Ten-Minute Blog Break - 10th December

It's been a roller-coaster few days for people waiting for Undiscovered Voices results - well done to everyone who entered, whether you made the longlist or not. On the SCBWI blogosphere, it was good to see that there were plenty of other things to talk about!

Candy Gourlay (lest we forget, a UV winner herself) sneaked out a terrific blog post on multicultural children's writing. This is the kind of subject that could easily be worthy yet dull, but Candy brings a personal perspective to the issue along with some startling statistics. She also adds some reviews of books with multicultural characters, for readers to explore.

I love to see the process behind things, and that goes double for illustrations, because I can't really do them myself. So I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at Sam Zuppardi's new picture book The Nowhere Box at the Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog (great name!)

What makes a poem stick in the memory? Mo O'Hara's blogging at The Funeverse, with a mildly scientific look at the phenomenon. Is learning a poem "by heart" a rote activity, or does the verse have to engage our emotions before it really takes root?

Where would we be without librarians? The Edge certainly think they're pretty important, and are devoting the next few weeks of blog space to Q&A posts by librarians. First up is Ingrid Broomfield from Nottingham Girls' High.

Finally, I must thank Sarah McIntyre for alerting me to something happening in my own office! Her Sea Monkey Work Experience post from last week details the daily misadventures of a character from her Oliver and the Seawigs book, who is "helping out" at Oxford University Press. The chaos has continued since then on Twitter, and I particularly liked Clare Whitston's reaction to the monkey's manuscript amendments:

Rumour has it that the lively little chap may even be paying me a visit later this week - let's hope he's on his best behaviour!

Nick.


Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead and currently writes short fiction for Stew Magazine.

This week on his blog, Nick considers the question: Is My Art Better Then Yours?

1 comment:

  1. heehee - naughty little Seamonkey! Thanks Nick - Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast Blog is a great find - loved looking inside Sam Zuppardi's Nowhere Box too

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