21 Dec 2012
What will happen in 21 December 2012…could it really be the ‘end of the world’?
In The Joshua Files, Josh and his friends in the ‘invisible city’ find a lost Mayan codex which contains secrets about how to protect the world from an apocalypse in December 2012.
You might be seeing a similar story in the movie 2012, out in November 2009.
And in a forthcoming TV series from the Syfy channel.
Why this fascination with 21 December 2012?
Well, the date is the end-date of the Mayan Long Count Calendar. Some people see this date as a prediction by the ancient Maya of a real event in 2012. Maybe a cataclysm, maybe a renewing of a cycle of human life.
Other people, including MG Harris, think it’s a neat and mysterious calendar date which symbolised something to the Mayans, but not a prediction of a real event. A terrific premise for a story, but not something to lie awake worrying about.
If you’d like to know more about what the Maya wrote about 2012, what other people think might happen in 2012, if you’ve wondered why there’s such interest in December 2012, then check out Mayan Mysteries of 2012 - A Young Person’s Guide - a site written by MG Harris especially for readers of The Joshua Files.
You can also find out some of the REAL facts about the Mayan civilisation, about the Mayan people, Mayan writing, Mayan religion (including the origin of the ‘Bakabs’ - mentioned in The Joshua Files) and other mysteries of the ancient Maya.
It’s all at Mayan Mysteries of 2012 - A Young Person’s Guide.
Over time MG will be adding more content, including educational resources. If you’re a primary school teacher and would like to teach your students something about the ancient Maya, mayan2012kids.com is an ideal starting point.
Posted on March 6, 2010 - by MG
World Book Week Diary
Last year, we launched ICE SHOCK on World Book Day, at St Gregory the Great School in Oxford. This year I set off to do a mini-tour of schools in the South of England.
World Book Day is the one thing guaranteed to get us lazy authors out of bed early. Even Robert Muchamore tweeted in [...]
Posted on February 27, 2010 - by MG
Castaway!
With lovely Sylvia Vetta in the Summertown Wine Cafe.
I first met Sylvia last year at an event I did for the Oxford Literary Festival Fringe, a writer’s workshop at Blackwells (where most of the lit fest fringe events run). Sylvia is a local journalist and the former owner of The Jam Factory, an antiques centre [...]



Website of MG Harris, author of the children's book series 


