My Love Letter to Liverpool Libraries

Authors fight to save libraries

Authors Cathy Cassidy and Alan Gibbons have started a campaign to save Liverpool libraries. This is a campaign backed by many, many people including myself. This is just a small blog but I wanted to add my thoughts and my love letter to Liverpool libraries. I will email the link to Mayor Anderson as I beg him to change his mind.

First of all here is what Cathy has said: 'Eleven much-loved and well-used Liverpool libraries are about to be closed, and as the council are not listening to protests or petitions, a campaign to bombard Mayor Joe Anderson with love letters to the libraries has been launched. The letters will show how much the people of Liverpool - and beyond - care. Schools, colleges, teachers, families, businesses, individuals...we can all write letters to Mayor Anderson to ask him to change his mind.'

We have support for our campaign from over 500 authors, poets, actors, musicians, academics & creatives of all kinds including Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman and many other big names. Could YOU support us too by writing a 'Love Letter to Liverpool's Libraries'? Send your letter to Mayor Anderson at the Town Hall, High Street, Liverpool L2 3SW or email to: http://liverpool.gov.co.uk/contact-us/contact-the-mayor/

or 

http://cathycassidydreamcatcher/blogspot.co.uk/2014/10cathy-my-love-letter-to-liverpool.html '

Here is my letter:

Dear Mayor Anderson

Do you have children? Have you spent time reading to them? Last night I sat with my three year old grandson on my lap and read stories, one after the other. I lost count how many we got through. He lived every single one of them. He loves stories. He is lucky we are able to give him books but he also loves nothing better than a visit to the library as do his brothers and sister. 

In a recent article it was stated that 4 million children have no access to books in their homes. Can you imagine that? No chance to escape into different worlds. To explore and imagine. Those children may not own a book but they would have access to them if they can go to a library close by. If you close any libraries you are taking away those chances. You are taking away the opportunity for a child to let their imagination develop. 

I write young adult fiction. Young adult fiction allows teenagers to ask questions of the text and of the world they live in. It can help them to work out who they are and just as importantly who they are not. It is all about the vicarious experience as they think how they would react in any given situation. Once again by closing these libraries you are taking away opportunities for some teenagers to have access to books. To give them chances to read about others like them or maybe not like them but to help them understand how the world works. Why would you do that?

Liverpool has such a name for culture and for nurturing that culture. Being supportive of the underdog and believing that anyone can do anything. Libraries are the linchpin of all these beliefs. Why close them? Why take away these opportunities? These dreams? 

Please reconsider. 

We love libraries. 

We love Liverpool libraries. 

Regards

Dr Vanessa Harbour

Senior Lecturer - University of Winchester

Mentor - Golden Egg Academy

Writer - YAF

Seems only appropriate to use one of Liverpool's own as my musical message. We are all going to stand together

UKYA is definitely booming

Feeling guilty...

I have decided guilt is my middle name. I am feeling really guilty when I realised that it is nearly a month since I last posted a blog post. It has been a long time since I have left that sort of a gap but as you probably realised from my last post things were pretty busy and they got worse. A period of intense marking plus being very ill meant there was no time for anything else. I am only just coming out the other side of it - thank goodness. I am feeling I can breathe again and there is a lightness to my step again as the sun shines and the birds are singing. I am trying not to think of the marking coming in this week, the validation document that needs to be written, the two conference papers and academic book that are also waiting to be written. But let's not talk about that.

More interestingly I wanted to talk about the buzz around UKYA. We all know how much there is to shout about but at last there people doing just that. They are really making a noise. For example check out the outstanding blog Project UKYA run by Lucie Powrie. There was #UKYA day on 19th April which took over Twitter and of course #UKYAChat. Always worth a look in and usually happens once a month. There are lots of other blogs talking about YAF that you should have a peek at too. Just do a google search on UK young adult fiction.

In July there is to be the first Young Adult Literature Convention which is being curated by Children's Laureate, Malorie Blackman. Well worth a visit. At least it means that UK young adult fiction is getting the same sort of recognition that young adult fiction gets in the US. It is not surprising considering we keep reading about the number of adults who would rather read YAF and it is a burgeoning area of research within academia too. It has been a long time coming. There are some truly outstanding YA writers in this country and it is about time they are recognised. I am not even going to attempt to list them here. Just trust me and investigate for yourself.

