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 ]
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Andrew Hunter Murray was out walking when an image occurred to him: a still Earth, half in light, half in darkness, no longer rotating. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-27 04:30:33 UTC ]
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Two recently published and appealingly idiosyncratic memoirs reflect this week’s autumnal spirit. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-25 14:00:00 UTC ]
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HBO's status as a skillful producer of African American-themed material will continue to rise after the release of 'Between the World and Me,' the cinematic adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates's 2015 NBA-winning work of nonfiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-25 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Eileen Robinson and Move Books are inspiring middle graders to find joy in reading through diverse characters and exciting stories. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-23 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Lauren Williams, the website’s editor in chief, is also leaving. The departures come against a backdrop of change in the digital media business. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-11-20 21:04:29 UTC ]
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Research shows action is needed to get more kids reading for pleasure – especially those from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2020-11-20 16:53:51 UTC ]
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The incoming president of the Association of Rural & Small Libraries argues that Covid-19 has shown us the urgent need for a national broadband strategy and a more equitable, sustainable digital library market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Rupert Murdoch's media giant News Corp has made a bid for Simon & Schuster, according to a report in the New York Times. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 08:28:03 UTC ]
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Mike Gayle’s Half A World Away (Hodder & Stoughton, 2019) has been optioned for television by Genesius Pictures and Tantrum Films with actress Michelle Collins attached. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-17 04:01:47 UTC ]
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Printed book sales plunge in first six months of 2020 on back of shop and school closuresSee all our coronavirus coverageSales of digital books by British publishers are set to hit an all-time high this year as the public turns to reading to escape pandemic cabin fever.However, the ebook and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-14 07:00:02 UTC ]
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Scholars explore the questions of law, past and present, raised by the hit musical. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-13 13:00:00 UTC ]
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As Covid-19 cases surge, librarians are putting safety first and finding a path forward. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-13 05:00:00 UTC ]
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According to UK study, just 5% of children’s books have black, Asian or minority ethnic protagonists – a small improvement from 1% in 2017Two years after the stark revelation that only 1% of British children’s books featured a main character who was black, Asian or minority ethnic, the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-11 00:01:23 UTC ]
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2020 WORKED HARD to be one of the worst years in recent memory, but for readers of Native American literature, this era is proving to be among the most exciting in the history of Indigenous writing, especially for poetry. To wit: Joy Harjo has just begun her second term as poet laureate of the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-11-09 18:00:17 UTC ]
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Like many of you, last week was spent with interrupted sleep, a constant eye on US news channels and fingers crossed. This weekend brought with it the news that, subject to legal challenge, Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States. Putting the politics briefly to one side,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-09 05:21:20 UTC ]
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Following its its success in the US, the ethical platform Bookshop.org has arrived in the UK, marking an exciting new chapter for independent stores onlineIn publishing we often talk about things that we are “excited” and “delighted” about, so much that sometimes I think the words have lost... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-05 08:00:40 UTC ]
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Italy's bookstores are allowed to operate amid COVID-19 restrictions, and Guadalajara becomes UNESCO's World Book Capital for 2022. The post Industry Notes: Italian Bookstores Stay Open, Guadalajara Named World Book Capital appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-11-04 20:25:38 UTC ]
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“Paul and Bunny Mellon: Visual Biographies - The Trompe l’Oeil Paintings at Oak Spring, Virginia” explores two paintings that reveal a great deal about their owners. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-02 13:00:00 UTC ]
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In her first novel published in 14 years, author Julia Alvarez explores grief, isolation, and sisterhood. Afterlife follows Antonia, a writer and retiring English professor, who has just lost her husband Sam. As she reimagines what her life will be without her husband, Antonia also struggles... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-11-02 12:00:33 UTC ]
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