Redhammer client Michelle Paver today wins the 2010 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for “Ghost Hunter”, the sixth and final book in her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series.  She joins a distinguished line of past winners including Ted Hughes, Jacqueline Wilson, Anne Fine and Philip Pullman.  The prize is Britain’s leading award for chidren’s authors, and is comparable to the American Newbery Medal.

Chair of judges, Julia Eccleshare, said: “It’s relatively rare for a book late in a series to win a major prize, but the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is such a towering achievement, as a whole as well as in terms of the individual books, that it was our unanimous choice.”

The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize was founded in 1967 and is unique in that it is judged by children’s authors themselves, and noone can win it more than once.  This year’s panellists were Linda Buckley-Archer, Jenny Downham, and last year’s winner Mal Peet.

The judging process was shadowed by young critics, who described Ghost Hunter as “a thrilling story of love, friendship and terrifying evil” and “the perfect book for anyone who likes adventure, prehistory and survival”.

The series is set in prehistory and tells the story of a boy Torak, his female friend Renn and his lupine companion Wolf.  Research for Ghost Hunter took Paver to Finnish Lapland, where she snowshoed on the trail of elk and reindeer, and to the UK’s Wolf Conservation Trust.

Redhammer client and bestselling children’s author MG Harris was the guest of honour at today’s School Librarian of the Year awards.  Two librarians jointly shared the award this year – Duncan Wright from Stewart’s Melville College in Edinburgh, and Kevin Sheehan from Offerton School in Stockport.  It is the first time the prize has been jointly awarded – both deserved to win on their merit and performance, making it impossible for the judges to choose between them.

Redhammer client Michelle Paver is today shortlisted for Britain’s most prestigious writing prize for children’s fiction, The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.  The award has been given annually since 1967, and is decided by a panel of authors and the reviews editor for The Guardian’s children’s books section.  It is similar in status to the American Newbery Medal.  other shortlisted authors are Gregory Hughes, Morris Gleitzman and Eva Ibbotson.  The winner will be announced on Thursday October 7th.

Redhammer client and top-selling YA author MG Harris is officially one of the UK Top 10 UK Children’s Literature Bloggers.

Leading media analyst Cision Research Europe have published new research featuring an algorithm that reflects two key measures of web popularity: inbound links and traffic measured in monthly unique users.

For each blog analysed, these elements were weighted to achieve a balance between measurable impact to date (traffic) and likelihood of future impact (links as a proxy for search visibility). The longlist was then reduced down to a Top 50, with each entry re-evaluated according to additional metrics, notably update frequency and total number of posts.  Finally, the Top Ten was computed… and MG Harris scores at No. 6! We’re proud and delighted!

Visit the MG Harris blog here.

Top 10 UK Children’s Literature Bloggers

1. Wondrous READS

2. ACHOCKABLOG

3. THE BOOKETTE

4. Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

5. The Puffin Blog

6. THE MG HARRIS BLOG

7. The Fairy Tale Cupboard

8. Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

9. THE ULTIMATE BOOK GUIDE

10. Tommy Donbavand Children’s Author

Associated lists:

• Top 10 UK Teenage Literature Blogs
• Top 10 UK Childrens Literature Blogs
• Top 10 UK Literature Blogs

For the publishing industry, digital piracy is the elephant in the room.  We all want to believe that the shiny, digital future won’t be marred by rampant online piracy.  But, says Redhammer’s Peter Cox, such optimism is naive.

Over a year ago, Peter appeared on Sky News (see below) to warn about book piracy on websites such as scribd.com.   “What’s changed in the past year”, says Peter, is that Scribd now has the effrontery to charge for illegal downloads!”.  You can watch Peter steal a book here - we hope the industry is paying attention.

Picture by Drewhound

MUSE, the new quarterly literary e-zine from the pioneering Litopia Writers’ Colony, is available now.

With big-name contributions from the likes of Lee Child, Bernard Cornwell, RJ Ellory, international YA success MG Harris and Charlaine Harris, the first issue makes gripping reading.  Written and produced by members of Litopia, Muse contains author interviews, articles, reviews and short fiction – not to mention a writers’ agony column with the irate (and somewhat batty) Granny Bates, an anonymous Stig-like publishing guru.

MUSE, the new literary e-zine from Litopia Writers Colony

Litopia founder, London-based literary agent Peter Cox, said: ‘We’ve always been a pioneering community, from being one of the earliest online writing forums through to the development of our podcasts and our use of social media to engage new members and listeners.

‘The birth of Muse is another groundbreaking move. The publishing climate is undergoing a radical transformation, particularly the relentless rise of online media set against the decline in printed media, and Muse positions Litopia at the forefront of this changing climate.

Rising Stars

‘Muse encompasses everything that Litopia is about,’ Cox said.  ‘One of the most pleasing aspects about the way the community has developed over the years is the collegiate atmosphere that prevails, and this is something that is at the very heart of Muse. I took a back seat when the idea was first being discussed and left it to the editorial team to get the magazine off the ground. They’ve done a fantastic job, both in terms of the content and the design of Muse – it looks absolutely first-class.  I believe this is where many of the ‘nets rising literary stars will first make their debut.’

Team Effort

Most of the Muse team have never met each other, working instead in Litopia’s forums.   Holding the editor’s reins for the first issue of Muse is John Quirk, a former journalist now working in PR and advertising.

He said: ‘It’s been a fascinating project to be involved with, particularly as the editorial team has been on board from the very start and we’ve all watched Muse grow from an initial throwaway comment within the Litopia forums. The finished product has been a real team effort and I’d like to thank everyone within Litopia who has contributed in any small way.

