Chicken House

Subject LUCY CHRISTOPHER'S SECRETS REVEALED ...

ByTina

Lucy Christopher fans are in for a treat, as the Stolen author teams up with fellow best-selling teen author Maggie Stiefvater for a live web chat on US based website Figment.com on Tuesday 15th May.

The event, called The Voices in My Head, will start at 3pm (GMT) and is aimed at writers who want to learn the secrets of developing authentic character voices - or at readers who just want to hear about how Lucy and Maggie do just that in their award-winning novels.

The event is also supported by This is Teen, a brilliant US website specifically dedicated to awesome books for teens.

To whet your appetite, here is a video of Lucy Christopher reading from Stolen...

Subject STOLEN WINS THE PRESTIGIOUS PRIX FARNIENTE

ByTina

Lucy Christopher is the winner of yet another international award for her sensitive teen novel Stolen.

Lucy's remarkable debut won the Branford Boase award on publication in the UK and helped establish her as an internationally successful author of teen and children's fiction.

Lucy received the Prix Farniente for the French language edition of Stolen (Lettre a mon Ravisseur) at an awards ceremony in Belgium this weekend.  Speaking of the experience, Lucy said:

"The Prix Farniente is a wonderful and important prize in Belgium, particularly as the winner is decided entirely on votes by teenage readers.  I feel super special to have won the "Two Baskets" category for the French translation of my novel. I had an amazing day, and felt so welcomed by the prize committee and the friendly, funny and intelligent teenage readers."

Stolen is also the recipient of a Gold Inky Award in Australia and a Printz Honor Book Award in the USA.

Subject WORLD WAR II ADVENTURE, HITLER'S ANGEL, PUBLISHED TODAY.

ByTina

Hollywood screenwriter, William Osborne, will see his first children's book hit the shelves today. Hitler's Angel is a fantastic blend of historical fact and fiction, described by The Bookseller as 'Nailbiting'. Our very own 'boy book blogger', Freddie, gives it the thumbs up too. Visit The sCoop! to read his full review. William will be at Hay festival (7th June) and is also appearing on the schools' programme at Bath Kid's Lit Fest.

Subject THE TIMES/CHICKEN HOUSE CHILDREN’S FICTION COMPETITION 2013 IS NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES!

ByTina

The search is on to find another fantastic writer of children’s fiction!

If you think you have what it takes to be a children’s author you have from now until 26 October 2012 to complete your manuscript and enter it into our competition.

We are looking for fresh and original stories, brilliantly written, for children aged 7-18 years. A team of Chicken House readers will read each and every entry before selecting a longlist of up to 20 manuscripts. The longlist will be whittled down to a shortlist of 5 by Barry Cunningham and the Chicken House editorial team.

A winner will be selected by a panel of judges in March 2013 – the pize being a worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House, with an advance of £10,000 (subject to contract).

The judges for this year’s competition are all leading figures in the world of children’s literature, and include commercial children’s book buyers, literary agents, librarians and children’s literary critics. We’re thrilled to welcome this year’s guest author judge, Radio 2 Presenter and children’s novellist, Simon Mayo, to the panel.

Click here to read the full Terms and Conditions and to find out how to enter your manuscript.

Overseas Entrants: For instructions on how to make the £15 payment and send your entry, please email tina@doublecluck.com.

Subject WINNER OF THE TIMES/CHICKEN HOUSE CHILDREN'S FICTION COMPETITION 2012!

ByTina

With his swashbuckling tale of poison, intrigue and betrayal, Fletcher Moss is the winner of this year’s Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition.

Sleepwell and Fly is the story of  Sal Sleepwell and Dalton Fly, two young ‘poison boys’ working as food tasters for the idle rich who find themselves entangled in a murky and murderous plot – which forces them on the run in search of an elusive antidote.

A panel of distinguished judges – all key figures in the field of children’s literature – were unanimous in their decision, despite the strength of this year’s shortlist. The Times children’s literary critic and competition judge, Amanda Craig, described Moss’ novel as ‘oozing raw talent’, while fellow judge, and bestselling children’s author, Michelle Paver, loved the novel’s ‘visceral style’ and the ‘utterly believable friendship between the two food tasters’.

Writing under the pseudonym Fletcher Moss (in tribute to an Alderman of the city of Manchester), the busy assistant headteacher of a large state secondary school is thrilled to have made an important step towards joining the ranks of his literary heroes:

"I always wanted to write, but it took me a long time to find the confidence to leave trends behind…Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines trilogy was sort of an epiphany for me… It opened my eyes to the possibilities of writing for younger audiences and redefined the genre [for me].”

Moss is now set to work with the Chicken House editorial team, including Barry Cunningham, to turn the raw manuscript into what promises to be a remarkably exciting and original debut novel. The competition was set up in order to give promising new writers a chance at having, as Barry Cunningham himself says, ‘the career they thought was impossible’. Something he did for J.K. Rowling when he gave Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone its big break.

Barry Cunningham is certainly excited about the potential in Moss’ winning manuscript:

“This is a world to keep you awake at night. So astonishing visually that you could touch and taste it – but beware of just who’s poisoning who. And for what!”

The search for the next promising unpublished children’s author will soon be underway.

The 2013 competition will open for entries on the 7^th April.

For more details, visit the Submissions page of the website.

Subject ANOTHER BRILLIANT BOLOGNA

ByTina

Elinor and Barry had a wonderful time at Bologna with all Chicken House's new titles being received with huge enthusiasm. Janet Foxley made a fabulous model of Muncle Trogg especially for the fair and he was a wild success. He signed books, rode about on people’s shoulders and took a fancy to a Russian hat held by Arkady Vitrouk his Russian publisher. The next hurdle in this Olympic year is the London bookfair. Please contact Elinor for appointments.