Patrick Ness's Blog, page 23

A Monster Calls discussion guide

Back from holiday, and can swoop in real quick to say that Candlewick, my US publishers, have made a really nice discussion guide for A Monster Calls (it's out there next month).  Check it out.

Also I'm up at the Edinburgh Book Festival this Saturday and Sunday doing three events.  All details here, hope to see you there.

Greetings to the new commenters, and remember you can follow me on Twitter, if you like, on @Patrick_Ness.  More soon.

BBC

Quick hit as I've been on holiday (and still sort of am).  There was a really nice story on the BBC about A Monster Calls, check it out here.

And don't forget I'm at the Edinburgh Book Festival next weekend (20/21 August).  All details here (and yep, book signings after).

Greetings to the HUGE amount of new commenters.  I do read them all, so great to hear from you and from all different kinds of people, too.  More soon...

Events! Yes, I'm doing events.

Tons of them, it turns out.  And all over the world!  And all through August, September and a bit in October.  Coming soon:

First up, is the Edinburgh Book Festival, where I'm doing three events: two on Saturday, 20 August (a solo one on A Monster Calls and one on the Guardian Award with Andy Stanton) and one on Sunday, 21 August (about dystopias).  Tickets available here.

Then on 7 September, I'm appearing with Meg Rosoff in the Schools Programme of the Mountains to Sea Festival in Dublin.  Info here.

From 12-15 September, I'm touring Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the German-language launch of A Monster Calls ("Sieben Minuten nach Mitternacht").  As soon as I've got a full schedule, I'll put it up.

Then I'm off to South Africa!  Isn't that cool?  I'll be appearing at the Cape Town Open Book Festival from 20-24 September, as well as talking to a bunch of schools in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Again, as soon as I've got all the details, I'll put 'em up.

And then it looks like I'm appearing at the Cheltenham Book Festival back in England on 8 October, but that may not be officially announced yet (so shhh...).  More details as and when.

Greets to the new commenters and it's summer, so there could be a slow-down in updates for bit, but I promise as soon as there's news, it'll be right back up here.  Now, go outside!

Norway

My grandfather immigrated to the US from Norway.  Norway is where I get my tallness, my freckly skin, and my last name.  My first book was dedicated to my beloved Norwegian great aunt.  I have cousins who live there.

And so all day today, I just can't stop thinking about Norway.  Though I imagine, neither can you.  All I can do is send the kindest thoughts I have.

New videos

Just a quick hit today to say that there are some new videos on the web that you might like.  The first are these absolutely STUNNING trailers for the German version of A Monster Calls, which they're calling Sieben Minuten nach Mitternacht.  It's out in late August in both adult and children's version.

The next is a panel I did in Munich a few weeks ago for the DLDWomen Conference.  The panel is chaired by the excellent Dr Maria Furtwangler (a very famous actress who's reading the German audiobook for A Monster Calls) and also has the supreme film director and novelist Shamim Sarif.  A good time was had, though I do fidget and have a cold sore, alas.

And finally, here's a video interview I did for Germany as well (same cold sore!).

Greetings to the very, very lovely new commenters and more soon.

New event added at Edinburgh Book Fest!

I'm now doing three events at Edinburgh Book Festival this year.  They've just asked me to do a new one.  So that means I'm now doing a solo event on A Monster Calls on Saturday, 20 August at 3.30 pm.  Tickets for that are here.

Next, I'm doing an event surrounding the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize on Saturday, 20 August at 6pm with the excellent Andy Stanton and Julia Eccleshare.  Tickets for that one are here.

And finally, I'm doing an event about dystopias with Moira Young, author of Blood Red Road, on Sunday, 21 August at 3.30pm and tickets for that one are here.

It's be great to see you all there.  Edinburgh is always terrific.  And by the way, don't forget to follow me on Twitter (if you're so inclined) on @Patrick_Ness.  I announced these there as well, just like Posh did with Harper Seven.  Really, it's exactly the same.

Back from holiday

Just back from a nice, sunny holiday and almost entirely away from the internet (you should try it!).  Not a ton of news, as it's summer, but a couple of very nice reviews of A Monster Calls in the Telegraph and an excellent starred review of the US version in Kirkus.

Don't forget I'm appearing at the Edinburgh Festival on 20/21 August.  All details here.

And big greetings to all the new commenters while I was away.  I'm sorry I can't answer every question (though I do try to answer some in the comments), but I do read them all.  More soon.

Hero column and Scotsman review

Just back from appearing on a terrifically fun panel at the DLD Women conference in Munich, and so a few quick hits today that I've written today's My Hero column in the Guardian on Martina Navratilova.  Who rocks.

There's also a very nice review of A Monster Calls in the Scotsman by the excellent Keith Gray, and really cool coverage of the Carnegie win for Monsters of Men on the official Amazon.com blog in America.

Greetings to the new commenters, I'm on holiday for a bit now (at last!) so might be a break in updates, but really, you should be on holiday, too, frankly.  It's summer.  Or winter.  Depending on your hemisphere.

Edinburgh Festival Tickets and the Carnegie Speech

Hi, all, tickets for the Edinburgh Book Festival are now on sale!  I'm doing two events, a solo event about A Monster Calls on Saturday, 20 August, and a panel event on dystopias with Moira Young on Sunday, 21 August.  Tickets are available here.

Also, rather sheepishly, but I've been getting requests for it:  if you'd like to HEAR me give that Carnegie speech (with all the ums and pauses and swearing), you can do so here.

Greetings to the HUGE batch of new commenters, including no less than the estimable Anne Fine, former Children's Laureate.  Excellent, great to hear from you all!  More soon...

Carnegie Medal

I've won the Carnegie Medal for Monsters of Men, which is just unbelievably brilliant!  You should check out both the people who award it and the brilliant Shadowing Scheme that accompanies it.

I gave an acceptance speech, which included a defence of both libraries and young readers, and it's kind of taken off, unexpectedly.  You can read the whole speech here, and there's further coverage on the BBC, the Guardian, the Evening Standard, and the Bookseller.

There's also a really nice (and lengthy!) profile of me in today's Independent, though I do have to say I'm not actually 40 just yet. Inevitably, though.  And I was also on Front Row on Radio 4 (at about 22 minutes, after Barry Manilow!).

Thanks so much to all the congrats from the new commenters.  Busy days!