‘We were also very lucky in that one of the editorial team, Jamie Mollart, is an associate director at Leicester-based PR, marketing and design company Rock Kitchen Harris, which kindly offered to look after the design. I was knocked out when I first saw Muse in all its glory. The designer, Matt Laws, has pitched it spot on.’

John explained:  ‘Each issue of Muse will have a theme running throughout, chosen by the editorial team, and a section focusing on a particular genre, chosen by the editor, with the plan being that each member of the editorial team takes a turn in the editor’s hot seat. The theme for issue one is, naturally, “beginnings”, with the genre focus on crime.’

Coming Next

The online build-up to the launch of Muse is being coordinated by Jamie.

‘The beauty of an e-zine is that its potential readership is unlimited,’ said Jamie. ‘It hasn’t cost us a penny to put together, other than the time of those involved, and there is no print run or physical distribution to worry about.

‘We will put Muse in the RSS feed for the Litopia podcasts, which have in excess of 20,000 listeners a week, and everyone who is subscribed will automatically receive it. Muse will also be promoted via our Twitter profile – @litopia – which has more than 8,000 followers, in addition to being available as a download from Litopia itself. All this, of course, ensures we are hitting our target audience – and all of it at no cost.

‘The same principle applies to promoting Muse – via Twitter, Facebook, and a host of blogs, with our members, and those who contributed to the first issue, all posting a teaser PDF to whet people’s appetites. As word-of-mouth spreads, the potential readership can only increase.’

Issue two of Muse is scheduled for distribution towards the end of August. Litopia members who would like details of how to get involved can email muse [AT] litopia.eu or keep an eye out for announcements within the Colony.

Malcolm Edwards, Deputy CEO and Publisher of Orion Publishing Group and Jon Wood, Deputy Publisher OPG, have bought Michelle Paver’s ghost story DARK MATTER from Peter Cox of Redhammer.  Orion has secured World Rights and will publish in hardback this year.

Set in 1937, DARK MATTER is a terrifying ghost story set on the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen now known as Svalbard.  A group of idealistic young Englishmen set off with high hopes of scientific discovery – only to discover how long the arctic night is when something is out there in the snow.

Michelle Paver explained her fascination with the Arctic:

“I’ve always loved ghost stories and for the past decade, I’ve have had DARK MATTER at the back of my mind.  The title came first, and soon afterwards, I realised that the story must take place in the Arctic: the land of extremes that has haunted me for years.   DARK MATTER is my attempt to capture the beauty and menace of the Arctic – in a ghost story that will scare the hell out of you.”

Jon Wood said:

“If you’ve ever woken up in the dark and blindly searched for the light switch – convinced that there is something in the room with you – then you will know exactly how this novel makes you feel. When you add in an intensely powerful personal story and the wonderful atmosphere of the arctic, you have something pretty special.”

Malcolm Edwards, Deputy CEO and Publisher of Orion said:

“Quite simply, DARK MATTER is the best book I’ve read in the last year.  It wouldn’t put me down.”

Michelle Paver is one of the top bestselling authors in the UK.   As well as being published as an adult author, her highly-acclaimed children’s series THE CHRONICLES OF ANCIENT DARKNESS has sold two million copies since publication with rights sold in 33 territories.

For further details use the contact form here.

David Yelland’s heartfelt and heart-warming “The Truth About Leo” has been published to a torrent of media coverage.  The book tells the story of ten-year-old protagonist Leo, who lives every day desperately trying to hide the fact that his father is an alcoholic.  With five pages of coverage in The Mail On Sunday, including a page one cover story, “The Truth About Leo” is on target to become the year’s most talked-about book for children.

“Writing this book is the most important thing I have ever done”, says David.  “I was compelled to write it although at times it was an intensely painful experience. Though this book is a fiction and I am not the father in it, he is the man I nearly was. Like him, I fell victim to alcohol. There came a time when it controlled me and nearly killed me.

Some years ago I realised that I would die if I did not stop drinking entirely, and I saw that I needed help. Fortunately, I found that help and I chose to recover. Too many choose the other route. Too many children are left either in chaotic homes or without parents. I have not drunk alcohol since 2005, and have no intention of ever doing so again. I’m lucky, I have a happy and wonderful life but I have it only because I stopped in time.

This is a book about truth. Alcoholism is too often swept under the carpet. I hope my novel will encourage adults and children to talk about the issue, but I also want this book to show children what recovery is so they may seek it if they ever need to.”

More about David Yelland here.

Playtone’s Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing the film of Nicholas Booth’s book “ZigZag”, the definitive story of Eddie Chapman: Britain’s greatest, and most unlikely, WWII double agent.
A pre-war safebreaker, Eddie was on the run from British justice when he was captured in Jersey and trained by the Germans as an agent: he became the only German spy to be parachuted into Britain – twice.  But Eddie was working for the British all along with the codename ZigZag.

Booth’s book reveals:

*  How Eddie became the only British national – and indeed the only Jew – ever to be awarded an Iron Cross

*  How he fooled the Germans into believing that he had sabotaged the De Havilland aircraft factory.

*  How the British secret service used him to rob the Polish Embassy after the war and wanted him to spy in the Soviet Union.

‘Fiction has not, and probably never will, produce an espionage story to rival in fascination and improbability the true story of an English crook, Edward Arnold Chapman, whom only war could invest with any virtue.’ – Eddie’s MI5 file

Author of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, Michelle Paver flies to New York for a guest appearance on The Today Show’s Al Roker’s Book Club. A worldwide success, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness has sold more than three million copies in over thirty languages. Michelle will be talking about her research trips, and showing her collection of stone-age artifacts.