The Carnegie 2019

Greetings from the Philippines where I have been launching the Filipino editions of Is It a Mermaid (Sirena ba Yan?) and Bone Talk. It was incredibly busy and hectic ... then this happened:


When I was a little girl, the sight of that gold label on a book sent my heart racing. How incredible to be shortlisted! Thank you so much to librarians UK wide who nominated my book, and the judging panel who shortlisted it ... what an incredible honour!

Here is the Carnegie medal shortlist (alphabetical by author surname):

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (Electric Monkey)

Rebound by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile (Andersen Press)

The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (Usborne Books)

Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling Books

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Children's Books)

Things A Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls (Andersen Press)

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Chris Priestley (Faber & Faber)

The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders (Faber & Faber)

And here is the Kate Greenaway Award shortlist:

The Day War Came illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, written by Nicola Davies (Walker Books)

Ocean Meets Sky illustrated and written by Eric Fan and Terry Fan (Lincoln Children’s Books)

Beyond the Fence illustrated and written by Maria Gulemetova (Child's Play Library)

The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett (Walker Books)

Julian is a Mermaid illustrated and written by Jessica Love (Walker Books)

You're Safe With Me illustrated by Poonam Mistry, written by Chitra Soundar (Lantana Publishing)

The Lost Words illustrated by Jackie Morris, written by Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton)

Suffragette: The Battle for Equality illustrated and written by David Roberts (Two Hoots)




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Bone Talk on the Carnegie Shortlist!

Back in November, I was so pleasedwhen I found out that Bone Talk got a nomination for the Carnegie Medal and Francesca Chessa, who illustrated Is It a Mermaid, was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal. How amazing to be on these two of the most highly regarded awards lists in the world!



In February, they announced the longlists. Bone Talk was still hanging on.


The shortlists were announced four months later. Wonderful news for Bone Talk! So grateful to all the hard working librarians behind the award. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!





I was on the other side of the world, in the Philippines, launching the Philippine edition of Bone Talk! The time zones didn't quite match but I managed this tweet:


We announced the Carnegie shortlisting at my Manila book launch and there was much celebration!



Here's a screenshot from the Philippine Daily Inquirer's article:



... and then followed an amazing avalanche of praise and kind messages that had me up into the wee hours, Philippine time, reading and replying!

Thank you to all the people who celebrated with me. I'd known about the Carnegie Medal since I was a kid growing up in the Philippines. This really means a lot to me.

























This piece might look familiar, if you follow me on Twitter. I am slowly reproducing Twitter threads on my blog in the name of keeping a proper record. 

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The Hong Kong Young Readers Literary Festival

I have been through Hong Kong many times but always on the way to somewhere else or stopping quickly for a meeting. I've never really spent any proper time there so I was pleased to accept an invitation to appear in the schools programme of the Hong Kong Young Readers Festival.

Photo: HK Young Readers Festival (Michael Perini)

Here is my Twitter diary of the festival, compiled in a Twitter Moment (if you can't see it below, visit it here)!





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The Bone Talk Book Tour

By Candy Gourlay

With children from Telford Priory School in Telford. Thanks to the TPS photographer.

Last week, I went on my first-ever book tour to promote Bone Talk. Over the years I have watched with envy as author friends go off on their book tours, so I was thrilled when my publisher David Fickling Books organised one via Authors Aloud, an organisation that facilitates author visits to schools.

The numbers were pretty daunting for a first timer:

1 author
2 presentations a day
3,525 children
22 schools
9 venues
8 towns
5 days
8 trains
9 taxis
6 lifts
5 Premier Inn hotels


Of course I wanted to keep a record so I tweeted a diary-thread everyday. I've embedded it below if you'd like to to check it out later, or click here.





Meeting children from (clockwise from top left) Kent, Hertfordshire, Sussex, Worcester. Thanks to the schools who tweeted these photos.



I performed in a breathtaking variety of schools – grand, ancient, worn, new, private, state, huge, small, diverse, middle class, every class – many rainbows of hope and aspiration. In the signing queues after every presentation, the children were always a little bit excited, a little bit shy, their eyes sliding everywhere, not knowing where to look, delighted with every tiny sign of interest from me. The names I dedicated the books to were a gamut! So many Madisons in Kent, Harrys, many spellings of Natasha, Sophies, a Wojtek, and many others of far away provenances.

Speaking to 500 Year 7s and 8s at Weald of Kent Grammar School in Tonbridge. Photo: Sophie Quinnell

I met four Filipino children only though I am told there were plenty more in the Catholic school I was visiting. I wondered how they felt to hear stories about children like them, to see an author wrapped in the same skin as theirs, and to hear me talk about the Philippines, the faraway home that they have not spent much time in. My heart beat faster when one girl confided that she too was writing novels.

It was a week full of librarians – indeed my first two days were spent in the care of Authors Aloud co-founder and librarian Annie Everall, who put together my itinerary. The librarians were all juggling many balls at once, meeting and greeting (sometimes also feeding) me, sorting out my tech, making sure the bookseller had arrived, inviting neighbouring schools to join the audience, and herding, always, herding. During the pauses, there were many good conversations – about the transformation a child goes through between Year 7 and Year 8, about reading for pleasure,  about library resources or the lack of it, and yes, deliciously, inevitably, about beloved books. Librarians can't help talking about books (and neither can we authors).

A big thank you to my booky hosts: Howard Aukland and Jo Davies (Telford),  Gareth Davies (Wolverhampton), Annabel Jeffery (Worcester), Rebecca Darbyshire (St Albans), Clare Woollard (Ware), Katy Day and Megan Silver (Sittingbourne), Sophie Quinnell (Tonbridge), Simon Homer (Burgess Hill) and Emily Holland (Hove).

Then there were the booksellers. There were booksellers with premises – The Book Nook in Hove, Pengwern Books in Shrewsbury, H&H Spalding Books in Barton under Needwood, Watersones in Worcester, Nickel Books in Sittingbourne ... and then there are booksellers without shopfronts, who supply directly to schools and events, like Elaine Penrose in Ware, Brenda Parkhouse in Herfordshire and Caroline Anderson in Kent.

At the beginning I wondered how effective a book tour was as a marketing tool. What was all this about, really? Was this about numbers – selling books, big audiences, number of schools? Some of the schools regularly invited authors to speak, some had to wait for tours like mine for the opportunity.

I was moved by the enthusiasm and generosity of the teachers and librarians. Over and over again, they thanked me for coming.

But at the end of the day, it seemed to me that I was the person who benefited most from the tour. In coming face to face with the young people I write my books for, I have seen all the things that my books can be, should be  – a way to escape, to seek the truth, a reason to hope, a reason to dream, a bridge to take them over gaps, a door to other worlds.

It is such a huge responsibility. And such a huge blessing.

Thank you, all, for having me.




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