Category: Announcements
Nine Worlds Schedule
This extended weekend, I will be appearing at Nine Worlds, the London-based convention for “gaming, film, cosplay, fandom, literature, science, geek culture, meeting people and having a really big party.” Here’s my schedule for the con:
Friday 7th, 5.00–6.15pm, Room 38
I Want to Be a Wild Thing When I Grow Up
Panellists: Laura Lam, Taran Matharu, Kim Curran, Ed Cox, Alex Lamb, Frances Hardinge
From the fantasy worlds of Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree to whizz-poppers and marvellous medicines of Roald Dahl, how important are childrens stories on us as adults and do they shape what authors write when they grow up?
Friday 7th, 8.30–9.45pm, Room 11
The Midnight Society – Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Panellists: Frances Hardinge, Savannah Lotz, James Dawson, Sarah Lotz
Haunted houses. Ghastly murders. Horror is making a comeback in YA. Are you afraid of the dark? Join our storytellers as they talk about the tricks of the trade and try to out-scare each other telling spooky ghost stories.
Sunday 9th, 10.00–11.15am, Room 38
Once Upon a YA – Lore and legends in YA literature
Panellists: Mel Salisbury, Tom Pollock, Liz de Jager, Frances Hardinge, Marieke Nijkamp
In many YA books, especially the speculative ones, storytelling plays an important role. Whether real or fictional, legends, folklore, mythology all give meaning and depth to a world and to characters. But how are legends born? What role do stories play within stories?
Sunday 9th, 12.30-13.00, Commonwealth East
Signing session
Frances will be signing copies of her books at the Forbidden Planet table in Commonwealth East.
YALC Schedule
The Young Adult Literature Convention is nearly upon us! Once again, it will be part of the London Film and Comic Convention, though this time will be held at the Olympia.
Both my panels will take place on the Sunday:
Sunday 19th, 12:30–13:15, Main stage
Panel: Between Fantasy and Reality
Panellists: Ben Aaranovitch, Amy Alward, Sally Green, Frances Hardinge, Melinda Salisbury, James Smythe
How far do science-fiction and fantasy authors take inspiration from real life events for their novels? A line-up of leading authors discuss the borderlines between fantasy and reality.
Sunday 19th, 15:30–16:15, Main stage
Panel: Terry and Me: Being Inspired by Terry Pratchett
Panellists: Patrick Ness, Frances Hardinge, Derek Landy, chaired by Imogen Russell Williams
Sir Terry Pratchett, who died earlier this year, inspired a generation of readers and writers with books ranging from his much-loved Discworld series to Dodger, his recent spin on Dickens’s Oliver Twist. In this very special YALC event to celebrate his life and books, including the final Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown publishing in August, author Patrick Ness and other special guests will discuss how Pratchett has influenced them and their work.
Hope you can make it! Though do bring water. Last year the heat was fairly intense…
The Cake is Not In Fact a Lie
To be honest, I can’t quite remember the moment where I thought: “I know what the world needs – a Victorian Gothic murder mystery featuring deception, palaeontology, postmortem photography, feminism, blasting powder and mendacity-munching plant life.”
Oh well, too late to change my mind now. The Lie Tree is published!
To celebrate this, I headed north for a brief but enthusiastic three-day tour, under the wing of Macmillan’s Andy Belshaw.
Day One of the tour was organised by Booka Bookshop, in Oswestry.
Our first visit was to Moreton Hall School, where I babbled about changelings in front of a hundred and fifty students, before signing copies of Cuckoo Song and The Lie Tree.
Later that evening I attended a friendly, relaxed meeting of the teen book club (and others) at Booka Bookshop.
Day Two was arranged by Urmston Bookshop, and began with a visit to Manchester High School for Girls. Although I didn’t discover this until later, MHSG was actually the school attended by the famous suffragettes Christabel, Sylvia and Adela Pankhurst!
I was rather pleased to find that I’d been promoting a feminist YA book at the Pankhursts’ old school. During election season, no less…
Next we moved on to Altrincham Girls’ Grammar School, where I gave two talks to Y8 students in the school library.
