tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post1716948499637494702..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-64247438448291324902014-03-28T08:54:25.119+00:002014-03-28T08:54:25.119+00:00Thank you Elen, Malachy, Penny and Joan.
I too li...Thank you Elen, Malachy, Penny and Joan. <br />I too listened to that Ted talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and thoroughly agree with her that there is no single story. <br />Look forward to spreading more info about Latin American children's lit. Maeve Friel https://www.blogger.com/profile/06272361822809305560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-80385809944552001012014-03-28T08:50:06.035+00:002014-03-28T08:50:06.035+00:00Hello Dianne, thank you for your comment and your ...Hello Dianne, thank you for your comment and your tweet. Do you know Paula Leyden who was born in Kenya, brought up in Zambia and lived for many years in South Africa. She lives in Ireland now and has written two novels set in Africa - The Baobab Tree is short listed for the Children's Books Ireland awards - see main article. She is published by Walker. http://www.walker.co.uk/contributors/Paula-Leyden-9126.aspx<br />By the way I have just ordered your Giraffe book which sounds wonderful. Maeve Friel https://www.blogger.com/profile/06272361822809305560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-3672470512953896152014-03-23T21:38:10.923+00:002014-03-23T21:38:10.923+00:00Brilliant. I think this post needs more wide sprea...Brilliant. I think this post needs more wide spread recognition. Going on to Twitter right now. It was impossible for me to sell my story set in Botswana here in the UK. Too place specific I was told. But its really just an adventure story set in Botswana. Don't we want to encourage children to step out? Homogenizing everything makes for a very bland taste. Dianne Hofmeyrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222157214605257030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-1762924929745292182014-03-23T12:17:22.258+00:002014-03-23T12:17:22.258+00:00Thanks for including me, Maeve. I agree with Penn...Thanks for including me, Maeve. I agree with Penny's concerns about the internationalisation / Americanisation of story. That's partly why I make a point of placing some of my books with Irish and Welsh publishers, who actively encourage place-specific stories. malachy doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14428551785118345251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-79106752731898812462014-03-23T10:23:33.113+00:002014-03-23T10:23:33.113+00:00Wonderfully wide view of writing, and what matters...Wonderfully wide view of writing, and what matters. THANK YOU! So often we (by which I probably mean I!) see the US & UK title lists as all the titles there are, while obviously knowing they are not. So thanks for all these interesting "new" titles and writers.<br /><br />Personally, while I agree with readers seeing themselves in everything - and hooray for that - I also worry that the demands/costs of publishing means that geographically specific locations and stories are fading as "they won't sell well" outside wherever. (Have just been asked to play down a London setting in a story for a reading scheme as they need to sell as widely as possible.) But maybe I'm just grumpy.Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-53714332090575040862014-03-23T09:27:17.014+00:002014-03-23T09:27:17.014+00:00"Our readers can be trusted to see themselves..."Our readers can be trusted to see themselves in a duck or a Victorian puppeteer or an African child or a disgruntled beige crayon." I think they can.Joan Lennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15763862159032836768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-54138496467260066412014-03-23T08:30:47.341+00:002014-03-23T08:30:47.341+00:00Oh, and great reading project, by the way!Oh, and great reading project, by the way!Elen Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00445201005486291612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-87216389169183345262014-03-23T08:30:20.484+00:002014-03-23T08:30:20.484+00:00I think you raise an interesting question. Of cour...I think you raise an interesting question. Of course, no writer should be forced to include their personal geography (I've never written about Wales!). However, I think no one should think that their experience 'isn't what book are about' (see Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED talk on the 'single story'). If the default of every writer is middle-class, white, Oxford, regardless of where they grew up, then the literary world is all the poorer, I think.Elen Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00445201005486291612noreply@blogger.com