Saturday, November 14, 2015

Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction

IAs in previous years, submissions are being invited for the Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction. The award is run by Letterbox Library on behalf of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers. 
Little Rebels is now in its 4th year and organisers are "delighted that, even while the award and its administration are entirely unfunded, interest in it just keeps growing." 

To sign up to the posts about this go to the wordpress site. "This is the easiest way to stay up to date about the award. Updates are very modest so your inbox honestly won't get inundated. Meantime do also keep an eye on any #littlerebels twitterings..."

The Little Rebels Award wordpress site has been updated now with the tweaked submissions guidelines https://littlerebelsaward.wordpress.com/submitting-a-book/  And they have also updated the Judges section to introduce the new addition to the panel author Catherine Johnson
  .
(The news section of the site is to be updated shortly with 1) 'we have a new judge!' and 2) 'submissions now open!' announcements.)

Letterbox Library
a not-for-profit social enterprise
Unit 151 Stratford Workshops
Burford Road
Stratford
London
E15 2SP
Tel: 0208 5347502 / Fax: 0208 555 7880

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Press Release in full:

11.11.15 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Author to Join Judging Panel for Little Rebels Award
for Radical Children’s Fiction

The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) is thrilled to announce that the Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for radical children’s fiction is back for its 4th year. The Little Rebels Award recognises children’s fiction which promotes social justice and social equality. The award is given by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) and is administered by specialist children’s booksellers, Letterbox Library. The closing date for nominations is January 11th 2016.

This year, author Catherine Johnson will be joining the Little Rebels Award judges. Speaking about the award, Catherine said, “I am so looking forward to being on the judging panel. Of course there are more and more awards and more and more books every year but there is something completely different and very important about Little Rebels. The books shortlisted are all incredibly special books that encourage radical ideas as well as fabulous storytelling. Stories that aren’t afraid of topics that might include race and sex and class. Important and wonderful books. I cannot wait”.

Catherine Johnson is the author of 14 novels for children and young adults. In 2013, she won the Young Quills Best Historical Fiction prize for Sawbones (Walker 2013) and her latest novel, The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo (Corgi Books/Random House UK 2015), has been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2016. Catherine also writes for screen and TV, including the drama Bullet Boy (2004) and Holby City.

Catherine Johnson was one of the speakers on The Diversity Manifesto panel at the Stoke Newington Literary Festival in June this year. Nor is she new to the world of radical children’s literature. Attending a panel at the London Radical Bookfair back in 2014, she said, “I think the best children’s literature always has a bit of radical about it- from Dr Seuss and Philip Pullman to Malorie Blackman- the best stories are always pushing at the boundaries”.

Catherine Johnson will be joined by last year’s Little Rebels Award judges: award-winning children’s author, Elizabeth Laird, who is also one of IBBY’s current nominations for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award; Bookstart co-founder, editor and Eleanor Farjeon Award recipient (2006), Wendy Cooling; Professor of Children’s Literature at Newcastle University and author of Radical Children’s Literature (Palgrave MacMillan: 2010), Kim Reynolds.

The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award is a sister award to the Bread & Roses Award, which recognises radical adult non-fiction published in the UK. Both awards are the inspiration of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers, a network of radical booksellers in the UK. Both prizes will be presented at the 4th London Radical Bookfair on Saturday May 7th 2016.

Publishers are being invited to submit children’s fiction for readers aged 0-12 which promote social justice and which were first published in 2015. Full submission guidelines can be found at www.littlerebelsaward.wordpress.com.

***

ENDS
Contact:
Fen Coles
Letterbox Library
Unit 151 Stratford Workshops
Burford Road
Stratford E15 2SP
Tel: 020 8534 7502

Further Information
About Letterbox Library
Letterbox Library is a 32-year-old, not-for-profit, children’s booksellers and social enterprise. They specialise in children’s books which celebrate diversity, equality & inclusion. Further information can be found at www.letterboxlibrary.com.

About the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB)
The ARB is a supportive community for the UK’s radical booksellers; www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk. Members of the ARB include Housmans Bookshop, Gay’s The Word, News from Nowhere, Freedom Bookshop and Letterbox Library. The ARB runs the Bread & Roses Award for Radical Publishing, administered by Housmans Bookshop. This independent prize for adult non-fiction ran for the first time in 2011. For more information go to www.bread-and-roses.co.uk .

About the Little Rebels Children’s Book Award
Full details of the award, including the shortlist and prize giving ceremony for previous years, can be found at:  www.littlerebelsaward.wordpress.com .

About the London Radical Bookfair
Hosted by the ARB, this fair was run for the first time on May 11th  2013. The fair is now run in partnership with the Alternative Press Takeover 2014; full details at: www.londonradicalbookfair.com .

Significant dates
The closing date for nominations for the Little Rebels Award is Jan 11th 2016; the shortlist will be announced in April 2016; the winner will be announced at the ARB’s London Radical Bookfair on Saturday May 7th 2016.

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