blew paint down a straw to create dragon flames, and burnt holes in paper as painting flames and holes didn’t work. 

Chris Mould prefers ball point pen to pencil, uses Tipp Ex pens and any cheap material at hand, even spray-paint for cars for get an even tone for example. 

Helen Oxenbury reverted to a style she’d used in the 1970s, watercolour and cross-hatching, says she uses different mediums – different styles – from one book to the next, as “it stops you getting bored”.  

Levi Pinfold starts off by making 10-30 thumbnails in a morning, say, which he’ll turn into a mini dummy. Only after he’s had proper feedback from his publisher , will he work on his final carefully-layered tempera paintings, and reminds himself when flagging that yes, all that work does matter because the final picture book might actually change somebody’s life in some way.  

Salvatore Rubbiano drew ducks from life in his sketchbook throughout the making of his book. Drawing he says helps to slow time – it’s visual food that feeds the imagination. Draw and ideas will happen. For the more complex compositions, he painted his watercolours over a lightbox with the layout in pencil underneath. Like Haughton and Gravett, he tweaked his final paintings on computer when necessary. 

All are worth looking at especially if you need reminding that you are not alone in your corner, struggling to convert your imagination into the materials and marks on paper. 


I’ll end with a comment from one of the judges in the CKG blog - yes, you can “peek inside the minds and musings of the Judges” themselves! 

“Apples and oranges there may be, but in the end we can still only pick one most outstanding apple or orange!” 

Let’s wish them luck! And if you want to make your own choice or have any author-illustorly comments about the shortlist, please fire away! 
______________________________________
Bridget Strevens-Marzo  
www.bridgetstrevens.com

INTERVIEW Elizabeth Wein: twenty years to overnight success

Candy Gourlay interviews Elizabeth Wein on the heady success of her novel Code Name Verity which was on the New York Times bestseller list and recently shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal ... among others.

Elizabeth was born in New York but lived in England, Jamaica and Pennsylvania when she was growing up. She has lived in Scotland for more than a decade. Her first five books for young adults are set in Arthurian Britain and sixth century Ethiopia. Her interest in flying is what sparked the idea for Code Name Verity. Website: www.elizabethwein.com Visit her blog.

It has been an amazing year for Elizabeth Wein, author of the much lauded Code Name Verity. In addition to the list in the sidebar below, Code Name Verity is also on over thirty 'Best of the Year' lists for 2012 including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore and the New York Times; it's also shortlisted for five regional awards here and in the United States. Huge congratulations, Elizabeth!

CODE NAME VERITY
Awards
Printz Honour
Golden Kite Honour
Boston Globe/Horn Book Award Honor Book
Booklist Best Audio Book 2012
Shortlists
Carnegie Medal
Crystal Kite Prize for Europe
UKLA Book Award
The Edgar
The L.A. Times Book Prize
The Scottish Children's Book Award
The Northeast Children's Book Award
The Goodreads Choice Awards
The Cybils

The total Code Name Verity tally is so ridiculously embarrassing that I try not to talk about it in public.

One of the really neat things that happened was making it onto the New York Times bestseller lists seven months after the book's release. Because all my other books had basically stopped selling by that long after their launch dates. It was the "Mock Printz" winner in eight library teen reading groups that I'm aware of. Those last ones aren't real awards, but it means a LOT to me to know that teens love it!

Did you know when you finished writing it that it was special?



Well, I posted on my blog that I was brain dead and that I'd just finished the Best Damn Book I'd Ever Written. I knew it was good but I really had no idea, no idea at all, how astonishing the reception would be.

So what's the count? How many years did it take to become an overnight success?


Twenty!

THE LION HUNTERS PENTALOGY

Hah! Jacqueline Wilson once said "It took me many years to become an overnight success."  How does it feel to be another Jacqueline Wilson?


I don't think I'm at Jacqueline Wilson status QUITE yet! In many ways I got lucky. The publisher can send a book to the NYTimes but they can't guarantee it'll get a reviewer to look at it.

A thing that's kind of bittersweet about the success is that it will never again be so surprising and new. Even if I write another book as good as CNV (and I have a lot of doubts about my ability to repeat that performance), it will never be a voyage of discovery like this year has been.

And also, the chances of ever topping this year or living up to it are pretty slim! Actually, if this had happened earlier in my career, I might expect it always to be this good, and I'd be heading for a fall.

As it is, I've had too many books quietly remaindered to allow me to fully let go of my somewhat jaundiced view of the publishing industry. But CNV has gone a long way toward making me put grudges behind me.

I've had too many books quietly remaindered to allow me to fully let go of my somewhat jaundiced view of the publishing industry.

Code Name Verity seems such a long way from your other Arthurian fantasy books ... what was the journey that led you to writing this book?

If you think of my other books as spy thrillers, which they are, it's not such a leap to make. I guess the main thing that propelled the change was that I desperately wanted my characters to be able to FLY! In the last published book of the Arthurian/Aksumite sequence, the main character, Telemakos, becomes a ship's pilot. I was totally aware of the pun.

