Jon Blake's Blog, page 2
September 4, 2013
Leonard Cohen in Cardiff
What an irony that Leonard Cohen, famous for his mournfulness, can create as joyous an event as his gig in Cardiff last night. His warmth, his humour, his humility, his generosity of spirit - not to mention one or two great songs - created as strong a bond as I've witnessed between performer and audience. At 78, he skipped off the stage at the end of two hours' performance - then came back for an hour's encore, in whch he introduced his band members for (I think) the fourth time. But what a band - every member a virtuoso - and in Sharon Robinson and the Webb sisters, backing singers easily good enough to fill the Motorpoint on their own. Personally I prefer Cohen and Robinson singing the fabulous Alexandra Leaving together, but her solo performance brought the house down. A great night. It's inspired me to get the guitar out and get back on stage - for anyone interested, some of my songs are at http://www.reverbnation.com/jonblake.
April 5, 2013
New website is up!
For several years I have intended to update my tired old site at www.jonblake.co.uk, and a week or so ago finally bought a copy of Serif Webplus X5. Serif produce cheap and easy-to-use software and if you buy the edition before the current one, it will not break the bank. However, it very nearly did break me, owing to the fact at the age of 58 I still have the enthusiasm of a six-year-old, an enthusiasm not matched by equivalent energy and health. Nevertheless I started work every morning when I woke up and stopped when my hands would no longer move. In consequence I now have a blood glucose level about three times what it ought to be but a finished site!
There are still one or two problems with the site on some servers and I am impatiently waiting for http://www.jonblake.co.uk to point to it, but for now it can be viewed at http://jonblake.webplus.net. I would be immensely grateful for feedback.
There are still one or two problems with the site on some servers and I am impatiently waiting for http://www.jonblake.co.uk to point to it, but for now it can be viewed at http://jonblake.webplus.net. I would be immensely grateful for feedback.
March 20, 2013
The Goodreads Guide to Welsh Children's Authors
Who are the most popular Welsh children's authors worldwide? It was never a question which bothered me in the slightest until a series of literary events in Wales caused me to consider how writers get selected for these: their literary importance? Their pulling power? Or simply who they know?
Wales has its own literary sphere, including a publishing industry vital to the survival of Welsh-language literature, which can mean that writers unknown to the rest of the world may be quite prominent here. So how can we tell who's doing well beyond this one small country?
I decided to research this via the world's largest book-readers' social network, Goodreads. Goodreads now boasts over 30 million viewers a month. 14 million book fans post reviews and book ratings on the site, which is also the largest book app on Facebook. Though still slanted towards the US, it is growing massively in the UK and other countries. It's not a definitive test of an author's popularity, since it a home for book-lovers rather than all those who might read a book; authors who target more reluctant readers may therefore be underrated. However, if we consider the big three Welsh children's writers – Philip Pullman, Jenny Nimmo and Catherine Fisher – their international standing is clearly reflected in the number of ratings they have on the site: Philip Pullman a massive 822,688, Jenny Nimmo 75,227 and Catherine Fisher 42,197.
Organisers of literary events, along with publishers, might well argue that they want writers with current hits, not writers who may have had their best sales twenty years ago. But current hits are reflected quickly on Goodreads. Lucy Christopher is fourth on the ratings list with 15,904 almost entirely because of her recent hit YA novel, Stolen.
Lucy Christopher, incidentally, does not live in Wales. My list includes writers born and raised here besides all those currently resident: you would not have excluded Richard Burton from a list of Welsh actors because he lived in Switzerland. But I have excluded some writers who are on the Literature Wales list because they lived in Wales for a time, or were born but not raised here.
It's a long drop from the top four to the next most popular Welsh-based authors: these are Hay-on-Wye's Jenny Valentine and two Abergavenny writers, US-born Stephanie Burgis and zoologist- author Nicola Davies.
The top twelve are completed by illustrator-author Jackie Morris, performer-author Cat Weatherill, Abertyswyth's Heather Dyer, yours truly and Frances Thomas.
It is hard not to conclude that to be a successful children's author, in Wales as elsewhere, it is no disadvantage to be a woman, to write in the fantasy genre, and to appeal primarily to girls. But once again I have to stress that this Goodreads test is just a guide, not a definitive test. The majority of my own ratings come from a YA novel, widely discussed in the blogosphere, which has sold a fraction of my most popular book, a children's picture book. Books I wrote early in my career, including good sellers, often have no ratings at all.
Then again, the pitiless test of sales figures tells us little of the importance of the books authors are writing. People might well argue, therefore, that the actual ratings, rather than the number of them, are more important (Goodreads members rate books from one to five stars and the site works out an average). Almost without exception, however, the writers on this list score between 3.5 and 4. Books divide opinion, and often the most important and courageous books divide it most deeply. When it comes to assessing the value of books, it is better to read the reviews on Goodreads and make your own judgement on the reviewers' arguments. Or even read them yourself.
What is striking about the Goodreads list is how different it would be from a list of writers getting recognition from the Welsh literary establishment. I have argued that the only children's book award in Wales, the T'ir na nOg, needs to be replaced by a Welsh Children's/YA Book of the Year, and here is why. The T'ir Na nOg, like an offshoot of the Tourist Board, rewards writers for advertising Wales, not for producing the best book of the year for young people. It is part of a comfy relationship between the Welsh government, the Welsh Books Council, and the Welsh publishing industry. Almost invariably the award is won by authors who write for Pont/Gomer or another small Welsh press – yet how many authors who write regularly or exclusively for these publishing houses are in the Goodreads top ten? Not one.
