2008 M-Net/Via Afrika Literary Award Winners and the Katrina Harris awards

• The M.E.R Prize for best illustrated children’s book – Nina and Little Duck
• The M.E.R Prize for best youth novel – The Goblet Club

The M.E.R. Prize was established in 1983 and is awarded annually by M-Net and Via Afrika in two distinct categories. A prize is awarded to the best illustrated children’s book and another to the best youth novel published during the previous year. The only condition is that the books must be aimed at younger readers and that the authors and illustrators must be South African citizens. The award is named after MER (Mimie E. Rothmann 1875-1975), for her groundbreaking work in the field of children’s literature. No distinction is made between English and Afrikaans books.

For more information about the awards, see: http://news.book.co.za/blog/2008/06/15/2008-m-net-and-via-afrika-award-winners/

Nina and Little Duck -
The M.E.R Prize for best illustrated children’s book was awarded to Wendy Hartmann (author) and Marjorie van Heerden (illustrator) for Nina and Little Duck published by Human & Rousseau (SA) in 2007 (also available in Afrikaans as Nina en Eendjie).

Nina, Simon, and Mr and Mrs Rajah, together with their cat and dog, all live on a quaint little street where shops and houses are built right next door to each other. Mr and Mrs Rajah own a shop on this street. Their house is part of the shop. Next to it is an entrance to the garden where they store a few things. It is charming, just the kind of place a duck would love to make a nest. Nina and Simon spend a lot of time playing close to Mr and Mrs Rajah’s house and shop. They often stop for a chat and sometimes go into the garden to play games. Little Duck also spends a lot of time in the street and around the shop. After a long search, she recently moved into the Rajah’s garden to raise her family. And this is where the adventures of Little Duck and her ducklings, Max, Molly and Martin really start. The text is supported by humorous and charming rhymes and illustrations that warm the heart and tickle the tummy.

Nina and Little Duck (English) - ISBN 978-0-7981-4824-5
Nina en Eendjie (Afrikaans) - ISBN 978-0-7981-4825-2
Written by Wendy Hartmann and Illustrated by Marjorie van Heerden
Published by Human & Rousseau Publishers (SA) [Aug 2007]
Format (soft cover): 280mm x 215mm; 64 pages
Readership: Toddlers, Read aloud & New Readers

Copies can be ordered from: http://www.kalahari.net/ or orders@onthedot.co.za

For more information about Wendy, see her websites:
http://www.wendy-hartmann.blogspot.com/
http://www.childlit.org.za/scbwi2006/03/INDEX.HTM

For more information about Marjorie, see her websites:
http://www.grafikon.co.za/
http://marjorie-van-heerden.blogspot.com/
http://marjorie-books.blogspot.com/

The Goblet Club - The M.E.R Prize for best youth novel was awarded to S.A. Partridge for The Goblet Club published by Human & Rousseau (SA) in 2007.

The Goblet Club is a Gothic novel in the tradition of the highly successful Harry Potter series, but with distinctly South African features and set in a mysterious boarding school somewhere on the South African platteland. When Mark is sent to St Matthew's College for Boys, it is one more punishment for years of bad behaviour. The school has a reputation for knocking boys like him into shape, run with an iron fist by the sinister headmaster, Mr Crabtree. As soon as he arrives, Mark enters a sinister world of questions: what is Mr Crabtree's secret, and why does he have a miserable sixteen-year-old secretary? Are his new friends who they say are? Mark sets out to find answers, with his friends, Trent, Vlad and Francis. Together, they are the Goblet Club, dedicated to the study of poisons. They begin to use their potions to rid the school of a plague of rats, but as Mark is drawn deeper in, their thoughts turn to murder…

The Goblet Club - ISBN: 9780798148788
Written by S.A. Partridge
Published by Human & Rousseau Publishers (SA) [Oct 2007]
Format (soft cover): 213mm x 137mm; 144 pages
Copies can be ordered from: http://www.kalahari.net/ or orders@onthedot.co.za;

For more information about Sally-Ann, see her websites:
http://sapartridge.book.co.za/
http://www.nb.co.za/listing/partridge/4573/

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Katrina Harris award

Katrina Harris, 1914 -1978

The Katrina Harries Award was for many years the only Children’s book award for illustration in South Africa, but for the last 10 years it has been dormant. It has been resurrected by the efforts of Thomas van der Walt, Unisa's Children's Literature Research Unit (CLRU) http://www.childlit.org.za/clruindex.html) and will again from this year be awarded.

