Funny prize, fiction prize and Katie Morag on TV

Two prize announcements this week - the Guardian Fiction Prize was won by Rebecca Stead for Liar & Spy. I've not read it yet, but When you reach me was a wonderful, intriguing novel so I have high hopes of loving this one too. It's the first time an American has won this prize apparently.

The short list for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize was also announced. I don't, I'm ashamed to say, know any of the books but I'm sure titles such as Noisy bottoms will have a certain appeal.

Finally - something I do know about: Katie Morag. CBeebies has now filmed 26 episodes of these delightful stories about a little girl living on a fictional Scottish island. Although Katie Morag's Struay was based on Coll, one-time home of author Mairi Hedderwick, the programmes were made in Lewis. I hope they boost tourism to all the Hebridean islands when they air next month. It's been too long since I had an island-hopping holiday myself!

Book Week Scotland 2013 announced

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop and Scottish authors Denise Mina, Richard Holloway and Mairi Hedderwick show off their treasures, as Scottish Book Trust launches a hunt for the nation’s cherished objects. The Treasures campaign invites Scots to submit a piece of writing about the item they hold most dear, with a free book featuring the best stories and poems to be given out during Book Week Scotland, running from 25 November to 1 December this year. Photo credit Rob McDougall

 

 

Scotland will host a second national celebration of reading in 2013, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced today. Following the success of last year's event, the second Book Week Scotland (BWS) will be delivered by Scottish Book Trust from November 25 to December 1, 2013. One of the best features last year was My favourite place, a writing project which resulted in a free book for distribution during BWS, and this year the same project is taking place with the theme Treasures - see the photograph above. Entries can be submitted online for inclusion on Treasures website, and possible inclusion in a printed anthology, until July 31 at 5pm. Further details of BWS events will be released later in the year. In the meantime, keep an eye on the website, follow @Bookweekscot on Twitter, check out #bookweekscot or like the Book Week Scotland Facebook page. BWS is initiated by the Scottish Government and supported by £250,000 from Creative Scotland.

Photo credit Rob McDougall

This is a great initiative, especially for fostering a love of reading in children. Many children's authors, such as Mairi Hedderwick, seen here with her treasure, take part in events in schools and libraries all over Scotland. As Fiona Hyslop said, last year: "more than 30,000 pupils engaged with Book Week Scotland activities. All of this has supported the development of our nation’s important relationship with books and reading. Teachers have told us that Book Week Scotland had a positive impact on their pupils’ interest in reading and writing and that it was well supported in schools." I can't wait!


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Katie Morag is coming to TV

Doesn't she look just the way Mairi Hedderwick's Katie Morag should look? I think so!

Cherry Campbell from Glasgow has landed the lead role in Katie Morag, a new CBeebies drama. Well done Cherry! twitter.com/BBCScotland/st…
— BBC Scotland (@BBCScotland) April 23, 2013

Katie Morag on TV!

The BBC might be taking a kicking at the moment, but here's something great it is doing! Mairi Hedderwick's wonderful Katie Morag stories are to be made into 26 fourteen-minute live action films for CBeebies - read more here. Katie Morag lives on the fictional Scottish Isle of Struay, but the themes will be familiar to small children everywhere - sibling rivalry, losing a favourite toy, and so on. If you haven't read these books yet, try your local library - the films won't go out till the end of next year so there's plenty of time to catch up.

BooksfromScotland.com features Mairi Hedderwick

BooksfromScotland.com is a commercial site, but it showcases Scottish-interest books by combining bookselling with interesting, newsy content. This month, they have started a new feature celebrating Scottish books which have become international successes. The first to be featured are Mairi Hedderwick's Katie Morag stories. As well as information about the books, the site features the island of Coll which was the inspiration for Struay, Katie Morag's home.