Why Terry Deary is wrong about authors Moira Butterfield

Horrible Histories author Terry Deary has been slagging off books and authors again, suggesting to the BBC that all other authors (but him) are privileged idiots. The BBC printed it all without question, so I’d like to refute a few of his pronouncements here.

"The problem with non-fiction books is they're written by experts who wouldn't know a child if it jumped up and bit them on the kneecap," he says.

In fact children’s non-fiction authors are professional writers. Their careers are based on being skilled at writing for an age-group.  Many have teaching experience. Many have kids. Some visit schools. Many also write novels and short stories. I know this because I belong to a large discussion group of children’s non-fiction authors from around the country (Nibweb). Mr Deary doesn’t. 

In fact non-fiction is having a bit of a golden moment, with amazing artists being put together with imaginative authors. (I don’t think he’s noticed).

"In the publishing industry, I'm a fish out of water," he says. "I don't do literary festivals. And I don't mix with the literati."

Who is this literati? Do we have one in children’s books? It seems to me we’re all pretty inclusive and supportive, and we can contact each other easily. I've found so, anyway. 

"I only know one northern children's writer now," he says - singling out Skellig author David Almond.

Lots of authors I know come from the north/live in the north. Does he mean ‘write with a northern voice’? He doesn’t seem to do that himself.

"There are 100 southern middle-class women [writing books]. And it's business. Southern middle class girls read books. So the publishers publish books for them. Northern working class lads don't read books, so why bother publishing books for them?"

I know there are kid's authors who travel round northern schools and get a great reception. He's really stereotyping northern kids here, isn't he. 

By the way, about half of the Nibweb non-fiction writing members are male. There are also single parents and carers, and we’re not dilettante posh folk. There are all kinds of people, in all kinds of situations, doing their best to write fiction, too. There are men doing it, despite what he says. 

Many of us non-fiction writers have been fighting for years to get non-fiction valued in schools and in bookshops because we knew that some children love it (yes, some boys, in particular). We’ve carried on in the face of low payments and tough income choices. Bring a non-fiction author is most definitely not a cushy number financially. It’s pretty tough, to be honest. I’m certainly not driving a new car…. Given the overall author income figures we have recently seen writing is not a 'middle class' choice as a career, I don't think. Wouldn't it be great if we got some support from Terry Deary? 

I’d say that overall in kid's publishing people have been working really hard to try to get books out there for the ‘non-readers’ he mentions. People have also been working really hard to get diversity into books of all kinds. And I know from reading the blogs that authors are deeply engaged in trying to open up school visits to every kind of school, and generally in the politics of education. Children's authors are also very engaged in supporting each other. So, although the children's book world is by no means perfect, I find it a vibrant forward-looking place. 

But Mr Deary says he doesn't mix with authors and he doesn't read books, so I guess there's quite a lot he doesn't know about - and a heck of a lot he's missing. That's a shame because he gets publicity and he's in a position to help. 

Moira Butterfield

www.moirabutterfield.com

Twitter @moiraworld

Instagram @moirabutterfieldauthor 

Oh, Deary Me - John Dougherty

By and large, children's authors are a friendly bunch. We tend to be nice, and helpful, and whilst we come in various levels of forthrightness there are very few I have ever met and not liked, even when we have been in disagreement.

So I hope it will be understood how much it pains me to say that Horrible Histories author Terry Deary has lately been behaving like a great steaming prat.

For those of you who may have missed the row, it begins with Sunderland Council, like so many others, considering sweeping cuts to the library service - including closures - in order to save money. According to the Sunderland Echo, "Sunderland-born Terry Deary welcomed the plans". The Echo goes on to quote Deary as saying that libraries "have had their day... The book is old technology and we have to move on, so good luck to the council.” The following day Deary told the BBC that the closures were "long overdue".

Not unsurprisingly, a lot of authors got a bit cross about this. Now let me make one thing clear: I fully believe that Deary has the right to express his opinion. But that being so, others have the right to express their opinions of his opinion, and many did.

One such has been Alan Gibbons, tireless campaigner for libraries and the importance of the book. You can read Alan's statement here. I think it's pretty measured, all told, and addresses Deary's points, such as they are.

Deary's response? He rudely refers to Alan as "that Gibbon bloke", responds to his offer of a public debate with the offensively dismissive "in his dreams", misrepresents his comments, and with enormous irony accuses him of making "offensive personal remarks".

Oddly for someone with such sensitivity to "offensive personal remarks", Deary also claimed to the Independent that the authors who were criticising him were "the ones with small minds to match their small talents". Riiiiiiiiight. That would be authors like the small-minded and untalented Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Julia Donaldson, David Almond, Joanne Harris, Matt Haig...

I think that what distresses me most about all of this is that Deary seems to think he's being clever and radical, when in fact all he's doing is chucking about unsubstantiated and inflammatory assertions and then getting cross when people rise to the bait. But I get the feeling that this is his modus operandi.

Back in October 2011, I happened to hear Deary on Woman's Hour, debating with Susan Greenfield on the subject of traditional books and new technologies. Norwegian researcher Anna Mangan also contributed, citing empirical research that suggested that printed matter supports reading comprehension better than screen technology. Deary's response? He dismissed the research as "quite laughable" and "deeply flawed" and the researcher as "just another Luddite". The clip is worth a listen simply to hear Greenfield challenging Deary on his inconsistencies.

And inconsistent he is. The Independent article I linked to above has him saying both :

"It is for me to challenge the established, failing, unfair, irrelevant established order. It needs to be opened up for public debate,"

and:

"I haven’t the time to expend hot air on a meaningless discussion that would change nothing; nor have I the inclination to discuss a topic that no one really cares about."

He also, having made the remarks quoted above, says in another interview "I never attacked libraries," despite, in an interview with The Guardian, claiming "libraries are cutting [authors'] throats and slashing their purses".

And this seems to be the nub of the matter. Deary - one of the UK's most-borrowed authors - appears to believe that if libraries didn't exist then every borrowing would translate into a sale, and instead of £6,000 per year PLR, he'd be making an extra £180,000. Well, I can tell you, Terry - speaking as a not enormously high-earning author whose ten-year old reads even more than I do - that that's just not true. If libraries didn't exist, I'd have to read less. And so would my children. And so would all the other children who depend on libraries. Deary is attacking libraries, despite his protestations; and in doing so, whether or not he realises it, he's attacking literacy. And attacking them with arguments which are flimsy at best, and at worst simply unfounded.

Deary is already a fierce critic of schools - in one interview suggesting that children "should leave school at 11 and go to work" - and has previously called for schools to be banned from using his books, and there is for me a huge irony in his now adding libraries to his hit-list. Because I very strongly suspect that were it not for all the teachers and librarians who have championed his books, few of us would ever have heard of Terry Deary.

Two comments to finish with: firstly, I trust that Mr Deary - should he ever deign to read this post, written as it is by someone he would doubtless dismiss as having a small mind and a small talent - will not accuse me of having called him a great steaming prat. I haven't. I have accused him of lately behaving like one, which is quite different.

And secondly: petty of me, perhaps, but I can't help but be amused by this.
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John's website is at www.visitingauthor.com.
He's on twitter as @JohnDougherty8

His most recent books include:

Finn MacCool and the Giant's Causeway - a retelling for the Oxford Reading Tree
Bansi O'Hara and the Edges of Hallowe'en
Zeus Sorts It Out - "A sizzling comedy... a blast for 7+" , and one of The Times' Children's Books of 2011, as chosen by Amanda Craig