About the award:

The Katrine Harries Award for Children's Book Illustrations honours the work of a South African illustrator for a book published in the preceding two years. The illustrator must be a permanent South African citizen. The prize is named after the well-known South African artist Katrina Harris who won the first two awards in 1974 and 1976. Since 1998 the award has been managed by Unisa's Children's Literature Research Unit (CLRU). The award consists of a gold medal and is awarded biennially. (For more about Katrina Harris – see at the end of this e-mail.)

At a ceremony held at the University of Pretoria on 5 March 2008, the following awards were announced:
The 1999-2001, 2002-2003 and 2004-5 awards went to Piet Grobler for Doctor Me Di Cin / Dokter Me Di syn Human & Rousseau (2001), Toepa-toepa towery Protea (2003), Net een slukkie, padda! / Please Frog, just one sip! Human & Rousseau (2002), Die spree met foete Human & Rousseau (2002), Het Vogeljes ABC Lemniscaat (2005), Makwelane en die krokodil Human & Rousseau (2004) and Mia se ma / Mia's mom Human & Rousseau (2005) respectively.
The 2007 award went to Emily Bornoff for Prinses van die Afrikavlaktes Lapa (2006).

Breakdown

1999-2001

Piet Grobler vir Dokter Me Di Syn. H&R. (2001)

Eervol vermeld:

Jude Daly vir The Star-Bearer. Frances Lincoln. (2001)

Fiona Moodie vir Noko and the Night Monster. Frances Lincoln. (2001)

Niki Daly vir Fly, eagle, fly! Tafelberg. (2000)

Niki Daly, Jamela’s dress. Tafelberg. (1999)

2002-2003

Piet Grobler vir Toepa-toepa towery . Protea. (2003); Net een slukkie, padda!. H&R. (2002) en Die Spree met foete. H&R. (2002)

Eervol vermeld

Niki Daly vir One round moon. Songololo (2003).

2004-2005

Piet Grobler vir Het Vogeltjes ABC. Lemniscaat. (2005); Makwelane en die krokodil. H&R. (2004) & Mia se ma. H&R. (2005)

Eervol vermeld

Natalie Hinrichsen vir Roep die maan (Tell the moon). Tafelberg (2005)

Tamsin Hinrichsen vir We want tails (Ons soek sterte). Tafelberg. (2005)

Vian Oelofsen vir Hou vas, Seekoei H&R. (2005) en My sussie se tande. Lapa. (2004)

Emily Bornhoff vir Maroelaboomstories. Lapa. (2005)

2006-2007

Emily Bornhoff ir Prinses van die Afrikavlaktes. Lapa. (2006)

Eervol vermeld

Piet Grobler vir Sky Blue Accident. Groundwood Books. (2006)

Joan Rankin vir Theo die biblioteekkat; Theo en die sirkus; Theo en die kattekwaad. Lapa. (2007)

Shayle Bester vir The Cool Nguni. Jacana. (2007); Three friends and a taxi. Jacana. (2007)

Flip Hattingh vir My oupa Hoenders. Tafelberg. (2007)

Marna Hattingh vir Leander en Louise (Tiger and Louise). Tafelberg. (2007)

Fiona Moodie vir Fynbos feëtjies. Umuzi (2007)

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Katrina Harris

Katrina was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1914. As a child she loved drawing and she often did illustrations for the stories she read. After school she studied art - the self portrait above was done during this time. Because she was Jewish she and her mother left Germany during the Second World War (1939) and moved to Cape Town and after a couple of years she started to do illustrations for periodicals and books . Her reputation as illustrator and designer was already firmly established when she was appointed to a part time teaching post at the Michealis School of Fine Art. She however continued to do illustration work.