Of course, authors who are of particular interest to Welsh readers should expect to feature in Welsh literary events, and needless to say so should those Welsh-language authors who, unless translated, will never attract a worldwide readership. But some of us are not getting a fair crack of the whip. It is time to ask questions of those paid to distribute large sums of public money to promote literature in Wales. Do you know your stuff about the writers you are supposed to represent? What are your criteria in choosing who to promote? And might a little democracy be introduced into the process?
Wales has its own literary sphere, including a publishing industry vital to the survival of Welsh-language literature, which can mean that writers unknown to the rest of the world may be quite prominent here. So how can we tell who's doing well beyond this one small country?
I decided to research this via the world's largest book-readers' social network, Goodreads. Goodreads now boasts over 30 million viewers a month. 14 million book fans post reviews and book ratings on the site, which is also the largest book app on Facebook. Though still slanted towards the US, it is growing massively in the UK and other countries. It's not a definitive test of an author's popularity, since it a home for book-lovers rather than all those who might read a book; authors who target more reluctant readers may therefore be underrated. However, if we consider the big three Welsh children's writers – Philip Pullman, Jenny Nimmo and Catherine Fisher – their international standing is clearly reflected in the number of ratings they have on the site: Philip Pullman a massive 822,688, Jenny Nimmo 75,227 and Catherine Fisher 42,197.
Organisers of literary events, along with publishers, might well argue that they want writers with current hits, not writers who may have had their best sales twenty years ago. But current hits are reflected quickly on Goodreads. Lucy Christopher is fourth on the ratings list with 15,904 almost entirely because of her recent hit YA novel, Stolen.
Lucy Christopher, incidentally, does not live in Wales. My list includes writers born and raised here besides all those currently resident: you would not have excluded Richard Burton from a list of Welsh actors because he lived in Switzerland. But I have excluded some writers who are on the Literature Wales list because they lived in Wales for a time, or were born but not raised here.
It's a long drop from the top four to the next most popular Welsh-based authors: these are Hay-on-Wye's Jenny Valentine and two Abergavenny writers, US-born Stephanie Burgis and zoologist- author Nicola Davies.
The top twelve are completed by illustrator-author Jackie Morris, performer-author Cat Weatherill, Abertyswyth's Heather Dyer, yours truly and Frances Thomas.
It is hard not to conclude that to be a successful children's author, in Wales as elsewhere, it is no disadvantage to be a woman, to write in the fantasy genre, and to appeal primarily to girls. But once again I have to stress that this Goodreads test is just a guide, not a definitive test. The majority of my own ratings come from a YA novel, widely discussed in the blogosphere, which has sold a fraction of my most popular book, a children's picture book. Books I wrote early in my career, including good sellers, often have no ratings at all.
Then again, the pitiless test of sales figures tells us little of the importance of the books authors are writing. People might well argue, therefore, that the actual ratings, rather than the number of them, are more important (Goodreads members rate books from one to five stars and the site works out an average). Almost without exception, however, the writers on this list score between 3.5 and 4. Books divide opinion, and often the most important and courageous books divide it most deeply. When it comes to assessing the value of books, it is better to read the reviews on Goodreads and make your own judgement on the reviewers' arguments. Or even read them yourself.
What is striking about the Goodreads list is how different it would be from a list of writers getting recognition from the Welsh literary establishment. I have argued that the only children's book award in Wales, the T'ir na nOg, needs to be replaced by a Welsh Children's/YA Book of the Year, and here is why. The T'ir Na nOg, like an offshoot of the Tourist Board, rewards writers for advertising Wales, not for producing the best book of the year for young people. It is part of a comfy relationship between the Welsh government, the Welsh Books Council, and the Welsh publishing industry. Almost invariably the award is won by authors who write for Pont/Gomer or another small Welsh press – yet how many authors who write regularly or exclusively for these publishing houses are in the Goodreads top ten? Not one.
Of course, authors who are of particular interest to Welsh readers should expect to feature in Welsh literary events, and needless to say so should those Welsh-language authors who, unless translated, will never attract a worldwide readership. But some of us are not getting a fair crack of the whip. It is time to ask questions of those paid to distribute large sums of public money to promote literature in Wales. Do you know your stuff about the writers you are supposed to represent? What are your criteria in choosing who to promote? And might a little democracy be introduced into the process?
March 19, 2013
The fight against illiteracy and the Cardiff Children's Literature Festival
When Cardiff Council asked me to launch their Reading Power literacy campaign, they almost certainly did not know how much of my life had been dedicated to the battle against illiteracy. I was brought up in a largely impoverished area of Southampton where there was an entire class of my primary school (the sinisterly named 'Remove') dedicated to the functionally illiterate. I was part of a small minority fortunate enough to have high literacy skills, and though I was happy to trumpet my abilities to anyone who would listen, I was equally happy to help out others with spelling or grammar.