This is all wonderful news for me, particularly as I also write YAF and I am an academic who counts YAF as once of my specialisms.

During all my stress of the last month I have to admit there was a little bit of my own excitement when the wonderful IC was telling me about the buzz that is surrounding my own novel when she took the synopsis up to LBF. Just need to find the time to get it polished. Anyone have  a machine that can create extra time? I need a few hours.

Time for a bit of music - what shall we have...Oh yes I know...Lily Allen's Alfie. Those who know my family might just understand why and thank you CT for reminding me x

Diversity, Inclusion & Equality Special Edition of Write4Children

Just a quick post as the latest edition of the open access e-journal Write4Children (www.write4children.org, click on Vol IV Issue II) went live this week. It is a special edition that has been guest edited by Beth Cox and Alexandra Strickland of Inclusive Minds (www.inclusiveminds.com).

It is a mammoth edition full of an eclectic mix of articles that deal with a diverse (appropriately) range of subjects. Well worth having a look at. Though by accident our timing seemed perfect considering Malorie Blackman, a great supporter of diversity, as has been previously mentioned was named as the Waterstone's Children's Laureate.

The articles, in the main, are about books already written and not about writing books. However, I think it is important as authors that we are aware of these issues too.

We are always looking for good articles on the creative aspects of writing for children. Send them to me at write4children@winchester.ac.uk

Seems appropriate considering some of the things I have seen this week: Tears for Fears 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World'. Takes me back...Happy Days

Sex in YAF

My PhD on sex, drugs and alcohol in YAF
from 2011

At the weekend I mentioned to you that it had been two years to the day that I had done my PhD viva. My thesis title is 'The Issues of Representation/Representing Sex, Drugs and Alcohol in British Contemporary YAF.' There have been a few academics who have disagreed with my thoughts, in particular, the idea that YAF is a great place for teenagers to explore contentious issues through the vicarious experience. So today it was with great delight that I read an article by Malorie Blackman (see here ) where she said exactly the same thing. Along with Melvin Burgess who highlights that teenagers can cope with anything as long as it is put in context.

Many suggest that YAF should be the last place that contentious issues such as sex should be discussed implying that innocence should be maintained. They seem to forget the open access many teenagers have to porn and the such like via various mediums including the internet and let's be honest this is the last place we want them to be learning about sex. It objectifies women and brutalizes the sex as also highlighted by Malorie. It is anything but real.

Reading allows a teenager to find out who they are, or even, and perhaps more importantly, who they are not. Searching for an identity. Reading, either via a book or an e-book, allows them to take away what they want to from the narrative.  It enables them to safely ask questions of the narrative without fear of embarrassment or mockery. It is all about the vicarious experience where a teenager can decide how they would react in any given situation by reading stories and seeing how the character's behave. They may agree/empathise with them, they may not. There are no rules just opportunities to explore. To test the world.

Importantly no teenager is going to come to a story in ignorance. They will probably know a lot more than they can even articulate. As writers it is up to us to provide them with those stories. They must be strong and are so real that they ring true with the reader and therefore they will connect with them. My research highlighted how sex has become more graphic in YAF but I see this as no bad thing. I would rather teenagers learnt about sex from the more realistic approaches of Malorie, Melvin Burgess and others than by trawling through any porn sites.

I am really looking forward to Malorie Blackman being the Children's Laureate. She talks so much sense and writes great books. What more could we ask for?

I have written several times in this blog before which you may be interested but is risky getting repetitive - come on everyone move on please
http://chaosmos-outofchaoscomesorder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/sex-in-young-adult-fiction-move-along.html
There was also the 'sick lit' debate
http://chaosmos-outofchaoscomesorder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-sick-lit-debate.html

I couldn't really put up any other music than Ian Drury & The Blockheads 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'

Books that silently follow you....

The love of books

A colleague's Facebook status made me stop and think. They had been to see a play and they were saying how good it was it had been silently following her several days afterwards. How many times can you think of books that have done that to you? You finish reading them but yet several days later they still come back to haunt you - in a good way. They make you ask questions of yourself and your surroundings perhaps. Or have just wrapped their metaphoric arms around you making you feel warm and wonderful.

