Mayton Street Festival 2012
Buzz authors, Marion Rose, Lynda Waterhouse, Judy Cumberbatch and John O’Leary, will be selling and signing at the Mayton Street Festival 2012 (part of Holloway Arts Festival), on Saturday 2 June between 1.00 and 5.30 pm.
Full details of the festival here:
http://www.therowanartsproject.com/maytonstreetfestival2012
And the prize goes to….
By Alison Allen-Gray
I’ve just heard that my novel Unique came second out of ten teenage novels in Le Prix des Lecteurs du Mans et de la Sarthe. I daren’t ask how many votes separated first from second! However, the real prize was the tremendous buzz I got from going to Le Mans and meeting the French students.
There were many memorable moments during my trip, not least of which was my very first session with a class of 13-15 year-olds in a rural school. As I waited nervously in a classroom, I noted that a rather noisy hiatus was occurring outside in the corridor. The teacher was organising who should sit where, calling back students who had already entered the room, re-directing them and directing the re-arrangement of chairs and tables. I myself was re-arranged and asked to sit at the apex of the horseshoe of tables and chairs. I then gathered that I was to play the part of a Judge in a trial at the European Court.
Unique is a story about Dominic, who discovers that he is the first ever cloned human being. In the novel, there is a global prohibition on human cloning, transgression of which is punishable by the death penalty. Two of my characters – Dr Imogen Holt, who cloned Dominic, and Dominic’s father, Michael Gordon – have therefore taken a huge risk in doing what they do.
The students of this school had developed a ‘what-if’ from the story – that is to say, they had imagined what would happen if the European Court had put Dr Imogen Holt and Dominic’s parents on trial. The result was the courtroom scene at which I was the Judge. I sat enthralled for almost two hours as the students presented defence and prosecution arguments, some of which were emotionally charged and delivered with great passion and commitment. Characters were called as witnesses to tell their side of the story which, again, they did with moving intensity. Soon, I forgot that it is a thousand years since I studied French, and I found myself comprehending the range of complex arguments. I was quite overwhelmed – almost tearful, in fact – not only by the drama of the moment, but by the fact that these students had become so personally involved in the story and had reacted to it in such a thought-provoking way.
In fact, they provoked my thoughts so much that I think I’ll write the sequel that they so sincerely requested! So, although I didn’t win, I’m tremendously heartened by the experience. I gave the students something to think about and they gave me something to think about in return. What more could I ask for?
Inspired by the telamon by Elizabeth Hawksley
In the 5-6th century B.C., the Greeks of Magna Graecia built a line of impressive temples just outside the city of Akragas (modern Agrigento) inSicily. The largest of all is the temple to Olympian Zeus, and its upper floor was supported by thirty-eight enormous telamones, each over 25 feet tall. Telamones are the male equivalent of caryatids, those draped female figures who masquerade as columns and hold up roofs, the most famous being the caryatids which support the Parthenon.
Telamon is mentioned in Homer’s Iliad as the father of the Greek hero, the greater Ajax. His name means ‘support’ or ‘bearer’ and this is what he does in the temple ofOlympian Zeus. The telemones (plural) were made in sections and it appears that, after two and a half thousand years of weathering, they were not at first recognized for what they were when they lay scattered on the ground after the temple was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1401.
However, once recognized, one was removed to the museum at Agrigento and erected in a specially built room. You can see the height by the woman standing by his feet. Note how small the feet are compared with his huge head and arms – an optical trick to make the figure appear in proportion when viewed from the ground. Recently, another telamon has been recognized and reassembled on the ground beside the fallen temple.
I’m writing about telamones because I want to share my awe. I just stood, jaw-dropped, staring at it like a Liliputian on first sighting Gulliver. I felt that such a gigantic figure, so battered but still recognizable, must have a story. Who was he? Why was he doomed to support the temple for all eternity? Would it be dangerous to rescue him? I wanted to know.
A salute to Maurice Sendak
…who died this week. ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ will surely live for as long as there are picture books. I think it hasn’t aged in the fifty years since it first appeared. It still looks – and sounds – edgy, alternative and distinctive. In a very few, understated words it evokes a strange adventure, an emotional journey, and a dark, wild place of the soul that readers of all ages ‘get’. What a gift.
I have sometimes tried to write picture books about kids’ rage or anger, but WTWTA always says it better. And the ‘it’ that it says, is so grounded and wise. I bought my copy when I first started writing for children, and for me, it is still a masterclass in picture book writing. (I wonder what books other people feel this way about?) Anyway, I take off my scribbler’s hat to Maurice Sendak. He may have gone into the night of his very own room, but what he leaves behind is still hot.
Marion Rose
It’s a Fold Up
I worked in a school recently where the children surprised and delighted me with their paper engineering skills.
I was running a two-day session at St Agnes RC Primary in Cricklewood and decided to give the year 3 and 4 pupils a special task. Handing them two giant, collapsible frameworks made from cardboard, I gave them a very brief set of instructions before sending them away to start work.
When I caught up with them at the end of day two for the showing assembly, I was quite moved when the pop-ups were revealed. Not only had they managed to work together as teams to produce two pieces that held together very well visually, but they also amazed me by how they had successfully combined a variety of materials and came up with a great many innovative ideas to enhance the pop-ups. And both pieces still folded flat!
Read more about the sessions at N4 Sketchpad
JOHN O’LEARY
Afraid to offend? by Nikki B.
Did anyone else see the David Walliam’s TV show on Roald Dahl? (ITV, Sunday 22/4/12) I enjoy the work of both, loving the in-your-face, boundary crossing humour that is very refreshing. I am often struck, however by the dearth of female writers in hard-hitting, not-afraid-to-offend, provocative humour. I’ve noticed, also, the small number of successful female stand-up comedians in comparison to the number of successful males. Why is this?
My own take on it is the socialisation process. Girls are taught to ‘be a good girl’, ‘nice girls don’t say things like that’, etc. I think this leads many females to seek approval. How can we be fiercely funny, unafraid to offend, when our basic, socially conditioned drive is to protect the feelings of others?!
Little boys. ‘He is so cheeky,’ parents say lovingly – where they may reprimand their daughter for doing the same thing. ‘Go on, get out there, tell them what you really think’.
Is it possible to break down years of social conditioning, not be afraid to offend, and chance that desire for approval to get the laughs?
Islington Tribune
A nice, little mention by Amy Smith in the ‘Our Neighbours’ column of the Islington Tribune this week. Amy, whom we met while selling and signing our books at the Freightliners Farm Easter Fair (see previous post), picks up on a very interesting aspect of the group.
John O’Leary