In the 1970s I studied English and Education at York under the radical educationalist Ian Lister. Here I came across the work of Paolo Freire, with his emphasis on the necessity of teaching relevant and empowering words to the peasantry of Brazil in order to combat illiteracy.
After a couple of years as a secondary English and Drama teacher, I went to to teach what FE institutions euphemistically called “Communications” to YTS trainees, some the product of custodial institutions. Unable to make any progress with them through conventional methods, I started recording their life experiences, typing these up, and reading them back to them. Immediately these reluctant students began trying to read their own words themselves: I can still remember the glee in their eyes as they did so.
Crucial to this process was a lack of censorship. I wrote exactly what they told me, including stories of violent fights at borstal with snooker balls hidden in socks. It was crucial that they understood that the world of words did not have to mean the imposition of an alien culture.
There was an irony in this for me. When I look now at the stories I first wrote it's clear to see the horrible imprint of the bourgeois children's books I was reading. I also had to learn to speak in my own language.
My style had certainly changed when I got my first story published in 1984. My model was the informal, iconoclastic first person narrative of Huckleberry Finn. Just as my working-class mother would warmly welcome guests into her home and make them feel at ease, I wanted my books to be friendly and accessible to all. If anything I bent the stick too far and sacrificed aesthetics and calm consideration to energy and conversational manner. But I always sought out the reader whose intelligence was not always matched by a skill with words – a Billy Casper of Kes, that great 70s example of how to write for the disenfranchised.
Since that first story, over a near thirty year career, I have written for many audiences, but my concern for the reluctant reader has been a constant. A number of publishers, particularly educational publishers, produce what they call HiLo (high interest, low ability) books, and writing these naturally attracted me: plays, short novels, graphic novels, all geared at motivating those of limited reading ability to read. On the strength of this workI was asked by the OUP in 2003 to devise a series specifically for boys. Whether they expected Antony Horowitz style boy detective novels I don't know, but if so they had asked the wrong person. I wrote Stinky Finger's House of Fun, an iconoclastic, absurdist story which they duly rejected but which went on to sell 20,000 when published by Hodder, spawning five more novels which, just as planned, have engaged boy readers who had never previously shown enthusiasm for reading (as many school visits and Amazon reviews have testified).
I am proud of my back catalogue. My novels have not sold as well as those produced by the top fantasy writers, or whoever writes those stories about fairies, but I aim to write books which children and young adults find empowering and eye-opening, stories which stand against a tide which over the past thirty years has become increasingly conservative, geared not to change young people's view of themselves but to keep them in their place.
As Freire observed so long ago, you cannot combat illiteracy without changing self-image. And this has been the watchword of the community arts work I have practised alongside my writing career. The projects have been too numerous to mention but a key example was the work I did for Sgript Cymru alongside Angharad Blythe in Merthyr. We opted to work with a class of adults with learning difficulties, teaching them to write short plays. What was eye-opening from the outset was that these people had never been encouraged to be creative in any way. Exhaustive attempts had been made to improve their writing, but the students were simply repeating a lifetime's experience of failure.
It was not an easy task to get these plays written. Simply naming a character seemed a Herculean task to these students. Slowly, painstakingly, however, we got a few lines of dialogue from them and at the end of each session acted these out. An experience of success, of potency, is vital in motivating people of such little confidence. Gradually that confidence grew until we had a playlet from everybody, and then came the coup de grace: a staged performance in the college hall, using professional actors (thanks, Hijinx), in front of friends and family. Sadly this wasn't filmed, but if it had been, everyone would have witnessed the thrill in the eyes of the new writers as their words came out of the mouths of the actors. Now the door was open. Now we had the possibility of moving forward, cementing the students' new view of themselves, improving their basic skills - given the funding.
Tragically one of the legacies of Thatcherism was that the arts projects having the most revolutionary effect on the working class had their arteries cut. I was fortunate enough while teacher training in Barnsley to see Red Ladder theatre performing a play about the steel industry in a working-man's club. I saw people recognising their own lives, making sense of them, being urged to defend themselves against the attacks to come. Four years later the Miners Strike began: we all live in the aftermath of that tragic struggle.
Which brings me to the present day, a time in which the Arts Council and its offshoots are increasingly the handmaiden of those commercial outfits which dominate literature and the other arts. How my heart sinks as I view the brochure of the first Cardiff Children's Literature Festival and see a celebration of Rainbow Magic fairies, the question where is the Welsh Twilight, novels celebrating king and country, and the usual obeisance to he-who-cannot-be-gainsaid, the sworn enemy of everything progressive, Roald Dahl. But what irks me most is that this event is being justified as being in some way significant in the war against illiteracy. Really? Do book festivals attract the semi-literate? I can't pretend to be an expert, but I have presented at Hay, and I can't say it was the most proletarian event I've ever attended.
Even in sending authors to schools the organisers' plan is ill thought out. If the event is aiming at combating illiteracy, why pull the names of the participating schools out of a hat? At least the launch of Reading Power took place at Kitchener Primary, a school with a high population of children of parents who do not speak English.
During my nineteen years as a resident of the inner city area of Adamsdown, years in which I acted as unofficial lending library to a host of neighbours surprised to find an author in their midst, I came to have great respect for the teachers and heads in the educational front line. In return I did what I could, getting funding for a range of projects, always looking to motivate the ones who most needed it. Together we did some great work, including the Adamsdown Song project which brought this small area to the attention of people the other side of the world. I wonder how many of the organisers of the Cardiff Children's Literature Festival have shown such commitment? If so, perhaps they would not employ such glib talk about literacy to promote their event.
