She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book empire – is down a winding staircase, in the cellar of her grand white house in Steyning, West Sussex. Her desk looks out on the street at knee height. “I’m thinking of writing a book about legs,” Donaldson said, as she showed me around the house this summer. Children from the nearby school often wave in at her as they pass. Donaldson is well known in Steyning, due to her frequent signings at the local bookshop. She and her husband, Malcolm, a retired paediatrician, recently bought the local post office to save it from closure. But elsewhere she can walk the pavement without being recognised. “I got a letter the other day for Jacqueline Wilson,” Donaldson told me. “It said: ‘You’re my favourite author!’”If you are not someone who spends much time with young children, you may only be dimly aware of Donaldson’s work – although you will probably be familiar with her most famous creation, the Gruffalo. If you have children, however, you will know her as a cultural juggernaut whose influence among children is perhaps only surpassed by the works of Disney and CBeebies. Donaldson, who is 72, has written more than 210 books: chiefly picture books, but also poetry, plays, a 60-part phonics... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#local bookshop
#jacqueline wilson
#favourite author
#famous creation
#picture book
The New-York Historical Society award goes to a study of fractures in American society a year after Pearl Harbor, which resonates amid the pandemic today. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-03-15 16:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#history book
#pandemic today
#pearl harbor
#american society
Watch author Viet Thanh Nguyen talk about "The Committed" at the L.A. Times Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-03-11 00:19:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#times book
Unless you’re a disgraced politician, trying to get a book published can be difficult, nerve-wracking, soul-denting work. If you’re anything like me, though, it really helps to hear that rejection is the rule in the publishing industry, rather than the exception. When my novel was out on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-10 17:04:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#book published
#publishing industry
#james patterson
His best-selling 1961 children’s book, about a bored and bewildered boy named Milo, was considered an instant classic. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-09 16:41:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#instant classic
#phantom tollbooth
#norton juster
If you were listening in to our Global Publishing Summit on February 24-26, you’re probably still processing the wealth of insights, tips and strategies shared by all the speakers we heard from over the course of the summit. If you weren’t able to attend, fear not: we’re here to distill the key... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2021-03-08 05:01:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#publishing summit
Short, fun erotic short stories that will leave you wanting more! Check out the best erotic short stories that you need to pick ASAP. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-03-05 11:35:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#short stories
When I left the publishing industry at the end of 2007, the first Kindle had gone on sale just a month earlier, Apple had not yet launched the iPad and few people in publishing knew what an app was. It was a very different world. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-05 11:09:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#publishing industry
#kindle
#tough times
While Nielsen says reading declined 'slightly' in the pandemic year, the UK's World Book Day emphasis is on family reading with youngsters. The post The UK/Ireland World Book Day Emphasizes Family Reading appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-03-04 13:37:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#world book
#nielsen
#pandemic year
The National Literacy Trust and the Premier League are teaming up to distribute nearly 25,000 books to five to 11-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds this World Book Day, Thursday (4th March). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-02 18:07:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#world book
#disadvantaged backgrounds
#premier league
The awards recognize outstanding literary achievements in 12 categories, including the Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, with winners to be announced April 16. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-03-02 15:00:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#times book
#science fiction
#akwaeke emezi
#isabel wilkerson
Anyone shocked by the cancellation of six Dr. Seuss books hasn’t been paying attention. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-02 06:26:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#dr. seuss
#paying attention
There’s something thrilling about watching a movie or a TV show and finding that you recognize the characters’ surroundings— that you have stood on that street corner or peered into that shop before the characters, before that story begins. As someone who has been basically nowhere, I find it... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-26 20:13:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#bookstore
#story begins
#tv show
Writing duo Whitney Phillips and Ryan M. Milner negotiate how funny writing should be in an unfunny time. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-26 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#funny writing
#dark times
Cameron Williams, a former staffer at Chattanooga Public Library and a local Black Lives Matter activist, has been fired from his library job three months after being accused of “improperly” burning books written by Donald Trump and Ann Coulter. In December, as the Chattanooga Times Free Press... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-17 17:26:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#books written
#free time
With 2021 well underway, Publishers Weekly spoke with the heads of several children’s publishing divisions to see how the industry weathered the storm of last year, and to discuss what comes next in the midst of persistent uncertainty. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#publishers weekly
#publishing divisions
The Klaus Flugge Prize, awarded to the "most promising and exciting newcomer" in children’s picture book illustration, has longlisted 20 books from illustrators whose debuts span friendship, love, family, the natural world and tales of daring. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-11 05:20:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#picture book
One issue that causes the most stress for many employees, including those in the publishing industry, is the dread of simply arriving at work. Far too many people know they will face a negative atmosphere the moment they walk (or rather Zoom) into their workspace. The job we are employed to do... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-09 15:02:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#publishing industry
Didion’s writing has often revealed what was previously hidden, parsed what was unconscious. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-09 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#joan didion
In his new memoir, “Gay Bar,” Jeremy Atherton Lin documents his personal history and the history of queer identity by exploring gay bars around the world. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-09 10:00:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#memoir
#queer identity
#personal history
There’s so much contemporary fiction released every day, it’s hard to keep track—and it’s hard to know which works will still be remembered in a year and which will slip into obscurity. Luckily, we have George Saunders to guide us. In an interview with Los Angeles Review of Books, Saunders was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-05 16:37:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with:
#short stories
#george saunders