The winners of the Leeds Book Awards for secondary school children were announced today at a ceremony attended by about 200 Leeds students at Leeds Civic Hall. Geek Girl by Holly Smale and Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher won the 11-14 and 14-16 year categories respectively.
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| Holly Smale |
The
winners were voted for by Leeds’ school readers from a shortlist selected by
the Leeds Book Awards organisers. Master of ceremonies for the day was poet Andy
Craven-Griffiths who is always entertaining, and does a brilliant job of
improvising when necessary. Only he could prove that 14-16 year old teens can’t
roarrrrr!!!
Smale
and Pitcher answered questions from the school audience alongside other
shortlisted authors: Gillian Cross (After Tomorrow), Paula Rawsthorne (Blood
Tracks), Alison Rattle (The Quietness), CJ Flood (Infinite Sky), Sarah Mussi
(Siege), Lucy Christopher (The Killing Woods). Other shortlisted authors couldn’t
make it (and that’s why there were no male authors there!).
Questions
from the floor followed a pattern and there were many about influences and
inspirations, and sequels!
I
was delighted to hear that Lucy Christopher (The Killing Woods), a previous
Printz Honor award winner, loves visiting South Africa. Interestingly, if you
buy a US and a UK copy of her novel you will find that they are slightly
different (now, how about that for narrative and textual analyses!). If she could choose a mentor it would have
been Shakespeare whereas Holly Smale’s mentor of choice would have been the
late Sue Townsend. Smale is also very tall!
Both
Paula Rawsthorne (Blood Tracks) and Alison Rattle’s (The Quietness) novels were
inspired by court proceedings and trials! Rawsthorne wants to be excited by her
own story whilst she is writing whereas Rattle really doesn’t enjoy the writing
process – but loves editing her work.
CJ
Flood’s first name is Chelsea and the character Iris, in Infinite Sky, is an
idealised version of herself as a child. Sarah Mussi (Siege) had lived in Ghana
for a number of years and I was very pleased to hear that she can’t remember
all the books she’s read (ditto!). Gillian Cross (After Tomorrow) has always been a writer and says she's never had a 'proper job'. She thinks awards like these are precious to writers like her as they boost their self belief.
I
was very interested to hear that Annabel Pitcher’s Ketchup Clouds was first
written as a straight narrative and not through letters. She’s also a
self-confessed perfectionist. Also, she had a very young guest with her – a babe
in arms (and what would have happened without good old Nina D being there to
step in when he refused to sleep).
I
left all the smiling authors to sign away with queues of chattering school
children and their teachers. How many of them noticed all the Leeds’ owls, do
you think?
You
can read our reviews of:
-
GeekGirl
-
HostageThree (by Nick Lake who couldn’t make it)
You
can read our interview with:
- Annabel Pitcher
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