As an illustrator of outstanding talent and sensitivity Katrina Harries made an important contribution to the raising of the standards of book production in South Africa, and par­ticularly of children's books in Afri­kaans. Her charming and often gently humorous drawings earned for her the warm appreciation of the authors with whom she worked. The value of her work as an illustra­tor was recognized by several prizes awarded her by the South African Library Association.

Her work as an independent draughtsman on paper, etching plate or lithographic stone is as importance as her book illustrations. Her drawings and graphic works have from the begin­ning been held in high regard by all true art lovers and earned her a Merit Award of the Cape Tercente­nary Foundation and a Medal of Honour of the Suid-Afrikaanse Aka­demie vir Wetenskap en Kuns. Katrina Harries was a quietly coura­geous, modest, somewhat reserved person, completely honest and highly critical of herself and of her own work. In the Michaelis School of Fine Art she established a depart­ment of graphic art which, under her gentle but firm guidance, developed into one of the strongest and sound­est departments of that School. Quite a few of our established children’s book illustrators were lucky to have been students of her… Paddy Bouma, Joan Rankin and Marjorie van Heerden. Her influence can bee seen in their work.

A blog with South African book reviews

A blog with South African book reviews and information by Lona Gericke.

http://www.sa-books.blogspot.com/

This blog is an initiative by SCBWI SA

Lona Gericke has had a passion for children’s books her whole life and has been involved with Children’s books and libraries for over 38 years as librarian and book selector. She has twice had the honour of being elected as a member of the H.C.Andersen Jury to judge writing and illustration; and also judges books for awards in South Africa,and writes reviews and articles for the IBBY SA Newsletter and for the Cape Librarian. She regularly presents talks and workshops on Children’s literature.She runs a Born to read programme for babies every Wednesday morning in Bellville library, for the past 9 years.

Book reviews on Bookchat

Once upon a time there was a magazine about South African children’s books. It was called Bookchat and it survived for 21 years. Now, after a respectful rest, it has returned in wraith-like format as a website: http://www.bookchat.co.za/ Jay Heale’s intention as editor is the same: to provide information and due praise for South African children’s literature. There are reviews and recommended lists and contacts to publishers and bookshops. The site is updated monthly, with such features as a “Book of the Month”, news from the book world and so on.

A new feature is the SACBIP database (of South African children’s books in print) which is intended, eventually, to hold full details of all our books. The English language books were put in first – about 1 600 of them and growing! At the moment, Jay is busy with the books available in Xhosa. As many entries as possible include details of the plot, theme, setting, etc. Various search facilities are available.

Members of SCBWI are, of course, welcome to visit the Bookchat site and the database. All for free! If Jay has missed out a precious book of yours, then please tell him so. He hopes that local publishers keep him up to date with the latest publications – but you know what publishers are like! Happy writing and illustrating to you all!

You will find Jay’s contact details on his website

About Jay Heale:
Jay is the author of many books for children and about children’s literature. He was one of the founder members of the South African Children’s Book Forum (SACBF) which is now IBBY SA. For eight years he served on the Jury of IBBY’s Hans Christian Andersen Award, http://www.ibby.org/index.php?id=273, first as a jury member and then as president of that jury. He was the organiser of the 2004 IBBY Congress in Cape Town. For more visit http://www.bookchat.co.za/bookchat.html

SCBWI Retreat: Venue

The SCBWI Retreat was held from 5-9 May 2008 at Goudini Spa, a stunning venue.

SCBWI Retreat: From story board and manuscript to published book

From story board to published book: How to find your own way in the world of publishing - a talk by international literary agent Susanne Koppe

Susanne explained that she works as a literary agent in Hamburg, Germany mainly with German authors. She also does some “internship” work with teenagers in schools.

She spoke about her career in children’s books which has involved study of children’s literature, work as a scout for the publishing house Beltz & Gelberg and Random House and running of the children’s booklist for Rotfuchs at Rowohlt Publishers. In 2002 she founded her own agency for literature and illustration.

Susanne described her work as an agent. She suggested that writers and illustrators should be careful in choosing an agent and should not pay money for reviews as this practice is open to corruption. It is also important to find someone who shares your values and ideas about books.