In the 1970s I studied English and Education at York under the radical educationalist Ian Lister. Here I came across the work of Paolo Freire, with his emphasis on the necessity of teaching relevant and empowering words to the peasantry of Brazil in order to combat illiteracy.
After a couple of years as a secondary English and Drama teacher, I went to to teach what FE institutions euphemistically called “Communications” to YTS trainees, some the product of custodial institutions. Unable to make any progress with them through conventional methods, I started recording their life experiences, typing these up, and reading them back to them. Immediately these reluctant students began trying to read their own words themselves: I can still remember the glee in their eyes as they did so.
Crucial to this process was a lack of censorship. I wrote exactly what they told me, including stories of violent fights at borstal with snooker balls hidden in socks. It was crucial that they understood that the world of words did not have to mean the imposition of an alien culture.
There was an irony in this for me. When I look now at the stories I first wrote it's clear to see the horrible imprint of the bourgeois children's books I was reading. I also had to learn to speak in my own language.
My style had certainly changed when I got my first story published in 1984. My model was the informal, iconoclastic first person narrative of Huckleberry Finn. Just as my working-class mother would warmly welcome guests into her home and make them feel at ease, I wanted my books to be friendly and accessible to all. If anything I bent the stick too far and sacrificed aesthetics and calm consideration to energy and conversational manner. But I always sought out the reader whose intelligence was not always matched by a skill with words – a Billy Casper of Kes, that great 70s example of how to write for the disenfranchised.
Since that first story, over a near thirty year career, I have written for many audiences, but my concern for the reluctant reader has been a constant. A number of publishers, particularly educational publishers, produce what they call HiLo (high interest, low ability) books, and writing these naturally attracted me: plays, short novels, graphic novels, all geared at motivating those of limited reading ability to read. On the strength of this workI was asked by the OUP in 2003 to devise a series specifically for boys. Whether they expected Antony Horowitz style boy detective novels I don't know, but if so they had asked the wrong person. I wrote Stinky Finger's House of Fun, an iconoclastic, absurdist story which they duly rejected but which went on to sell 20,000 when published by Hodder, spawning five more novels which, just as planned, have engaged boy readers who had never previously shown enthusiasm for reading (as many school visits and Amazon reviews have testified).
I am proud of my back catalogue. My novels have not sold as well as those produced by the top fantasy writers, or whoever writes those stories about fairies, but I aim to write books which children and young adults find empowering and eye-opening, stories which stand against a tide which over the past thirty years has become increasingly conservative, geared not to change young people's view of themselves but to keep them in their place.
As Freire observed so long ago, you cannot combat illiteracy without changing self-image. And this has been the watchword of the community arts work I have practised alongside my writing career. The projects have been too numerous to mention but a key example was the work I did for Sgript Cymru alongside Angharad Blythe in Merthyr. We opted to work with a class of adults with learning difficulties, teaching them to write short plays. What was eye-opening from the outset was that these people had never been encouraged to be creative in any way. Exhaustive attempts had been made to improve their writing, but the students were simply repeating a lifetime's experience of failure.
It was not an easy task to get these plays written. Simply naming a character seemed a Herculean task to these students. Slowly, painstakingly, however, we got a few lines of dialogue from them and at the end of each session acted these out. An experience of success, of potency, is vital in motivating people of such little confidence. Gradually that confidence grew until we had a playlet from everybody, and then came the coup de grace: a staged performance in the college hall, using professional actors (thanks, Hijinx), in front of friends and family. Sadly this wasn't filmed, but if it had been, everyone would have witnessed the thrill in the eyes of the new writers as their words came out of the mouths of the actors. Now the door was open. Now we had the possibility of moving forward, cementing the students' new view of themselves, improving their basic skills - given the funding.
Tragically one of the legacies of Thatcherism was that the arts projects having the most revolutionary effect on the working class had their arteries cut. I was fortunate enough while teacher training in Barnsley to see Red Ladder theatre performing a play about the steel industry in a working-man's club. I saw people recognising their own lives, making sense of them, being urged to defend themselves against the attacks to come. Four years later the Miners Strike began: we all live in the aftermath of that tragic struggle.
Which brings me to the present day, a time in which the Arts Council and its offshoots are increasingly the handmaiden of those commercial outfits which dominate literature and the other arts. How my heart sinks as I view the brochure of the first Cardiff Children's Literature Festival and see a celebration of Rainbow Magic fairies, the question where is the Welsh Twilight, novels celebrating king and country, and the usual obeisance to he-who-cannot-be-gainsaid, the sworn enemy of everything progressive, Roald Dahl. But what irks me most is that this event is being justified as being in some way significant in the war against illiteracy. Really? Do book festivals attract the semi-literate? I can't pretend to be an expert, but I have presented at Hay, and I can't say it was the most proletarian event I've ever attended.
Even in sending authors to schools the organisers' plan is ill thought out. If the event is aiming at combating illiteracy, why pull the names of the participating schools out of a hat? At least the launch of Reading Power took place at Kitchener Primary, a school with a high population of children of parents who do not speak English.
