The Secret Seed Society: Let You in on their Secret

On the 10th July 2009 the Secret Seed Society launched the first in a series of adventure packs that make growing and eating your own food simple and so much fun that it is quite literally child’s play!
Each pack in the series contains an illustrated storybook, seeds, growing instructions and a recipe so children can follow their food on a journey from plant to plate. The books tell the stories of the inhabitants of Seed City; an urban environment populated by vegetable beings.
The first pack comes with a membership card for children to sign up online to become Seed Agents. Seed Agents get emailed missions that involve growing and eating, as well as being supported and encouraged with prompts and tips on the website. Growing isn’t always easy and it requires a lot of patience in the early stages.
The Secret Seed Society will engage children - and through them their families and communities - in a move towards fresh, local, organic food that they have grown themselves, perhaps on an urban balcony or a rural allotment.
Who's behind the project? The Secret Seed Society is a social enterprise. The founding team brings together a teacher, an anthropologist, a filmmaker, a sustainability strategist and an illustrator. In March 2009, they decided to independently finance, publish and distribute these adventure packs.
“There aren’t many things that I’d launch in a recession but this pack makes so much sense right now. Growing your own food saves cash, reduces carbon and tastes delicious.” Shena Cooper, co-founder of the Secret Seed Society.
They have had huge amounts of support for the project - photographers, lawyers and designers have all pitched in and given their time, they have received a Millenium Grant from UnLtd, discounts from suppliers and the enthusiasm of a bunch of friends who worked through the night assembling 2,500 packs by hand.
More info
Visit www.secretseedsociety.com.
Contact Menka for more information, photos and a pack.
press@secretseedsociety.com
mobile: +44 (0) 797 070 6516
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Secret Seed Society is running its 3rd story writing competition, for a storybook starring a personified Onion!

If you’ve always wanted to be a published children’s author, put it on your to-do list: 700 words, for £700, by 5th October.
The stories are set in Seed City and are full of the challenge, adventure, the wonder of active urban living, and a sprinkle of fantasy.
Full details here: http://secretseedsociety.com/writing-competition/
Good luck!

Vote for Your Favourite UK Children's Author Website

At the bottom of this post are links to my top ten favourite UK children's author websites:

I'd like you to roam all the sites using the links below then vote for your favourite. To vote, just send me a comment with the name of the author whose site you like best and why. Don't forget it's the site you're voting for, not the author.

I will announce the winner at the end of October and post a blog featuring the winning site the first week of November. I'll also let you know which site or sites are my favourites and why. Please also let me know if you have any favourite author sites not included on my list.
Have fun and don't forget to vote!

Michael Morpurgo     http://www.michaelmorpurgo.org/    
         
Jaqueline Wilson        http://www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk/

Malorie Blackman      http://www.malorieblackman.co.uk/

Anne Fine                   http://www.annefine.co.uk/

Philip Pullman             http://www.philip-pullman.com/

JK Rowling                 http://www.jkrowling.com/

Darren Shan               http://www.darrenshan.com/

Eric Carle                  http://www.eric-carle.com/

Terry Deary\              http://www.terry-deary.com/

Julia Donaldson           http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/

North East author David Almond is chosen as Liverpool Read

Graphic novel The Savage, written by David Almond and illustrated by Dave McKean, has been chosen as the Liverpool Reads book for 2009. The city-wide initiative, coordinated by The Reader Organisation at the University of Liverpool, encourages the reading and sharing of one book each year. 20,000 copies of The Savage (published by Walker Books) will be given away across the fomer City of Culture from 15 September. 

(New Writing North, September Newsletter)

David is my favourite children's author and my 12 year old son Ben has become a fan too. He particularly loved The Savage and Skellig. Congratulations David!

Inspirational video

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see an inspirational video with quotes from lots of famous people including children's authors Philip Pulman and Ursula le Guin. If you love stories, (and who doesn't?) you'll love this You Tube video. The video is one of several by Chris Cade, author of Inscribe Your Life. I've just subscribed to the Inscribe Your Life Programme, so look out for more information on that later or discover it for yourself at www.inscribeyourlife.com I might even post some of the stories I write here later.

Eleven year old girl self publishes children's book

Sasha Pryce, an eleven year-old girl from Kent, has self-published her first novel and will donate all revenues from the sales of Labby's Adventures to the RSPCA and Batttersea Dogs and Cats Home. Sasha told Writers' News magazine: "My ambition and dream was to become an author and this was made possible by journalist Deborah Durbin who runs long distance courses for children eleven years and upwards.