Susanne showed some of the books that she has worked on. They included some interesting “pop-up” type books, picture books, a “story song” type book with its own CD, picture books with riddles etc. She has also worked on longer stories for young adults such as those by Lilli Thal. She tries to look at the market and publish what makes sense as well as what is good.

A threat to children’s books in Europe are the big bookshops with limited lists. More than publishers, these minimize variety. Often they will say that a book is out of print when it is available from the publisher.

Book Fairs
There are a number of book fairs in Europe . Susanne particularly recommended the Bologna Book Fair which is specifically for children’s books.
Branding yourself
It is a good idea to give something small to people whom you would like to work with, such as the stamps that she has made.
Royalties
In Germany these are normally about 15%.
Packaging
Packaging is practised in some countries by some publishing houses who put together a concept and try to sell this.
Submission of manuscripts
It is best to post, not email these. Emails can get lost and are impersonal.
Submission of illustrations
Jpegs can work very well. Original artwork should never be sent. It indicates lack of professionalism and creates anxiety for the agent who has to return it without damaging it. If an original piece of work is sent to make a particular point, it should be small and should be sent as something that does not need to be returned.
Covering letter
Give some background regarding why you wrote the book.
Summarise the plot.
Longer books - include about three chapters of the book. The exact number of words to send will vary according to the type of book.
Picture books - send the whole book.

SCBWI Retreat: Blank page to under a child's pillow - the creative process

Blank page to under a child's pillow - the creative process - a talk by Editorial Director, Picture/Gift Books, Macmillan Children's Books, UK, Suzanne Carnell.

Suzanne began her talk with a picture of her desk back home in the UK and pointed to the various pictures, mementos, reminders and notes around it to introduce the different kinds of work she does as well as the authors and illustrators she works with. Although Macmillan says it doesn't accept unsolicited manuscripts, she said that the post often brought surprizes that the staff couldn't resist looking at. In this way some of their well known authors had first been published.

She described working with people such as Emily Gravett, Julia Donaldson, Kazuno Kohar and Chris Riddell. Altogether the talk provided a tantalising insight into the work of a children's book publisher. The audience loved seeing the examples of books Macmillan had published. It was fascinating to see the process followed during the writing, illustrating and publishing of a book.

SCBWI Retreat: International Children's magazine market

International children's magazine market: What material they need, how to submit work, how children's magazine copyright and payment works - a talk by international editor Christine Clark

Christine began her talk by describing her experience as a child reader of magazines. She discussed a magaznine's predicability in terms of arrival and features as well as the surprizes offered by each edition. A magazine informs, entertains and inspires. Subscription to a magazine gives a child a sense of ownership as she receives an item in the mail addressed to her. Magazines are also good for reluctant readers because they break information into manageable chunks.

Surveys of magazine reading by children show that large percentages read magazines often.

Christine showed slides of a wide range of children's magazines which are available in the US, such as: Dig, Hopschotch for Girls, Cricket, American Girl, Ranger Rick, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Rocket, Chirp, National Geographic for Kids, New Moon, Ladybug, Faces, Your big backyard, Iguana, Cobblestone, Muse, Zootles, Calliope,

National Geographic for Little Kids and Owl.

Christine described how people write for Highlights magazine. She suggested that anyone aspiring to write for a children's magazine should:

Study the magazine
Get the writers' guidelines
Carry out an extensive analysis of the content, brand and identity of the magazine.
Find out what the ideals of the magazine are / what is its mission statement?

Highlights magazine was founded in 1946 by two teachers who wanted to develop tolerance among kids without being too heavy-handed. It is a general interest magazine. 85% of the magazine is written by free lancers. Every issue has certain features such as a non-fiction article about another part of the world. Its indirect message is that "we are more alike than we are different".

The word length of articles is approximately 800 words. However, if an article targets a younger group, then a slighly larger font is used and the article comprises fewer words.

Christine acknowledged the Highlights Foundation which had enabled her visit to South Africa. Its purpose is to raise the standard of children's literature.

SCBWI Retreat: Panel Discussions

At the SCBWI Retreat two very interesting panel discussions were held. The panel members gave invaluable information and the contributions from the floor were very useful.

The topics were:
The naked editor: publishers, international and local, in dialogue
and
Contracts and payment terms