During my nineteen years as a resident of the inner city area of Adamsdown, years in which I acted as unofficial lending library to a host of neighbours surprised to find an author in their midst, I came to have great respect for the teachers and heads in the educational front line. In return I did what I could, getting funding for a range of projects, always looking to motivate the ones who most needed it. Together we did some great work, including the Adamsdown Song project which brought this small area to the attention of people the other side of the world. I wonder how many of the organisers of the Cardiff Children's Literature Festival have shown such commitment? If so, perhaps they would not employ such glib talk about literacy to promote their event.
December 4, 2012
A potted history of my career
I was driven to write a potted history of my career recently when the organisers of the first Cardiff Festival of Children's Literature unaccountably failed to register my existence. As it is a potted history, it does not record every publication, school or library visit, community arts project, song, performance, blog etc - but I hope it does extablish why I was so pissed off to be ignored in my home city!
Jon Blake, Cardiff author: A Potted History
1984 Jon's story “King” published by Bodley Head. Jon signs contract for two novels.
1985 Two editors mysteriously fall pregnant while working on Jon's YA novel “Yatesy's Rap”. BH unable to fulfil contract but secure Jon the services of reputedly best children's fiction agent in UK, Gina Pollinger.
1986 Kestrel publish “Yatesy's Rap”. Jon becomes protegé of legendary editor Wendy Boase of Walker Books.
“Direct Action”, first of numerous TV scripts, produced by TVS for ITV.
1987 Jon moves to Cardiff.
1988 Puffin launch new YA imprint Puffin Plus with “Yatesy's Rap”. Excerpts of novel featured on ITV's “Under the Bedclothes” where it is slagged off by Tory boy band Big Fun for containing too much swearing.
Walker Books publish coming-of-age novel “Geoffrey's First” which receives fulsome praise in Sunday Times and TES. Fan mail arrives from Tasmania: “You have written a truly great novel”
1989 Jon's first novel for juniors published by Blackie. Collins and Hutchinson also sign contracts with Jon.
1989-91 Another YA novel; three picture books; two story collections; five junior novels, including “The King of Rock and Roll”, of which Nina Bawden writes “10 or 11 year olds will love it. I certainly did”.
1990 Jon appointed writer in residence at Wrexham Arts Centre. Moves to Adamsdown, Cardiff, where he is to live for the next 19 years as unofficial lending library and initiator of many community arts projects.
1992 Jon paired by Walker Books with unknown illustrator Axel Scheffler. “You're a Hero Daley B” goes on to sell over 100,000 copies worldwide.
Jon tours Gwent libraries.
1992-94 Two more junior novels; two graphic novels; fifth picture book; third story collection. Jon now published by Simon & Schuster and Ginn.
1995 Ginn publish “Mark Two”, also in large book format, and the junior novel becomes a big hit in schools. Jon tours extensively to schools and leads INSET classes in creative writing.
Jon appointed lecturer in creative writing at the University of Glamorgan.
1996 Early reader book “Little Stupendo” short-listed for the Children's Book Award.
“Life”, written for BBC's “English Express”, short-listed for Writers Guild Best Children's TV Script award.
Jon diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Judge for Western Mail's children's storywriting competition.
1996-2001 Six more junior novels, four playscripts, four historical stories for use with history national curriculum and a children's fictional adaptation of “Macbeth”. Now published by OUP and Heinemann.
2001 OUP publish junior comic novel “One Girl School” which will go on to sell over 30,000 copies.
Jon's radio sitcom “Degrees R Us” the hit of the night at BBC Radio Nations Comedy Cup in Glasgow and he wins BBC Talent award. Four episodes produced on Radio Wales.
2002 Walker publish “True Beautiful Game”, probably the best example of the many HILO (high interest, low ability) books Jon has written.
“Todd and Blod”, animation series teaching the basics of creative writing, produced for BBC Bitesize.
2003 “The Deadly Secret of Dorothy W” published: first of many junior novels to be published by Hodder.
Sgript Cymru option Jon's adult play “Blow City Rollers”: rehearsed reading at Chapter Arts Centre. Jon works as playwright-tutor on Sgript Cymru's “Livewire” project, culminating in production in Merthyr College of work written by adults with learning disabilities, a highlight of Jon's lifetime devotion to community arts.
2005 “Stinky Finger's House of Fun” published. Goes on to sell nearly 20,000 copies in the UK alone and spawn a hit series of six titles.
2007 Jon becomes father for the first time at 52. Begins writing political blog “Cardiff Radical Socialist Forum”. By 2012 blog will have had over 25,000 hits.
Jon appointed as visiting lecturer in creative writing at the University of Newport.
2008 “The Last Free Cat” is published by Hodder and soon attracts glowing reviews as an important contribution to YA literature.
2009 Jon decides to record the process of researching, writing and publishing an adult novel about the 1969 Isle of Wight festival on a website, www.dylan69.com. By 2012 blog will have had over 10,000 hits.
“Adamsdown Song”, the culmination of a songwriting project involving Adamsdown primary schools, reaches number 1 on Soundclick, a leading internet chart.
2010 Jon becomes father for second time. “Mutiny on the School Ship Bounty” published: first collaboration with a Welsh publisher. Short-listed for Tir Na N-Og award.
