Patrick Ness's Blog, page 38

A busy week

Lots of stuff to do about the Costa Book Awards this week, including an appearance on Swansea radio.  I've also been:  writing, writing, writing (new stuff, but still secret, shhhh), reading lots, having a review printed in the Guardian, slipping on a frozen country, and gearing up for a busy week ahead.  Things are percolating, but there'll be announcements soon, including my full Australia/NZ itinerary.

In the meantime, hello to all the new commenters I couldn't name individually over the...

The Ask and the Answer wins the Costa Award (and I get interviewed on the BBC about it)

So how's that for a good day?  I not only win the Costa Children's Book Award for The Ask and the Answer (and didn't the judges say nice things about it?), but I also got interviewed about it on the BBC.  Cool.

Happy New Year (comments)

I wasn't planning on writing a new entry until next week (I repeat, even authors need a break), but the comments were piling up, so a special all-comment entry.

A couple things about comments, by the way.  They don't go up until I approve them (saves on spam), which means I do read them all.  I also regularly strip out last names, just to protect some of the very youngest commenters.  And also, many of the questions I get (like when does Monsters of Men come out) are answered elsewhere on the ...

Happy Holidays and the year to come...

This will probably be my last entry for the year (even writers deserve a rest now and then), so just to say happy holidays to everyone who's been so great to me through 2009!  And here's to a great 2010, where all kinds of things are coming...

In 2010, Monsters of Men will be released of course (May in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and September in the US and Canada), as well as in German (details when I have them).  2010 will also see French and Spanish versions of The Ask and the...

CBC Radio

A quick hit today (I'm busy writing, writing, writing; things I can't quite tell you about yet, but it'll be exciting, trust me).  Today's hit is particularly for Canadians.  CBC Radio has a book programme called The Next Chapter, and this week they did children's book recommendations and had a nice little natter about The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and The Answer, which is very cool.  You can dowload the podcast here (it's "The Next Chapter", 14 December). 

I've always liked...

Ask in more year-end round-ups and on Radio 4

It's been a busy week!  Not much time for updates, but I've got a few minutes just to say that The Ask and the Answer has been included in a number of new year-end round-ups, from as far away as the Ottawa Citizen, the BookPage in America, and both the Irish Independent and the Irish Times (by the wonderful Robert Dunbar).

There's also an especially excellent paragraph about it in today's Independent on Sunday by Daniel Hahn, one of the Booktrust Teenage Prize judges.  Very nice.

The Ask and...

Finally over that pesky cold

I'm finally over that pesky cold; I don't think the English weather is helping at all, it's been freezing and wet lately, pretty much everyday. 

But a nice mention for The Ask and the Answer in a year-end round-up in the Telegraph by Philip Womack, who incidentally gave The Knife of Never Letting Go one its very best reviews in The Literary Review.  Cheers for that!

I also wanted to mention a very excellent blog from the US called Books Not Bombs.  It's run by a high school student called...

Comments, comments, comments

Since I've been back from holiday (in rainy Cornwall), I've been in rainy London, with a very rainy cold that hasn't left me feeling like updating much.  So, with no news, just a big hello to newest commenters:

Hello again to Jenny, who seems to have bought more than her fair share of copies, and to Ciara (cheers for liking that article, I believe it).

Hello to Natasha, who has an excellent question about the "I heard a maiden call" song.  The song is an old English folk tune called "Early One ...

Another quick hit from the holiday

Well, my holiday's almost over (not quite, but almost), so just enough time to slip in and say that Lucy Mangan in today's Guardian said something very, very nice about the Chaos Walking books.  I've never met her, so it was a complete surprise, and an extremely nice one at that.  Cool.

Costa Book Awards

In haste, as I'm on holiday at the moment:

The Ask and the Answer has been shortlisted for the very groovy Costa Book Awards, alongside the lovely Mary Hoffman for Troubadour, the late Siobhan Dowd for Solace of the Road, and Anna Perera for Guantanamo Boy.  Good luck to all of us, eh?

And a very quick hello to all the new commenters:  Maria, Kaitlyn, Justin, Megan, Thomas, Nicki, Thomas (again, hi!), Ben, Brianna and Hannah.  Great to hear from you all.  More later, but now back to my...