Back to Urmston Bookshop for serious literary discussions. Otherwise known as eating cake, and posing in the cardboard cutout of a previous visitor, astronaut Chris Hadfield.
The final day was organised by Ebb & Flo Bookshop in Chorley. Our first stop was Bolton School Girls’ Division.
Here I am with Diane Gunning of Ebb & Flo in front of Bolton School, which as you can see is splendidly crenellated and Hogwarts-like. (Apparently the library is tucked in one of the towers, and there are mysterious upper rooms…)
Ell & Flo had prepared us a rather nice picnic, which we gobbled en route to our last stop, Albany Academy. There I gave a talk to a packed hall, followed by a short recorded interview. One student approached me and suggested a particularly eerie idea for a story… which I really hope he writes so that I can find out what happens.
Many thanks to all the schools for having me, and Andy Belshaw for looking after me throughout the tour. A big thank you also to Booka Bookshop, Urmston Bookshop and Ebb & Flo Bookshop for all their hard work, and for the goodie bags of presents!
Mini-Tour for The Lie Tree
The Lie Tree will be published on 7th May, and to celebrate this I will be heading north for a small tour (Tourling? Tourlet? Probably not tourette.)
For those that are interested, here is my schedule:
Tuesday 5th May
14:00 Author talk at Moreton Hall School, Oswestry
17.30 Informal talk with teen book club at Booka Bookshop, Oswestry
Wednesday 6th May
10.05 Author talk at Manchester High School for Girls, Manchester
13.30, 14.30 Two author talks at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Altrincham
Thursday 7th May
12.10 Author talk at Bolton School Girls’ Division, Bolton
14:15 Author talk at Albany Academy, Chorley
Many thanks to Booka Bookshop, Urmston Bookshop and Ebb & Flo Bookshop for supporting and organising these events!
Anyone coming to Eastercon?
The 66th British National Science Fiction Convention, otherwise known as Eastercon, will take place this weekend (3rd-6th April) at the Park Inn Hotel, Heathrow. This year the con has taken the name Dysprosium, an element that appears to be used in nuclear reactors. I’m sure we shouldn’t let that worry us at all.
In case anybody is interested, I will be at large at Eastercon/Dysprosium. Here is my schedule:
Friday 3rd April, 18:45, Endeavour Room
Panel: A Maturing Readership – Young Adult Fiction
What makes us grow out of young adult fiction? But if we do grow out of it, why do so many adults prefer it? And if we are moving on from young adult fiction, what are we moving on towards? Or what should we be moving on towards? Or is the whole concept just a new form of snobbery?
Panellists: Emjay Ameringen, Peadar O’Guilin, Frances Hardinge.
Sunday 3rd April, 17:30, Discovery Room
The BSFA Award ceremony. Since Cuckoo Song is on the shortlist for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel, I will be there with my fingers crossed. Needless to say, gifts of consolatory or congratulatory drinks will be quite welcome. And immediately afterwards…
Sunday 3rd April, 18.45-20.00, Armstrong Room
Carnegie Shortlist!
I’m afraid there’s no way to be cool and suave about this. I’m on the shortlist for the Carnegie Medal!
As a result I’m currently this:
And a little bit this:
The other (brilliant) books on the shortlist are these:
When Mr Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan
Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan
Tinder by Sally Gardner and David Roberts
The Fastest Boy in the World by Elizabeth Laird
Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman
The Middle of Nowhere by Geraldine McCaughrean
More Than This by Patrick Ness
I’m very excited by the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme. Right now, thousands of reading groups all over the UK are getting ready to “shadow” the Carnegie by reading all the books on the shortlist, so that they can discuss which book they think should win.
Meanwhile, an elite film crew of two has just visited to film me in my lounge!
I don’t usually do well with film cameras. As soon as I’m in front of one, I forget how to move or talk like a human, and become a weird, stilted marionette. My visitors did a good job of putting me at my ease, however, and I mostly managed not to stare at the cameras. We’ll just have to see how the film looks when it’s up on the Carnegie website!