Numerous short stories for OUP and Heinemann anthologies.
2011 Jon gets first Waterstones window as Newport IOW store features “69ers” during festival season.
Jon collaborates with friend and neighbour Mark Roberts (ex Catatonia) on “This is the Sound of Adamsdown”, an album of songs featuring residents of the Cardiff inner city area.
Theater Mumpitz in Nurnberg perform “He Duda”, capitalising on the popularity of “You're a Hero, Daley B” in Germany.
Walker publish “Oshie”, whose hero, like Jon's own son, has cerebral palsy.
2012 A great honour for Jon as Chicago publisher Albert Whitman publish “The Last Free Cat”. Whitman's new YA imprint, a “select list of smart, fearless books” which “provide answers for teens”, is limited to four books per year. “The Last Free Cat” is also published by Hodder as an e-book and continues to collect glowing reviews, many featured on its website, www.feela.co.uk. A Japanese edition of the book is soon to be followed by a Korean translation.
Literature Wales and partners announce the first Cardiff Children's Literature festival. Vice-chancellor of the university Dr David Grant says “this vibrant event will inspire the next generation of writers and help raise the profile of literary talent within Wales”. Jon Blake is not invited to contribute.
Jon Blake, Cardiff author: A Potted History
1984 Jon's story “King” published by Bodley Head. Jon signs contract for two novels.
1985 Two editors mysteriously fall pregnant while working on Jon's YA novel “Yatesy's Rap”. BH unable to fulfil contract but secure Jon the services of reputedly best children's fiction agent in UK, Gina Pollinger.
1986 Kestrel publish “Yatesy's Rap”. Jon becomes protegé of legendary editor Wendy Boase of Walker Books.
“Direct Action”, first of numerous TV scripts, produced by TVS for ITV.
1987 Jon moves to Cardiff.
1988 Puffin launch new YA imprint Puffin Plus with “Yatesy's Rap”. Excerpts of novel featured on ITV's “Under the Bedclothes” where it is slagged off by Tory boy band Big Fun for containing too much swearing.
Walker Books publish coming-of-age novel “Geoffrey's First” which receives fulsome praise in Sunday Times and TES. Fan mail arrives from Tasmania: “You have written a truly great novel”
1989 Jon's first novel for juniors published by Blackie. Collins and Hutchinson also sign contracts with Jon.
1989-91 Another YA novel; three picture books; two story collections; five junior novels, including “The King of Rock and Roll”, of which Nina Bawden writes “10 or 11 year olds will love it. I certainly did”.
1990 Jon appointed writer in residence at Wrexham Arts Centre. Moves to Adamsdown, Cardiff, where he is to live for the next 19 years as unofficial lending library and initiator of many community arts projects.
1992 Jon paired by Walker Books with unknown illustrator Axel Scheffler. “You're a Hero Daley B” goes on to sell over 100,000 copies worldwide.
Jon tours Gwent libraries.
1992-94 Two more junior novels; two graphic novels; fifth picture book; third story collection. Jon now published by Simon & Schuster and Ginn.
1995 Ginn publish “Mark Two”, also in large book format, and the junior novel becomes a big hit in schools. Jon tours extensively to schools and leads INSET classes in creative writing.
Jon appointed lecturer in creative writing at the University of Glamorgan.
1996 Early reader book “Little Stupendo” short-listed for the Children's Book Award.
“Life”, written for BBC's “English Express”, short-listed for Writers Guild Best Children's TV Script award.
Jon diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Judge for Western Mail's children's storywriting competition.
1996-2001 Six more junior novels, four playscripts, four historical stories for use with history national curriculum and a children's fictional adaptation of “Macbeth”. Now published by OUP and Heinemann.
2001 OUP publish junior comic novel “One Girl School” which will go on to sell over 30,000 copies.
Jon's radio sitcom “Degrees R Us” the hit of the night at BBC Radio Nations Comedy Cup in Glasgow and he wins BBC Talent award. Four episodes produced on Radio Wales.
2002 Walker publish “True Beautiful Game”, probably the best example of the many HILO (high interest, low ability) books Jon has written.
“Todd and Blod”, animation series teaching the basics of creative writing, produced for BBC Bitesize.
2003 “The Deadly Secret of Dorothy W” published: first of many junior novels to be published by Hodder.
Sgript Cymru option Jon's adult play “Blow City Rollers”: rehearsed reading at Chapter Arts Centre. Jon works as playwright-tutor on Sgript Cymru's “Livewire” project, culminating in production in Merthyr College of work written by adults with learning disabilities, a highlight of Jon's lifetime devotion to community arts.
2005 “Stinky Finger's House of Fun” published. Goes on to sell nearly 20,000 copies in the UK alone and spawn a hit series of six titles.
2007 Jon becomes father for the first time at 52. Begins writing political blog “Cardiff Radical Socialist Forum”. By 2012 blog will have had over 25,000 hits.
Jon appointed as visiting lecturer in creative writing at the University of Newport.
2008 “The Last Free Cat” is published by Hodder and soon attracts glowing reviews as an important contribution to YA literature.
2009 Jon decides to record the process of researching, writing and publishing an adult novel about the 1969 Isle of Wight festival on a website, www.dylan69.com. By 2012 blog will have had over 10,000 hits.
