Reachout, no, Outreach

Back on the blogseat this week is Chris, you may remember him from such blogs as Suddenly She Turned Into a Gerbil, Secret Santa and Chris Says Howdy or you may not. He is here to blog about Outreach and being Festivaled-out...

A lot has happened since the last time I blogged here: the summer has come and gone, the Edinburgh festival flew past in whirl of entertaining wallet emptying, Michael Jackson died or was murdered (depending on who you believe) and we have just completed the Outreach events as part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The premise of Outreach is simple, we take 6 authors or illustrators from the festival out to schools and areas who cannot get to the festival over 6 days. We had a dizzying array of talent in the Bookmobile over the last two weeks from all over the world...

First up, the wonderful Lili Wilkinson from Australia. We ventured north up to Brechin and then onto Arbroath top speak to students about Lili’s wonderful novel, Scatterheart, usually historical romance fiction is a non-starter for me but this book completely won me over. Lili had been doing research into her family tree and discovered that she had family in Brechin and we even managed to find her great-great-great grandmother grave at the cemetery! Lili also works on the award winning website for teen literacy Inside of a Dog – check it out it wont bite!

Day two and the rain is teeming down as we head over to Glasgow with the graphic novelist and comic book hero, Tony Lee. His previous work includes some small comic books that most folk wont of heard of, X-Men and Spiderman anyone!!! But we were there to promote his latest book, Outlaw: Robin Hood. Tony’s enthusiasm for writing and his sheer effervescent joy at doing what he loves to do shone through and was magically contagious. So much so that we all forgot about the rain and one wee lad in the second session who had the most outrageous laugh could not stop laughing. The poor lad nearly choked!

My next outing was with Liz Pichon who is a writer and illustrator of picture books including Bored Bill, The Very Ugly Bug and Penguins. We had two brilliant interactive sessions in Falkirk with quizzes, storytelling, drawing and colouring in – ace fun! Liz also runs a really amazing website, Show Me How to Play.com where you can learn to play your favourite songs.

During the morning session a wee boy came over to me and asked if I could tie his shoe-lace, so I did, but as I finished his teacher came over and told me that he could do that himself! So I asked him, “Why am I tying your shoe-lace if you can do it yourself?” His response… “Just cause” and off he went to finish his drawing.

We had a little extra time over lunch so we took Liz to see the Falkirk Wheel which is such an amazing feat of engineering and we also had a look at the prototype Horse Heads that they are planning on building.

My last day of Outreach was marred by stinking traffic in Edinburgh but once Frank Cottrell Boyce started reading it was soon forgotten. Frank (whose other work includes Coronation Street, 24 Hour Party People, Welcome to Sarajevo as well as film-adaptations of his books Millions and Framed) has written three novels – Millions, Framed and Cosmic. You may have seen Millions at the cinema or read about it winning the Carnegie Medal (not bad for a first effort!) and Framed was on the BBC this week, probably still on i-player and Cosmic was shortlisted for the Carnegie this year too! Frank thoroughly entertained his audience and his stories about his work and where his ideas sprout from were fantastic.

Also out on Outreach were Bernard Beckett and Thomas Docherty but as I was not at these sessions so I cannot comment on them but I have been reliably informed that they were excellent.

In amongst all of this, the Book Festival. Events with the Beano, Terry Deary (of Horrible Histories fame) and Michael Rosen (of Michael Rosen fame) as well as everything that the Edinburgh festival entails.

Phew! I'm knackered - I could sleep for a week, if only, there are 50 teachers coming round on Thursday and will need fed, watered and entertained!

Laters.

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The Lighthouse Stevenson's

Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella salad

The Book Festival and beyond

Hi All – I’m Jasmine and I organise events and tours here at the Scottish Book Trust.

When we go on tour during the year with an author or illustrator, we do spend a lot of time with them. It’s great, because normally we get on really well. But imagine spending 12 hours a day with somebody you have never met before (also imagine that from the author’s point of view!), there are times when you run out of things to say. That’s where reading comes in handy. You can just read the author’s book(s) and have lots to talk about. Not that you wouldn’t read that particular book anyway, but it gives you a reason to read it NOW instead of letting it sink to the bottom of the ocean of all the books ‘I really wanted to read but did not get time to’.

I really like my job. Think of all the questions you might have about an author or their work; you would normally have to ask in front of lots and lots of people after an event. I can just ask them on the drive to the venue, over lunch or dinner, or just during the set up and sound check or waiting for the audience to sit down. You really get to know the author a little bit better.

July and August are quiet months when it comes to tours and events – the schools are on summer holidays. There is, however, the fantastic Edinburgh International Book Festival to tide-over anybody who can’t live without live literature. And because they bring such great authors to Scotland, we all thought it would be a shame not to show them some other parts of the country! That’s why Scottish Book Trust got together with Sara from the Book Festival and we came up with the Outreach Programme, taking six authors out of Edinburgh on six different days to do events in schools round the country – hopefully to a place near you!

Some of the books I have read in ‘preparation’ for the Outreach Events have already provoked lots of questions. Take Sophie McKenzie’s new book Blood Ties. It’s a fast-paced thriller about a boy trying to run away from the bodyguard he does not even know he needs (and that’s only the beginning). Why did Sophie chose a boy and a girl as main characters? How much research did she have to do for the book? Or Blood Child by the award-winning Tim Bowler – a novel about a boy who lost his memory, and is scared of what he finds out about himself. Has Tim based the plot of the story on a real event? How involved is he in the design of the covers of his books? Even TIM, Defender of the Earth by Sam Enthoven – a brilliant read that celebrates the destruction of London (to save the world, of course!). Why does Sam want to destroy a city so badly? How come the first defender of the world was a giant Kraken, but the next one is a dinosaur?

I have only mentioned a few, but if you want to know more about the authors we are taking on Outreach, have a look here. If you're curious about the answers, get in touch – I’ll let you know.

Jasmine
Children's Programmer

Interesting observation of the week:The biggest Christmas seller has already been found – 4 months before Christmas! JK Rowling’s Beedle the Bard is already in Amazon.co.uk’s number one spot! If you are after another bestseller and can’t wait until Christmas, what about teenage author Stephanie Meyer’s new book, Breaking Dawn? It’s the fourth book in her fantastic Twilight Saga. Have a look.