Sunday Brunch #9

Hi guys!

How are you on this snowy morning?

You can put chocolate cupcakes on my doorstep, I am not putting one foot outside!

Sunday Brunch is making a comeback and I have exciting news and links to share :)

~~~

Theme week:

I am organising from 27th February an LGBT teen novels week to participate in LGBT History Month. There will be reviews and a guest post by James Dawson, author of the wonderful Hollow Pike. If you would like to participate, send me the link to your review and I'll link it in the Introduction post.

To check out the LGBT History Month events, go to their website (here).

~~~

Book groups:

I participate in various book groups at work (woman fiction, crime and literary prizes) but I have recently joined a Queer Fiction book group through the website Meetup and I am loving it! The first book I read for it was Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown and the second was Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg and it was really interesting reading both of those. So expect some "what we discussed" paragraphs when the reviews come up!

~~~

I went to the Patrick Ness and Jim Kay event for A Monster Calls last week in Foyles and it was fantastic! The event was packed and even though many of the people were your usual YA author event crowd, there were several actual children (le gasp!) who were completely made of awesome. 

I'll probably do an event report next week so you can have all the deets! I was really thrilled to see (in realz) some bloggers I had never met before and to get my book signed!

~~~

Talking about Patrick Ness, he tweeted the link to this Rolling Stones article about bullying, anti-gay climate and teen suicide in America [link here]. This article just made me very angry and sad. I can't believe this type of attitudes are still going on...

~~~

RHCB and Transworld have given us an even better reason to buy a book by bringing Lauren Kate's Fallen In Love and Sophie Kinsella's I've Got Your Number jackets to life! If you download a free app on your smartphone, you only have to put your phone in front of the cover and the author photo to see the animated jacket and the message from the author. Check out Lauren Kate's animated cover:

~~~

I was very happy to learn in the Bookseller that WH Smith was promoting cross-over YA titles more directly to adults via promotional section (here). Young Adult books keep growing and growing and they aren't just being read by teens! While searching for the link I stumbled upon this article focusing on YA books and why they are growing (here), it is from July 2011 but still really interesting!

~~~

The brilliant Bali Rai was on Radio 4 last week and you can listen (here) to him argue that stopping talking about race is the best way to stop racism.

~~~

Strange Chemistry is a new imprint by Angry Robot dedicated to YA SF, Fantasy and everything in between. Amanda Rutter (Floor To Ceiling Books blog) is the Editor and she has already signed Kim Curran with Shift and Sean Cummings with Poltergeeks (find the blurbs here) as well as Gwenda Bond for Blackwood (blurb here).
Strange Chemistry is also holding an Open Door fortnight from April 16th to April 30th where unagented authors can send in their manuscripts (find all the details here).

~~~

If you are a dragon fan (oh come on, I *can't* be the only one!), you can finally fulfill your lifelong ambition of drawing one by following this step by step tutorial by award-winning illustrator and author Emily Gravett on the Guardian website. 

Which has led to THIS masterpiece:

I know what you're thinking, 

I really feel I missed a career in illustration too....

~~~

That's it for this week you guys, have a great time in the snow and don't break a leg!

Happy reading!

Caroline x