“Adamsdown Song”, the culmination of a songwriting project involving Adamsdown primary schools, reaches number 1 on Soundclick, a leading internet chart.
2010 Jon becomes father for second time. “Mutiny on the School Ship Bounty” published: first collaboration with a Welsh publisher. Short-listed for Tir Na N-Og award.
Numerous short stories for OUP and Heinemann anthologies.
2011 Jon gets first Waterstones window as Newport IOW store features “69ers” during festival season.
Jon collaborates with friend and neighbour Mark Roberts (ex Catatonia) on “This is the Sound of Adamsdown”, an album of songs featuring residents of the Cardiff inner city area.
Theater Mumpitz in Nurnberg perform “He Duda”, capitalising on the popularity of “You're a Hero, Daley B” in Germany.
Walker publish “Oshie”, whose hero, like Jon's own son, has cerebral palsy.
2012 A great honour for Jon as Chicago publisher Albert Whitman publish “The Last Free Cat”. Whitman's new YA imprint, a “select list of smart, fearless books” which “provide answers for teens”, is limited to four books per year. “The Last Free Cat” is also published by Hodder as an e-book and continues to collect glowing reviews, many featured on its website, www.feela.co.uk. A Japanese edition of the book is soon to be followed by a Korean translation.
Literature Wales and partners announce the first Cardiff Children's Literature festival. Vice-chancellor of the university Dr David Grant says “this vibrant event will inspire the next generation of writers and help raise the profile of literary talent within Wales”. Jon Blake is not invited to contribute.
November 1, 2012
Another giveaway
For five days from Monday 5 November, the ebook of my junior comic novel One Girl School Goes Totally Mental (follow-up to bestseller One Girl School) will be free on Amazon. It was another book which never got marketed very well, but I think it's one of my best. And for what it's worth I made the cover.
October 30, 2012
I do not live in England
I've just had to correct a Google Books profile of me which asserted, without apparent evidence, that I live in England. There have also been a few reviews of The Last Free Cat, similarly, that claim my YA novel is set in England. And funny enough, we did a house swap with a US expat in Bavaria last year, and saw on her calendar the word ENGLAND! over the dates she was to be in our house.
All of this perhaps stems from the illusion, particularly common in the USA, that the names "England" and "Britain" are interchangeable. This is not the case. England is one nation in a group of nations which make up the nation of Great Britain, the others being (contentiously) Northern Ireland, (possibly not for much longer) Scotland, and the country in which I live, Wales. Wales has only partial sovereignity through a devolved national assembly; while the Welsh are highly unlikely to vote for total independence, no-one questions the fact that Wales is a bona fide nation, with, besides anything else, its own language, increasingly popular as the medium by which children in Wales are educated.
I am emphatically not a Welsh nationalist. I came to live in South Wales over a quarter century ago largely because of the area's internationalist and socialist traditions, which sadly have withered with the destruction of the coal and steel industries. But I certainly do love living in Cardiff, and am annoyed as anyone when Wales is marginalised or patronised.
The landscape of The Last Free Cat almost entirely derives from Wales. But I rarely use specific places in my stories, which perhaps explains why I am less well known here than literary figures who have sold a lot less books. Then again, I'd never call myself a Welsh writer. Anyone who reads '69ers' will be well aware of my origins. But just to make it doubly clear, I do not live in England now!
All of this perhaps stems from the illusion, particularly common in the USA, that the names "England" and "Britain" are interchangeable. This is not the case. England is one nation in a group of nations which make up the nation of Great Britain, the others being (contentiously) Northern Ireland, (possibly not for much longer) Scotland, and the country in which I live, Wales. Wales has only partial sovereignity through a devolved national assembly; while the Welsh are highly unlikely to vote for total independence, no-one questions the fact that Wales is a bona fide nation, with, besides anything else, its own language, increasingly popular as the medium by which children in Wales are educated.
I am emphatically not a Welsh nationalist. I came to live in South Wales over a quarter century ago largely because of the area's internationalist and socialist traditions, which sadly have withered with the destruction of the coal and steel industries. But I certainly do love living in Cardiff, and am annoyed as anyone when Wales is marginalised or patronised.
The landscape of The Last Free Cat almost entirely derives from Wales. But I rarely use specific places in my stories, which perhaps explains why I am less well known here than literary figures who have sold a lot less books. Then again, I'd never call myself a Welsh writer. Anyone who reads '69ers' will be well aware of my origins. But just to make it doubly clear, I do not live in England now!
October 11, 2012
Snails and Lovers free from 19 October
I've been delighted with the interest in my Last Free Cat giveaway, particularly as this was confined to the US where the new edition has recently come out. However, I'm sorry only a couple of people will end up with the book, so as some kind of consolation I am offering the e-version of another young adult novel, Snails and Lovers, free on Amazon from 19-23 October. I've talked about the book in a previous blog post, and have to again make clear that, unlike the Last Free Cat, the book is really only suitable for those over the age of 16. Please spread the word as for some unaccountable reason I only have a few anarchists following me on Twitter!