I should probably explain that in 2003 I got my own private pilot's license, and it just made me want to write about flight!

OMG that's so cool ... What do you fly?



I learned to fly in Cessna 152s - two-seater fixed-wing training aircraft (piston engine). Lately I've been flying a Piper Warrior, which is slightly bigger (4 seats) and more comfortable - mainly I find I can see better in a Warrior. I also had trouble reaching the rudder pedals in the Cessna 172, which is the bigger version of the 152! ... and I flew a seaplane once! OK, I will stop before I lose everybody in the so-called "technical details."

When did you first join SCBWI and why? Were you already published or like so many of us unpublished and optimistic?


You know, I can't remember not knowing about the SCBWI. I have been a member since 1991 and I am sure I joined when I sold my first book, being unaware that I could join as an associate (that was The Winter Prince, published in 1993). I was living in Philadelphia and was part of the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter.

Basically, I just really wanted to meet other writers! It never occurred to me this would also be a good way to meet editors & agents.

Having said that, volunteering for the SCBWI led directly to my current agent and my long-time editor at my previous publisher. It's defnitely the most important professional move I ever made, though sometimes indirectly.

You've still got the same agent?  I imagine that the olden SCBWI British Isles used to be something of a support group for American expat children's writers?


For me it was a support group, but not all our original group were expats. Valerie Wilding, Ragnhild Scamell and Gus Smith were also members among the first group. I've been with my current agent, Ginger Clark, since 2001 or 2002. I did have another briefly before that, but never an agented book sale till Ginger came along!

Have you written the next book? I'll bet it's going to be hard!

It's done! It comes out in the UK on 3 June this year! Here's the Goodreads link, with the beautiful Canadian cover:

It was hard to write - it was like writing my "second book" all over again. But it's done. I had a deadline and a lot of pushing. And actually it's so unlike Code Name Verity that I don't think it'll suffer from "oh well this isn't as good as her last one." It is very, very different.

I have to write another one for 15 September. Blargh. That's actually one of the scary things about success - people want MORE and they want it FAST. And I find it's hard to keep the quality up to standard when I'm producing fast - also, I feel that there is a certain amount of magic missing from the process, for me as an artist.

I so agree! You called this year a voyage of discovery ... so, can you share with us what you have discovered?


I meant I was being discovered. The CILIP website has me listed as a "debut" author.



That's hilarious! ... When you compare CNV with your previous books can you pinpoint the thing you did differently, that special spark that made it a winner?


I don't think I did do things differently from my previous books. I still think The Sunbird is a perfect and beautiful book, the best I've written apart from Code Name Verity. But I do think that one of the big differences is the effect of the internet. One thing that did really amaze me is the power of bloggers, and the internet, and how easy it is to share enthusiasm for books and how easy it is for people to connect with authors.

In 2008, when The Empty Kingdom came out, I put together an online launch for it and it was such a new idea that I wrote an article about it for the SCBWI Bulletin (Open Invitation, Jan/Feb 2009).

By 2012, when Code Name Verity came out, it was pretty normal for people to celebrate book birthdays with lots of online reaching out.

Also, online reviews and book bloggers were just not as prevalent in 2008, and I think that Code Name  Verity's success owes a LOT to its enthusiastic reception by readers.

One thing that did really amaze me is the power of bloggers, and the internet

So in the grind of being a bestselling author (ha ha) how do you recapture the "magic"?



How do you recapture the magic... I don't know, I'm trying to figure it out. Take long walks! I get good ideas when I'm walking.

Celia Rees (author of Witch Child) famously tells unpublished authors they are not just writing a debut novel they should be trying to write a BREAKTHROUGH novel. That's what CNV is.


Code Name Verity is definitely and definitively a BREAKTHROUGH novel. But honestly, I didn't sit down and think, "I must write a breakthrough novel." (Actually, I thought The Sunbird would be my breakthrough novel.) I just thought, OMGOMG this is going to be a FREAKING AWESOME BOOK and I have to write it. And actually, I was kind of between publishers and considered myself lucky the new one didn't make me change my name for the fresh start.

Finally can you leave W&P readers some words of wisdom about making it and surviving your own success?


I haven't survived my success yet. Ask me again in September when the next book deadline comes up. I am riding a wave which may drown me.

But here are some words of wisdom:

HAVE FAITH. I have really prayed and prayed for grace - just the ability to accept whatever comes and to deal with it. And to not be envious, because that is just a killer thing. I struggle and struggle with it.

And to point out that CNV follows no rules. There aren't any rules. Don't try to second guess the market. Just write the best book you can. Write for YOURSELF.

Don't play Minesweeper. Stay off Twitter. Don't Google yourself.

Take long walks.

Don't forget to talk to people face to face.

USE EVERYTHING.

Thanks so much - and congratulations again. It's been fascinating, uplifting, and jealous-making all at the same time. May Code Name Verity continue to take you to great heights and may all the novels that follow continue to conjure the magic that keeps all of us at our keyboards.

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Candy Gourlay is the author of Tall Story. Her second novel Shine is out in September 2013. She blogs on Notes from the Slushpile.  www.candygourlay.com