We’re pleased to announce the Big Rebels who will be joining us on May 7th!
The London Radical Bookfair is taking place on Saturday, May 7th at Goldsmiths University between 12 and 6pm. This is a free event which is open to all; there is no need to book. All the fair details are HERE.
For fans of the Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction, there will be a special panel of some of the shortlisted authors and illustrators at 3pm. So come along and see them speak about their rabble-rousing books before hearing the winner announcement (approx. 5.15pm). Letterbox Library will have a stand all day and we’ll be selling all the shortlisted books (alongside a broader range of rad. children’s books) at a discount. Do pop by and say hello; one of the things we love most about the fair is catching up with old faces and seeing new ones.
The panel of Little Rebels Shortlistees will be chaired by Little Rebels judge, Wendy Cooling.
This year, our Little Rebels Shortlistee Panel will include:
Gill Lewis, author of Gorilla Dawn
We’re delighted that the winner of last year’s Little Rebels Award, Gill Lewis, is attending the panel this year. And this is a hat trick for her: Moon Bear was shortlisted in 2014 and Scarlet Ibis won last year. Gill is famous for novels which interweave animal and human narratives. Shortlisted for a number of awards, Gill’s winners include Moon Bear for the German Environmental Prize for Children’s Literature and White Dolphin for the US Green Earth Book Award. Skyhawk not only won the US Green Earth Book Award again but was also named the UK Library Association (UKLA) Children’s Book of the Year.
Alexis Deacon and Viviane Schwarz, author/ill. of I Am Henry Finch
Viviane is an internationally published children’s author and illustrator. Her work ranges from picture books for toddlers through to comics for older readers. She also invents games! She won the 2011 Booktrust Best New Illustrators’ Award, was twice shortlisted for the CILIP Greenaway Medal and was shortlisted for the 2011 Roald Dahl Funny Award.
Alexis is a children’s book author and illustrator. His first ever book, Slow Loris, published in 2002, was named in Time Magazine’s prestigious list of the one hundred best ever children’s books. Alexis has twice received The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award and, in 2008, he was chosen by Booktrust as one of the ten best new illustrators of the preceding decade. Alexis and Viviane have worked together before on picture books Cheese Belongs To You! and A Place to Call Home.
Michael Foreman, author of The Little Bookshop and the Origami Army
Michael Foreman is a highly prolific children’s author and illustrator who needs little introduction. As well as illustrating countless books for other authors over the years, Michael also writes and illustrates his own books. He enjoys writing about earlier periods of history, including conflict and war, in books such as After The War Was Over (1995), shortlisted for a Kate Greenaway Medal and winner of the 1993 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. His latest books include Newspaper Boy and the Origami Girl (2012) (Origami Girl’s first outing!), The Tortoise and the Soldier (2015) and The Seeds of Friendship (2016). He has twice been nominated for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award for his contribution as a children’s illustrator, first in 1988 and again in 2010.
Neal Layton, illustrator of Uncle Gobb and the Dread Shed
Neal and Michael have collaborated before, on picture books Rover, Monster and Howler. Neal is a multi-media artist and is very popular on the Smarties list! He has twice won the Bronze Smarties Award and was then awarded the Gold for That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown. He and Michael will be bringing you a sequel, Uncle Gobb and the Green Heads, early next year.
Unfortunately Michael Rosen will be unable to attend the bookfair. He has the best excuse: on the 7th May he will be celebrating his 70th birthday. What a legend. And what a great contributor to the landscape of radical children’s literature over so many years- in his books, his public speaking, his thinking and his blogging including the wonderful letter series in The Guardian: Dear Mr Gove… and Dear Nicky Morgan… We wish you the happiest of birthdays, Michael!
The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award 