September 23, 2012
Hillsborough and The Last Free Cat
The damning verdict on the police and their actions during and after the Hillsborough stadium tragedy has only confirmed what survivors and relatives of the deceased knew all along. But the nature and extent of the police cover-up has surprised millions more. Let's hope this will lead to a reexamination of decades of other cases of criminal police behaviour, from deaths in custody to attacks on legal demonstrations: police behaviour at Hillsborough was not an exception but the norm. Covering up illegal or oppressive acts (and frequently blaming the victims) is what the police do, not only in the UK but across the world. They do this secure in the knowledge that the powers-that-be will collude in the cover-ups. Why? Because when it comes down to it, the police are the private security force of the rich and powerful, fundamental to safeguarding their privileges and attacking their enemies.
The Last Free Cat has been described as a dystopia but much of what it describes is based on my own experiences of the here and now. One such experience - an anti-BNP march in Welling in 1993 - could well have turned into another Hillsborough were it not for the bravery of demonstrators facing down the Met.
The police had agreed a route with demo organisers and at first everything proceeded normally: the protest was militant but disciplined and stuck to the agreed route. However, as demonstrators came down a narrow road, walled on both sides, the police formed a barrier at the front of the march and began to attack it, using truncheons and horses. Protestors fought back: if they hadn't, and the horses had stampeded through, I believe there is a real probability people would have been crushed to death.
Next day the papers were predictably full of photos of the rioting protesters, together with the usual knocking copy. The state had chosen to do the fascists a favour, not unusually, as the far right will always return it by dividing workers and deflecting anger away from the rich and powerful and onto various minorities.
The Last Free Cat is, I hope, an entertaining and convincing story, not a political lecture, but political realities certainly inform it and, indeed, give it its conviction and purpose. A writer can't fake conviction, and without it, to me, no writer is of much interest, which is why supposed greats like Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan etc do not inhabit my bookshelves. None are worth a fraction of those fantastic people who fought so long for justice for the victims of Hillsborough.
The Last Free Cat has been described as a dystopia but much of what it describes is based on my own experiences of the here and now. One such experience - an anti-BNP march in Welling in 1993 - could well have turned into another Hillsborough were it not for the bravery of demonstrators facing down the Met.
The police had agreed a route with demo organisers and at first everything proceeded normally: the protest was militant but disciplined and stuck to the agreed route. However, as demonstrators came down a narrow road, walled on both sides, the police formed a barrier at the front of the march and began to attack it, using truncheons and horses. Protestors fought back: if they hadn't, and the horses had stampeded through, I believe there is a real probability people would have been crushed to death.
Next day the papers were predictably full of photos of the rioting protesters, together with the usual knocking copy. The state had chosen to do the fascists a favour, not unusually, as the far right will always return it by dividing workers and deflecting anger away from the rich and powerful and onto various minorities.
The Last Free Cat is, I hope, an entertaining and convincing story, not a political lecture, but political realities certainly inform it and, indeed, give it its conviction and purpose. A writer can't fake conviction, and without it, to me, no writer is of much interest, which is why supposed greats like Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan etc do not inhabit my bookshelves. None are worth a fraction of those fantastic people who fought so long for justice for the victims of Hillsborough.
Snails and Lovers, 69ers etc
Had my favourite anxiety dream last night - just about to go on stage, realise I don't know any of the lines. Could be a metaphor for life. It took me back to 1969, appearing as Peer Gynt in the King Edward VI school play, experiencing massive anxiety but coming through, something I'm very proud of. A few months later I was standing next to Dylan at the IOW festival, an experience I put to good use over 40 years later in writing the adult novel 69ers, about which reviewers have been so kind.
I used a pic of me as Peer Gynt for the front cover of my e-book Snails and Lovers (can't afford to pay illustrators to do these!). The book was originally entitled Geoffrey's First - its failure to sell in huge quantities was a great blow to me, but maybe if it had done, I wouldn't have bothered to write 50 more! I do hope people who enjoyed The Last Free Cat will give it a read. It's a rather less mature work, but with many more jokes, and I do think its evocation of a teenage relationship stands the test of time. Kim, the female lead, is probably one of my best creations: the real-life Kim is now a professor in Sheffield and a leading campaigner for gender equality (in the academic sense of campaigning, not the type which gets you locked up).
I once got a fan letter from Tasmania about Geoffrey's First, telling me I'd written a really great book. I'm ashamed to say I never replied to it. Not taking enough care to build links with my fans has, I'm sure, contributed to my becoming less successful than expected, but I've always appreciated readers' feedback and will make very sure you know it nowadays!
I used a pic of me as Peer Gynt for the front cover of my e-book Snails and Lovers (can't afford to pay illustrators to do these!). The book was originally entitled Geoffrey's First - its failure to sell in huge quantities was a great blow to me, but maybe if it had done, I wouldn't have bothered to write 50 more! I do hope people who enjoyed The Last Free Cat will give it a read. It's a rather less mature work, but with many more jokes, and I do think its evocation of a teenage relationship stands the test of time. Kim, the female lead, is probably one of my best creations: the real-life Kim is now a professor in Sheffield and a leading campaigner for gender equality (in the academic sense of campaigning, not the type which gets you locked up).
I once got a fan letter from Tasmania about Geoffrey's First, telling me I'd written a really great book. I'm ashamed to say I never replied to it. Not taking enough care to build links with my fans has, I'm sure, contributed to my becoming less successful than expected, but I've always appreciated readers' feedback and will make very sure you know it nowadays!