Shortlists and Longlists!
It’s been a rather wonderful couple of weeks.
Over the last few months, I’ve been so caught up in helping judge the Kitschies Awards that I virtually forgot that there were other prizes out there. I was reminded in the best possible way, by the discovery that Cuckoo Song had reached several shortlists and longlists!
Cuckoo Song has made the longlist for the Carnegie Medal! This is very, very exciting. You can see the other (extremely impressive) books on the longlist here.
Furthermore, Cuckoo Song is on the shortlist for the brand new James Herbert Horror Award. It’s in excellent and sinister company, alongside books by MR Carey, Nick Cutter, Andrew Michael Hurley, Josh Malerman and Kim Newman.
The book has also been longlisted for the Secondary Award of the Oxfordshire Book Award. This is really rather lovely, since it’s an award voted for entirely by children, who nominate their favourite books.
And just as I was recovering from the news of these, I heard that Cuckoo Song had also been shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel! The rest of the list is dripping with brilliance, and includes works by Ann Leckie, Dave Hutchinson, Simon Ings, Nina Allan, Claire North, Nnedi Okorafor and Neil Williamson.
All of this is frankly pretty staggering. If anybody wants me, I’ll be over here celebrating with a giant pile of pancakes…
FantasyCon Schedule!
This weekend (September 5-7th) I shall be in York attending The British Fantasy Convention, and the organisers are inexplicably allowing me to appear on things and talk at people.
Here is my schedule:
Saturday 6th, 12:00 noon
Panel: Gentlemen Thieves, Loveable Pirates and Sexy Tricksters
Panellists: James Barclay, Joanne Harris, Kim Lakin-Smith, Frances Hardinge, Libby McGuigan
Why are untrustworthy characters and criminals among SFF’s most beloved characters? Does sympathy for the underdog shade into idealising predators?
Saturday 6th, 3.00pm
Panel: The Chosen One
Panellists: Gillian Redfearn, Tom Pollock, James Oswald, Joanne Hall, Frances Hardinge, Helen Marshall
From Neo to Barack Obama. Many works of SFF place the fate of the world on the shoulders of a single, pre-ordained hero, who often possesses some magical trait. The panellists discuss ideas and subversions of the One in SFF and beyond. Are there echoes in real world politics? Is the concept stale and regressive, or can it be redeemed by a more diverse range of Chosen Ones in pop culture?
Saturday 6th, 5.00-5.20pm
Reading – extracts from Cuckoo Song
Saturday 6th, 8.00pm
Just A Minute
FantasyCon’s resident quizmaster, Paul Cornell, hosts this classic panel gameshow.
Paul Cornell, Kate Elliott, Stephen Gallagher, Gillian Redfearn, Frances Hardinge
Hope to see some of you there!
Loncon Loometh
The World Science Fiction Convention, otherwise known as Loncon 3, is now less than a week away. I shall be at large, and may be spotted at these times and places:
Thursday 14th August: 20:30-21:00, London Suite 1 (ExCeL)
Reading
Frances will be reading an extract from her latest book, Cuckoo Song
Friday 15th August: 10:00-11:00, London Suite 3 (ExCeL)
Panel event: Fallen London – Recreating London in Games
Panellists: Frances Hardinge, Jonathan Green, Kate Nepveu, David Cheval, Christi Scarborough
This panel celebrates some of the ways that London has been represented in games; including LARP, tabletop, point-and-click and videogames. We also explore some of the darker aspects of seeing London with a player’s eye.
Friday 15th August: 18:00 – 19:00, London Suite 4 (ExCeL)
Kaffeeklatsch
An hour of coffee and conversation with Frances.
Friday 15th August: 21:00-22:00, Capital Suite 7+12 (ExCeL)
Panel event: You Write Pretty
Panellists: Geoff Ryman, Greer Gilman, Frances Hardinge, Christopher Priest, E. J. Swift
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they say, so let us behold some fine fantastical sentences. Our panel have each picked a sentence, and will have a chance to make their case for why theirs is the fairest of them all — but it will be up to the audience to decide.
