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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: 2 Steves, Most Recent at Top [Help]
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1. Big Fat Fibs and the Big Fat Fibbers Who Tell Them* - John Dougherty

It’s going to be an unashamedly political post today, folks; but before I begin here are a few pictures from my recent visit to Delhi for the Bookaroo festival:

Big thanks to Jo Williams and the Bookaroo team for inviting me and for organising such a great festival, and to the British School in Delhi for sponsoring my events!

But while I was having such a terrific time in India, hanging out with the 2 Steves and making some lovely new international author friends, events were moving on apace with the campaigns to save our libraries.



Campaigners on Judgement Day
As you may know, on 16th November Mr Justice McKenna ruled in the High Court that Gloucestershire and Somerset County Councils’ plans to drastically cut our library services were unlawful on equalities grounds. “Hurrah!” we all said, as the judge quashed the plans, and told the councils they had to go back to the beginning and start again.

So, what’s the problem? Well, here in Gloucestershire the council’s statements about the High Court judgement have been somewhat austeritical with the truth.

On the day of the judgement, council leader Mark Hawthorne told Channel 4 news that the judge had ruled that the council had not breached its duties under the 1964 Libraries Act - an assertion he repeated on BBC local radio the next day. He has also been widely quoted as saying that “the most important thing here is that the judge said that there is nothing wrong with our plans to transfer some libraries over to communities”.

Nice for the council if it were true. In fact, as explained here, this is based on a misreading. All the judge was saying was (a) it’s for the Secretary of State, not him, to decide whether the council’s plans comply with the act, and (b) since community libraries fall outside statutory provision, they’re not relevant to the act. You can have 100 libraries handed over to communities, or none: the question is, do the council’s own libraries meet the requirements?

Okay; but we can see how

5 Comments on Big Fat Fibs and the Big Fat Fibbers Who Tell Them* - John Dougherty, last added: 12/7/2011
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2. Northern Children's Book Festival


Remember I packed my bags last Tuesday and left John all on his lonesome?

I spent 4 nights in Durham, at the NCBF and I had a great time. I did storytellings in libraries or schools each day, then hung out with the other authors and illustrators in the evenings.

I loved the kids and loved being so pampered! I was assigned a different librarian every day to look after me, and they were brilliant, ensuring everything ran like clockwork.


They came and picked me up from the hotel first thing and drove me to wherever I was visiting. Luxury! They sorted out the dreaded flipcharts, filled their cars with big boxes of my books for signing and, in the middle of the day, either took me out for a pub lunch, or organised lovely buffets of sandwiches in the library. Then they drove me back to the hotel at day's end.

Librarians had been beavering away behind the scenes too, getting copies of my books into the schools, so children already knew my work, which meant all the kids were really excited and up for it.

And some librarians, like Lauren in Shildon Library, created lovely displays ready for my visit:


The evenings were lovely too. I went for dinner with the hilarious 2 Steves, the lovely Paul Cookson and, one of my fave illustrators, Korky Paul (remember I went to his workshop in Hay?)

I also met author Joan Lennon for the first time: we got on really well and it was fun swapping notes about what we do for our events - she takes a case full of about a dozen ferrets!!! (fortunately not live ones - can you imagine?).

2 Comments on Northern Children's Book Festival, last added: 12/24/2009
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