After I decided what my novel was going to be about and who my characters were I started writing the chapters. Each week I would write a little and then go back to it the following week. Once I had written a chapter I would send it to Deborah and she would discuss the next step and if I needed to change anything. The chapters would go to and fro until finally in February this year I had finished the final chapter and sent it off to Deborah. She confirmed that it was now ready for the final bits; the illustrations, contents page, the blurb and then the front cover. By the end of April I was ready to upload my book onto Lulu and publish it. It was so surreal I couldn't believe that within a few weeks my novel would be in book form.


I would like to say to any child of any age; if you have a dream, follow it, work hard and persevere. Do not give up, dreams do come true - look at me!"
website: www.lulu.com/labbysadventures/6951174 (Writer's News: September 09)

SCPSW Annual Children's Short Story Competition

The Society of Civil and Public Service Writers is pleased to announce
THE W.F. and F.G. FROUD ANNUAL CHILDREN’S STORY COMPETITION 2009
SHORT STORY OF UP TO 2000 WORDS FOR CHILDREN OF ANY AGE

OPEN TO ALL
Prize: £150 (£100, £30 and £20) and publication in our magazine ‘Civil Service Author’ Entry fee £5 (£3 for members of SCPSW and refund of £2 for entrants who join now)
Results will be posted to website: www.scpsw.co.uk
No entry form required; enclose SAE for return of entry and copy of results
Closing date 31 October 2009
(One entry per person)
Entries in type, double spaced, on one side of A4 only Only pen name, word count and page numbers on manuscript.
Name, address and pen name should be attached on separate sheet and sent to:
Competition Secretary Nina Matter, 4 Redruth House, Grange Road, Sutton SM6 6RT
Cheques should be made payable to SCPSW. Competition is open to all but those interested in and eligible for membership i.e. serving or retired members of Civil Service, Armed Forces, National Health Service, Local Government or any Public Service, should send, please, an SAE to
Joan Lewis, 17 The Green, Corby Glen, Grantham NG33 4NP for details or email joan@lewis5634.fsnet.co.uk

Bog Child wins Bisto Children's Book of the Year

The late author, Siobhan Dowd, has won the Bisto Children's Book of the Year for Bog Child. This is the second year running that she has received the prize. In 2008 she won with The London Eye Mystery.

Siobhan, who died aged 47 in August 2007, was announced as the winner at a ceremony in Dublin, where her sister accepted the honour on her behalf. She was presented with the Bisto Children's Book of the Year trophy. The prize money will go to the Siobhan Dowd Trust, set up by the author before she died, to help disadvantaged children to improve their reading skills and experience the joys of reading.

Four other awards were presented at the ceremony:

Eilis Dillon Award: Mary Finn for Anila's Journey

Bisto Honour Award for Writing: Kate Thompson for Creature of the Night

Bisto Honour Award for Illustration: Oliver Jeffers for The Great Paper Caper

Judges' Special Recognition Award: Kate Thompson for Highway Robbery

(Writer's News: August 2009 edition)

Meet author Neil Gaiman on the web.

I've recently discovered a host of websites on one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman, and would like to share their delights with you. The official publisher's website is http://www.neilgaiman.co.uk/. A great introduction to the prolific author Neil and his publications, this is exciting from the moment you log in. Be sure to click the "stuff you won't find anywhere else" link for exclusive editions, extra materials, interviews etc. There's a further link on this website to the author's own website: http://www.neilgaiman.com/ where you can follow Neil's blog journal, listen to interviews and excerpts and even see pages from Neil's notebooks. Yet another link takes you to http://www.mousecircus.com/. Don't miss the video tour. You can hear Neil read the Graveyard book, chapter by chapter. These are sites to return to again and again. Like Neil's books, once you've dipped into one, you'll be hooked and need more and more. Let me know if you discover any hidden gems. I'm sure you will.

Rebel Books seek Stories for Upcoming Anthologies

Currently Seeking Submissions:-

Rebel Books LLP is currently seeking the following. So get writing! They look forward to reading your stories in due course.

FOR PUBLICATION 2010

YOUNG ADULT
The first publication by Rebel Books LLP will be an anthology of stories with a supernatural theme aimed at young adults. We are looking for submissions for this anthology covering all manner or supernatural creatures, including vampires, witches, shape-shifters - so let your imagination run wild. For more information on how to submit please see our submissions criteria page.

CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 30th November 2009
ANTICIPATED PUBLICATION DATE: Early 2010

YOUNG ADULT
We are looking to produce an anthology of Faerie Stories for young adults. We are open for submissions now although we are aiming to publish this anthology mid-2010. Your stories must be modern, original stories about or including faeries with an edgy teen focus. Please see our submissions page for details of how to submit.

CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 28th February 2010

ANTICPATED PUBLICATION DATE: Mid 2010

CHILDREN
Our first publication for children is to have a magical theme. This will again be an anthology of stories but aimed at the ages 7+. Your stories should have a magical, fantastical theme to capture and hold the reader's attention but should still be original and modern. Please see our submissions page for details of how to submit.

CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 31st May 2010

ANTICIPATED PUBLICATION DATE: Late 2010

Writers: Click onto the follow link to find more details of Rebel Books and specific guidelines for submission: http://www.rebelbookspublishing.co.uk/

Readers: Keep an eye open for these anthologies next year. They'd make great presents!

Hero or anti-hero competition

Winter Witch Books have launched an exciting new competition, 'Hero or Anti-hero?' which is suitable for writers of both adult or children's fiction.

All entrants will receive a free week of the publisher's creative writing course on receipt of their entry.
The prizes are:
1st Prize: GBP250, publication of your full book & 12 week creative writing course with feedback
2nd Prize: GBP50, first chapter of your book published in the back of the winning book & online, 12 week creative writing course with feedback
5 Runners Up will receive a 4 week creative writing course with feedback
Closing date: 30th September, 2009

Competition details from the website are given below:

What does it take to be a hero? Do you have to battle against a terrible foe to rescue the love of your life, do you need to be kind to kittens or gentle with the weak? Do you need to be able to ride without a saddle and fight aliens with your eyes closed?
Is this why anti-heroes have such a bad press? Your average anti-hero is not interested in saving the world, the world should be able to save itself. If a damsel is in distress, she probably brought it on herself. As for the weak, well, you can imagine how the anti-hero feels about them. and aliens might just make life more exciting.
Kittens though, might be different, as anti-heroes are more likely to favour animals than humans. You know where you are with an animal.
For our new competition, we want you to focus on personality, in particular your hero or anti-hero. With a strong emphasis on your main character or characters, give us a good storyline, inhabited by believable and vibrant people. They don't need to leap off the page screaming and waving their cutlasses, but they should make you feel you know them by the time you've read their story.
Decide whether your main character is a hero or an anti-hero. Can a fictional character who gains a life of their own ever be one thing or the other? If they are a true villain, with no redeeming qualities, what is it about them that makes us love them so much?
Please note that we have used the male form of hero and anti-hero for ease only, feel free to have as many strong, scary, wonderful, kind and world-saving women as you want for your main characters!
Your work should be fiction but the genre and audience is up to you.
Please see our creative writing courses page for more details of the courses we have available.
For enquiries, please contact us on office@winterwitch.co.uk as we have had some issues with the Contact Us forms.
International entries are welcome.
Entries are GBP4.00 per entry, you may enter more than once. Please see below for full guidelines.
Enter Now! GBP 4.00
If you wish to pay by cheque, please make it payable to J. Findlay.

Guidelines
Entries cost GBP4.00 per entry, you may enter as many times as you like but there is only one free week of coursework per entrant.
Please note, there is no feedback available with the one week of free coursework.
The free coursework can either be sent to yourself or as a gift to someone else - please specify at the time of entry. Children's courses are available.
All coursework sent will be from our advanced courses, unless otherwise requested.
We would appreciate being able to send all coursework by email but if this is not possible, please provide a stamped address envelope of A5 size or above for your coursework to be posted to you. The coursework will be no heavier than 60g.
The coursework will be sent as a PDF attachment by email.
Please enter the first 1-3 chapters of your work, depending on the stage reached in your project. Your project does not have to be completed for you to enter. We would also like a synopsis and/or character biographies.
The length of your finished project is flexible, though we would prefer your final book length to be less than 150,000 words. Please contact us if this is likely to be an issue.
If your work is unfinished, please state the estimated final length of your book - this will not affect your chance of winning. If it is complete, the approximate word count should be included.
Please submit your entries in 12point font size or above and ansure all pages are numbered and labelled, in case they become separated.
If submitting by email, please send your work in the body of the email or as an attachment in MS Word, MS Works or as a PDF.
If submitting by post, please send to:
Winter Witch Books,
3 Stoneybeck Cottages,
Broughton Cross,
Cockermouth,
Cumbria.
CA13 0TX.
If you wish to pay by cheque, please make it payable to J. Findlay.

(The photo is my son Ben, my own little hero, playing the part of the Grinch)