Posted on February 2, 2009 - by MG
‘Invisible City’ shortlisted for Leeds Children’s Book Award
Hurray for being shortlisted for a book award! Very exciting. Now those schoolchildren in Leeds have to read all the shortlisted books and do thinks and do discussion and do presentation skills and learning stuff like that. Mmm, good stuff, all very educational. As Benicio would say – Excelente. Actually he’d more likely say chiiiido. (‘chido’ means ‘cool’ in Mexican slang, and isn’t even rude!)
It also means that I get to go to the ceremony and either practise my ‘Not disappointed I didn’t win really because JOLLY GOOD SHOW etc’ face. Or my modest ‘Me?…who me?…really?’ face.
Or more likely not practice anything at all, not even a speech, because I will be so busy writing Joshua 4.
I’ve been to the Nibbies (British Book Awards), I’ve seen it done. The rule of four: thank your husband/wife, your agent, your editor and your publisher. Big smile, move on. Or seethe, glassy-eyed from the losers’ table.
Eee. I’ve never been to Leeds. Hear it’s right sophisticated. The incomparably hip John Shuttleworth says so.
I am NOT ashamed to ask for your help, blog readers. If you are a young person from Leeds, please:
1. Read Invisible City (ah, go on, go on, go on, go on.)
2. Write a stonking review of it on the Leeds Book Award Website
3. Convince a teacher or school librarian to take your class there.
4. On the way to the ceremony, persuade all your classmates to vote JOSHUA.
Another tip from a fangirl is this: write the name of your favourite book on the blackboard every day until your school chums get fed up with you. I did this every week to remind people to watch Blake’s 7, when I were a lass.
Did you know, when I was young we had only THREE TV channels. No video recorders – if you missed your show that was it, you could only tear out your hair and weep. No computers, no handheld video games, no Internet, no mobile phones, no txting. It was the Dark Ages, man, don’t let your parents tell you anything different! On the bright side we had Texan Bars, Pink Panther bars and Banjos.
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The MG Harris Blog
Website of MG Harris, author of the children's book series "The Joshua Files".Information for school visits and events.
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February 3, 2009
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Congratulations, that’s brilliant news. Children of Leeds – vote for it now!
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February 3, 2009
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Congrats, MG. That’s great.
Your book is available in Germany now. At last! I’m looking forward to the first reviews and reader comments.
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February 5, 2009
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Congratulations, Most Glamorous. What a snowball this is becoming! I’m sure you will pick up many awards, and that this will be one of them.
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February 5, 2009
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Thanks very much Brian and Es! And Frank – great news, thanks for the photo!
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February 5, 2009
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congrats – smart blog layout by the way
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February 6, 2009
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Congrats, you magnificent thing.
Banjos! I have no idea what they tasted like, but they do sound weirdly familiar: were they a bit like 5-4-3-2-1s? I loved them. No idea what a Pink Panther bar might be, though.
I want a Trio now. Or a United. In my young day, this was all just fields…
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February 6, 2009
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Banjos were chocolate coated wafer biscuits with a layer of chopped hazelnuts. They once did a toasted coconut variant that my pal Eoin scorned, but I loved. Pink Panther was a strawberry-pink-white-chocolate bar moulded with a picture of ol’ Pink himself. Yummy!
TRIO! TRI-I-I-I-O! I want a Trio and I want one now!
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February 26, 2009
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Just had a relaxing evening, ate healthily (for me), had a long bath and, would you believe, got to page 79 of Invisible City! I gotta hand it to you, Most Glamorous – you stop and start the action so well, and the introduction of Ollie was a masterstroke, opening up the story at a point where claustrophobia might have set in in the hands of a lesser writer.
Today: Leeds. Tomorrow: the world!
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September 22, 2009
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Congratulations! I will read Invisible City.
I’m writting about creative ideas, please visit my site: http://freetude.blogspot.com/.
Thanks,
Mary Tude