An Awfully Big Blog Adventure Online Lit Fest Day 2

I hope you all read my post yesterday about An Awfully Big Blog Adventure's first ever Online Literary Festival, taking place this weekend. The first day, yesterday, was absolutely amazing. There were some really great blog posts, or 'events', run by the authors, including a look at the issue of author blogging, the addictive nature of writing, and how helpful it can be to be part of a writers group or society such as the 'other' SAS - the Scattered Authors Society. There were a whole host of competitions to win book for all ages (I entered quite a few!) and it wasn't all about reading either; some authors chose to make videos for us. Oh yes!

So, today is day 2 of this awesome festival. Unfortunately I won't be able to stay for the whole thing... but that is the other awesome aspect of this amazing online literary festival. All the posts are still be available to see after the event has ended (yes, that does include the competitions!). The vibe isn't quite the same as a new event every 30 minutes (I was exhausted yesterday, it was lovely to comment and live tweet, and even from home it had a real buzz about it), but it does mean that no one has to miss out. So, if you didn't 'attend' yesterday, you can still check back on all of yesterday's events.

So, here's to another fun day. Hats off to An Awfully Big Blog Adventure for this awesome festival. I'll be attending the evening events, so I hope to see you all there! Get the kids and the family ready for a 10:30 am start, a day of literary fun awaits!

An Awfully Big Blog Adventure Hosts First Ever Online Lit Fest

It is an exciting weekend for children, parents, authors, bloggers and the publishing industry! That's because this weekend, the 9th and 10th July,  An Awfully Big Blog Adventure are hosting the first ever online literary festival.

To coincide with the blog's third birthday, they have created this incredible idea.  The online festival has been organised by a range of wonderful children's authors, and will be the first of its kind. Every half an hour will see a contribution from an author, and the line-up includes a range of subjects, from blogging, to tips on writing, and insights into some of the inspiration and origins for their own incredible work.

In addition, there are some awesome competitions, including book giveaways and, for you aspiring writers, the chance to win a critique!

International Literacy Day – a time to be grateful & reflect

Today, 8th September, is International Literacy Day, a celebration of literacy but also a reminder of the problem of illiteracy that still exists for billions of people around the world. According to UNESCO, one in five adults is illiterate, approximately two-thirds of which are women. Also, 67.4 million children around the world are not receiving formal education.
The importance of literacy for the entire human nation cannot be stressed enough. Unfortunately, I cannot help but feel that for many people, especially young people and those blessed enough to live in ‘first world’ countries, there is not enough appreciation of the immense importance that literacy has for the world community. UNESCO sums up beautifully the importance of literacy for all:

Literacy is a human right, a tool of personal empowerment and a means for social and human development. Educational opportunities depend on literacy.
Literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. There are good reasons why literacy is at the core of Education for All (EFA).
A good quality basic education equips pupils with literacy skills for life and further learning; literate parents are more likely to send their children to school; literate people are better able to access continuing educational opportunities; and literate societies are better geared to meet pressing development.

Man Booker Prize Shortlist Announced

Here we are fellow book-lovers, The Man Booker Prize Shortlist has just been announced. Those chosen are:

• Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
• Room by Emma Donoghue
• The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore
• In a Strange Room by Dalmon Galgut
• The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
• The Long Song by Andrea Levy
• C by Tom McCarthy

Congratulations to all these authors for making the list. What a wonderful selection. So, were your predictions right? What do you think about the selection? Anyone not on the list you were expecting? Would love to hear your views.

What happened to good old pen and paper?

WARNING: This may come over as a bit of a rant, and is probably not that well written. Maybe I am just weird and possibly the only person who even thinks the topic is worth writing about, so be forewarned.

I sit here this morning recovering from a splitting headache. I spent the whole of yesterday evening suffering because of the throbbing, stiffening pain behind my eyes. It would appear that I have to get another screen filter because all this computer usage is really destroying my eyes. And as I suffered yesterday, I asked myself, what happened to the good old days of pen and paper??

Increasingly we are giving our lives over to screens. It almost seems normal now to type everything as opposed to write it, but that is not where it stops. As a result of us having transferred all our writing, and everything else in our lives, to the screens, we now even prefer our literature on a screen, as eBooks and eReaders like Kindle and the iPad take over the reading experience, sales soaring. One may think it strange that someone of my age would not be strongly behind all these technological advances; well in fact I am. I can't deny that an eReader would have been much more pleasant than the burden of 2 bags full of books and notepads that I lugged around daily to college and then to university; yes, technology has its place and its uses. What worries me is my younger cousin and his generation with terrible handwriting and atrocious spelling who don't seem to care much because they do everything by computer anyway.