British SCBWI

candygourlay Female
London
United Kingdom
Share 

Candygourlay's Friends



Latest Activity

well done, david! it's great!
candygourlay is attending Sue Hyams's eventJune 24
Third London Social at Inspiral Lounge, Camden Lock
June 29, 2009 from 6:30pm to 11pm
We will be holding the third SCBWI London Social on Monday 29th June from 6.30pm. It's at the Inspiral Lounge in Camden Lock. Address - 250 Camden High Street, London, NW1 8QS. All welcome!
Looking forward to seeing you at my Masterclass on Writing Dialogue this coming Saturday. We'll be sorting out the gritty problems of making your dialogue sound like every talk but making it so much more interesting and relevant to your narrative.
candygourlay added 7 blog postsJune 24
That beard so suits you Candy, I think you should seriously think about keeping it!
I'm all for it. Beards are the way forward!
Charlotte Anne Braden might attend candygourlay's eventJune 16
September 18, 2009 to September 20, 2009
2nd International Symposium New impulses in Picturebook Research Faculty of Education University of Glasgow (UK) 18-20 September 2009 This Symposium aims to continue the discussion of the group of scholars working on many different aspects of pi...
candygourlay added 8 eventsJune 16

candygourlay's Groups

 

It's Beardy time. Save Philip Ardagh!

Profile

About Me
Volcano Child by Candy Gourlay Ugly City by Candy Gourlaymy blog

I am British SCBWI's webmaster and I passionately believe that the rise of the social web is an exciting opportunity for children's authors to engage with readers. I returned to my native Philippines in 2005, to write and present the Radio 4 documentary, Motherless Nation about the children left behind by migrant workers. The experience inspired me to write two novels, Volcano Child and Ugly City - both of which, I hope, puts a human face to third world calamity and globalization . Ugly City won a place in SCBWI's first Undiscovered Voices anthology. I am represented by Hilary Delamere of The Agency.

What are you working on at the moment?
I am currently working on an 11+ coming of age novel called Tall Story.
The long lost brother Andy has been dreaming of - tall, dark, and hopefully, keen on basketball - finally arrives and he's tall all right. But not just tall ... a GIANT. A novel about basketball and culture clash. Funny, sad and magic at the same time.
If you were asked to recommend just one children's book published this year, what would it be?
The must, must, must, must read of the year has to be COSMIC by Frank Cottrell Boyce.
What is the most important thing you learned about writing or illustrating this year?
I am not alone.

Notes from the Slushpile: My Blog on Trying to Get Published

The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick - picture books make me feel like drawing

I had a fabulous surprise in the post yesterday. Wrapped in plain brown paper, this book arrived. It was from Sarwat - author of the unputdownable goth lit adventure Devil's Kiss - who has just come back from his triumphant first BEA (marred only by the small matter of being mistaken for a terrorist at the airport in New York).

Sarwat harvested a massive haul of books at BEA which he duly shipped back to London and offered up on his blog on a first come, first served basis. I of course leapt at the offer.

And here it is - The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick, the guy who wrote and illustrated The Invention of Hugo Cabret, winner of the Caldecott Medal. I just stared at it for many long minutes. Check out the illustrations on the inside pages:

The text was sparse and the cross-hatched pen and ink drawings were lush.


I was so bowled over that I grabbed my sketchpad, brushed off the cobwebs and spent the evening drawing.



See what one picture book can do?

Our new Children's Laureate Anthony Browne, writing in today's Education Guardian, said:

Most adults will tell me: "I can't draw!" Children, too, as they get older, say the same thing. Something happens to our creativity as we go through the education process; most of us lose touch with it. A stifling form of self-consciousness invades us, whether it be in drawing, writing, singing or (in my case) dancing...

Just before this unhelpful self-consciousness creeps into children, many of them are encouraged to move away from picture books and move into "chapter books" - books without illustrations. Perhaps there's a connection? Read it all

We need more books like The Houdini Box.

Comment Wall (81 comments)

You need to be a member of British SCBWI to add comments!

Join this network

At 11:12am on 2 July 2009, ERIC HEYMAN said…
Hi Candy it's Eric,I've recieved the Welcome pack from SCBWI,just reading through the info,is it worth contacting publishers in the USA and other countries,or do they use illustrators just from their own country.Had some good news,I've got into Oxford University press,Little tiger press and Gomer which is a big Welsh publisher,I've also sent my new examples to some of the big publishers so fingers crossed,hope you are well,speak to you soon...........Eric
At 11:16am on 18 June 2009, ERIC HEYMAN said…
Thanks Candy,once my work is featured then I'll contact,thanks for being so helpful and welcoming
At 8:18pm on 1 June 2009, Tracy Ann Baines said…
Cheers Candy - I'll give it a go, I've tried redoing it but not feed burner. Not sure I know what I have to do but I'll try.

Candygourlay's Blog

candygourlay

How to put pictures on your site

Posted on 19 June 2009 at 12:30pm —

candygourlay

SAVE THE BEARD!

Posted on 18 June 2009 at 11:30am — 2 Comments

 
 

Support the Campaign for the Book

Happenings

British SCBWI Events Visit SCBWI British Isles' homepage at www.britishscbwi.org

Small Print

BritishScbwi.org is copyright SCBWI British Isles. Articles and artwork featured in this website are copyright to individual authors and artists. 'Computer Planet' header image is by Amanda Lillywhite. All Rights Reserved. Links to other websites are provided as a service but we have no control over these external sites, the advertisements on our pages are added by Ning. We can take no responsibility for this outside content.
 

© 2009   Created by candygourlay on Ning.   Create Your Own Social Network

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy  |  Terms of Service