Saturday 16th August: 12:00-13:30, Capital Suite 13 (ExCeL)
Panel event: Where is the YA Humour?
Panellists: Gail Carriger, Frances Hardinge, Jack Campbell, Jody Lynn Nye, Suzanne McLeod
Much of what we see in the YA shelves is dour, grimy and deadly. Why is that? Where can we find the lighter side of young adult fiction? Which authors should we look to for a satisfying happy ending or a good belly laugh?
Saturday 16th August: 19:00-20:00, Capital Suite 10 (ExCeL)
The Education and Training of a Young Protagonist
Panellists: Zen Cho, Gail Carriger, Jack Campbell, Dave Luckett, Frances Hardinge
Kids have to go to school, whether it’s a modern day educational institution or the school of hard knocks in a futuristic dystopia. How is education treated in SF? What might a futuristic classroom look like? What are some great examples of how education and training have been used by other authors?
Hope to see you there!
26 Characters, One of them Elusive…
At last! The Story Museum has officially launched its 26 characters exhibition, and I can talk about it!
Last March, I was invited to Oxford’s Story Museum for a secret photoshoot. I’m not generally a great fan of cameras, since I’m about as photogenic as a mousetrap. However, I wouldn’t be attending this shoot as Frances Hardinge, but as the book character of my choice.
This threw me into wild indecision. I don’t have a single favourite book character, I have hundreds. I was tempted by the Cheshire Cat, but wasn’t sure how to disguise myself as a disembodied smile. In the end I chose one of my favourite tricksters – The Scarlet Pimpernel.
On the day of the shoot, the wonderful Ginny Battcock presented me with a complete outfit in my size, including a powdered wig and a beautiful red frock coat, all borrowed from the National Theatre Company’s wardrobe. Then the makeup expert Sue gave me a powdery, courtly pallor, and drew a tiny black heart on my cheek.
I then spent a happy hour play-acting, flourishing handkerchiefs, brandishing masks and generally being larger than life, while the excellent photographer Cambridge Jones took pictures.
And when I saw all the photographs later, they were brilliant.
I became even more excited when I learnt the names of the other authors involved: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Malorie Blackman, Philip Pullman, Julia Donaldson, Anthony Horowitz, Michael Morpurgo, Jamila Gavin, Shirley Hughes and her daughter Clara Vulliamy, Francesca Simon, Charlie Higson, Benjamin Zephaniah, Geraldine McCaughrean, Terry Jones (from Monty Python), Cressida Cowell, Holly Smale, Katrice Horsley, Kevin Crossley Holland, Steven Butler, Ted Dewan, Michael Rosen and Katherine Rundell.
Nonetheless, I still imagined that the exhibition would be nothing more than a photo gallery. I was beautifully wrong.
26 Characters has taken over two floors of the museum. Each of the photos nestles at the heart of a carefully created set-piece, often filling a room. As Charlie Higson put it: “You can step inside twenty-six great books.”
You can sit in Badger’s parlour from The Wind in the Willows, and hear the crackle of the fire. You can stand on the deck of Treasure Island‘s Hispaniola, or even swab it if you like. You can try to steal the One Ring (though you might regret that). You can push through a wardrobe full of fur coats, into Narnia.
I don’t care how old you are. If you love books and can reach Oxford, you should drop in at the Story Museum and see 26 characters.
While you’re there, stop in at the Talking Throne. Grab a board, choose some word tiles to give yourself a pick ‘n’ mix title, then proceed grandly up the red carpet and sit on the throne. It will announce you by your chosen title, with fanfare.
I had myself announced as “The Devastating Cheese of the Underworld” before thinking, hmm, didn’t I write a book about that?
There is also the Story Loom, demonstrated to us by Ted Dewan (in a splendid Victorian outfit). He regaled us with the sad tale of its lovelorn inventor, while the machine filled the room with sedate music and smoke. (The little buttons on the front say things like, “Foreshadowing”, “Past” and “Dream”.)
Now I just need to find an excuse to go back…