Lots of books used to do that to me when I was a child. I was an avid reader. I used to love escaping into their worlds and then creating my own. Books like Noel Streatfield's Ballet Shoes was one, Nina Bawden's Carrie's War, K.M.Peyton's Fly-by-night, Philippa Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden and, of course, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, all had that sort of impact. And even now if I go back to them I can get that same feeling of being at home and being thrilled by the story as they silently follow me still decades later.

As you get older it seems that not quite so many books have that impact and silently follow you. I have read many, many books over the last few years as part of my academic career. Some books have left me cold (and probably unfinished) and others I have enjoyed but they haven't stayed with me. Some books have stuck out though, books like: Louis Sachar's Holes, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Once by Morris Gleitzman, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses, Meg Rosoff's How I live now, Tabitha Suzuma's A note of madness.and Sophia Bennett's The Look. This is not an exclusive list but they were the ones that first came to mind. I have just started reading David Massey's Torn and I get the feeling that is going to be another book that silently follows me.  

To a certain extent that is the disadvantage of leading an academic career. I can read so many books that even though they may be fantastic and do live with me silently for a few days they don't stick in the mind. I think it is T.S Eliot who said every time something new is written all the authors and writing beforehand have to shift along a bit to make room, it sounds like a huge bookshelf to me and it is something I find when I am having to read so much. Some things must inevitably fall off that metaphorical book shelf. I just need to remember to go and pick them up again and put them back on the shelf, ready to be read at a later date.

What are the books that follow you silently?

Seems appropriate to listen to Simon & Garfunkel's 'Sound of Silence' for all those books that follow you silently and, with regard to my previous post, allowing your brain to be silent so you can listen to the answers. I was lucky enough to see them perform back in the early 80s.

Something to shout about - New Blog on UK YA fiction

I love UK YA

A new blog has been set up by the great writers Keris Stainton, Susie Day and Keren David. The aim is to showcase YA teen/books written by authors in Britain and provide a resource on the intenet for anyone looking for UK YA. It can be found here http://ukyabooks.wordpress.com/ Use the hashtag #UKYA to see how it is trending on Twitter.

Many of you who already follow my blog will know that though my PhD was a creative writing one, for which I wrote a YA novel, but it also looked at the changes in representation of sex, drugs and alcohol in UK YA fiction. I read some outstanding British YA whilst I was doing my research - Nicola Morgan's Wasted, Keren David's When I was Joe, Tabitha Suzuma's Forbidden, Judy Waite's Game Girls,  Lucy Christopher's Stolen (though I couldn't use this as it was based in Australia), Joanne Kenrick's Red Tears and Screwed, Kevin Brook's Candy and iboy, Alan Gibbons, Melvin Burgess, Keith Gray, Candy Gourlay, Bali Rai, Jenny Valentine.....  This is just a mere sample of all the books I read - if you want my complete  bibliography you can always contact me. 

Rather than giving you a detailed breakdown of the differences between UK YA and US YA I suggest you check out this excellent blog post that was recently written by Anne M Leone: http://critically-yours.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/differentiating-us-and-uk-childrens.html

I found there were a lot of differences which is why I decided to focus on UK YA. It should be said that when I was doing my research a couple of years ago US YA were dealing with some things better than us - am thinking in the main LGBT here - but we are getting much better at that particular subject (for example check out Malorie Blackman's Boys Don't Cry). However, that was just one subject, I found UK YA to be very powerful and dealing with some pretty contentious subjects that US YA just wouldn't touch. Give me UK YA over US YA anytime.

I am currently doing some further research on this subject as I have been asked to write about the differences between UK YA and Canadian YA for their excellent journal Jeunesse - so watch this space for more thoughts on the subject.

Feel free to share this new blog information. We want to shout about UK YA fiction.

I know this blog post is late but it has has been a difficult couple of weeks including a few moments of 'shards of ice in my heart' but this song is for all my third years who have just left us. That was pretty emotional too! It is Armand Amar's  La Genèse.