8:48 am - 02/16/2013
Book Post
In short, Terry Deary attacks libraries, Julia Donaldson and others defend them, Oliver Jeffers shares Maurice Sendak feels and Neil Gaiman makes an announcement relating to Neverwhere. This post is long but interesting, if you're into that sort of thing.
Libraries 'have had their day', says Horrible Histories author
Author of children's bestsellers Terry Deary says they are a drain on taxpayers and authors that no longer makes sense
Libraries "have been around too long" and are "no longer relevant", according to Horrible Histories author Terry Deary, an apparently lone literary voice to believe that libraries have "had their day".
Libraries 'have had their day', says Horrible Histories author
Author of children's bestsellers Terry Deary says they are a drain on taxpayers and authors that no longer makes sense
Libraries "have been around too long" and are "no longer relevant", according to Horrible Histories author Terry Deary, an apparently lone literary voice to believe that libraries have "had their day".
Deary, a bestselling author who was also the seventh most-borrowed children's writer from UK libraries last year, was speaking as his local council in Sunderland became the latest authority to look into the possibility of closing branches to save money. But unlike other authors up and down the country, who have come together to protest the closures of their local branches, Deary was clear that libraries have had their day.
"I'm not attacking libraries, I'm attacking the concept behind libraries, which is no longer relevant," Deary told the Guardian, pointing out that the original Public Libraries Act, which gave rise to the first free public libraries in the UK, was passed in 1850. "Because it's been 150 years, we've got this idea that we've got an entitlement to read books for free, at the expense of authors, publishers and council tax payers. This is not the Victorian age, when we wanted to allow the impoverished access to literature. We pay for compulsory schooling to do that," said Deary, who has received hate mail since he first aired his views in the Sunderland Echo yesterday.
But despite the negative reaction to his comments, the Horrible Histories author is adamant that the public attitude around libraries "has to change". "People have to make the choice to buy books. People will happily buy a cinema ticket to see Roald Dahl's Matilda, and expect to get the book for free. It doesn't make sense," he said. "Books aren't public property, and writers aren't Enid Blyton, middle-class women indulging in a pleasant little hobby. They've got to make a living. Authors, booksellers and publishers need to eat. We don't expect to go to a food library to be fed."
As one of the most popular library authors – his books were borrowed more than 500,000 times during 2011/12 – Deary will have received the maximum amount possible for a writer from the Public Lending Right scheme, which gives authors 6.2p every time one of their books is borrowed, up to a cap of £6,600. "If I sold the book I'd get 30p per book. I get six grand, and I should be getting £180,000. But never mind my selfish author perception – what about the bookshops? The libraries are doing nothing for the book industry. They give nothing back, whereas bookshops are selling the book, and the author and the publisher get paid, which is as it should be. What other entertainment do we expect to get for free?" he asked.
Bookshops are closing down, he said, "because someone is giving away the product they are trying to sell. What other industry creates a product and allows someone else to give it away, endlessly? The car industry would collapse if we went to car libraries for free use of Porsches … Librarians are lovely people and libraries are lovely places, but they are damaging the book industry. They are putting bookshops out of business, and I'm afraid we have to look at what place they have in the 21st century."
Deary is calling for a public debate around libraries, and for an end to the "sentimentality" he believes has framed the issue so far. "Why are all the authors coming out in support of libraries when libraries are cutting their throats and slashing their purses?" he asked. "We can't give everything away under the public purse. Books are part of the entertainment industry. Literature has been something elite, but it is not any more. This is not the Roman empire, where we give away free bread and circuses to the masses. People expect to pay for entertainment. They might object to TV licences, but they understand they have to do it. But because libraries have been around for so long, people have this idea that books should be freely available to all. I'm afraid those days are past. Libraries cost a vast amount … and the council tax payers are paying a lot of money to subsidise them, when they are used by an ever-diminishing amount of people."
Deary's comments were described as "horrible" by his fellow author Alan Gibbons, a key figure in the campaign to save libraries. "Is the support of the vast majority of the artistic community for libraries 'sentimentality'? OK, Terry, tell that to Lee Hall, author of Billy Elliot. Tell it to Jacqueline Wilson and Lee Child, Kate Mosse and Kathy Lette, Philip Pullman and David Almond. Tell it to the hundreds of authors, illustrators and poets who have joined protests. Are they just dewy-eyed romantics? No, they are convinced proponents of the effectiveness of libraries. They are backed up by numerous reports by the OECD and the National Literacy Trust," said Gibbons.
"Some of us who have devoted enormous amounts of time and effort to the library cause, who have marched and petitioned, lobbied and demonstrated, argued with councillors and ministers, feel utterly betrayed by Terry's words. Does he really want to line up with the philistines? Terry's pronouncement is not quirky or eccentric or 'just Terry'. In current circumstances it is downright irresponsible," said Gibbons.
Oh Terry.
Julia Donaldson defends libraries from Terry Deary's attack
Children's laureate joins other authors saying libraries do not harm the book trade but 'create readers'
Children's laureate Julia Donaldson has come out in staunch support of libraries, dismissing Horrible Histories author Terry Deary's belief that they have "had their day" as "seriously flawed".
Earlier this week, Deary told the Guardian that in an age of compulsory schooling, libraries were "no longer relevant". But Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson – the third most-borrowed author from the UK's libraries last year – said Deary's belief that bookshops are closing "because someone is giving away the product they are trying to sell" is mistaken.
"I think it's brilliant that libraries are free. Not only do library users also buy books, but if some users genuinely are too poor to buy books, then it's great that we've got libraries for those people … [And] If libraries have any bearing on bookshops, it's the other way – libraries are creating readers," said Donaldson, who has "never met" a bookseller who believes libraries are putting them out of business.
"When I did my recent library tour from John O'Groats to Lands End, I interspersed the library visits with signings in local bookshops, and the booksellers all blamed Amazon, and to some extent ebooks, for their decline," she said. "If yet more bookshops close and people can only find books online, without public libraries there would be no place for children to physically browse and discover their tastes in reading. And publishers would only be able to publish the most popular titles, so that far more authors would be out of a living."
According to Donaldson, there is not an "either/or" between bookshops and libraries. "In reality, libraries are the places where our readers and book-buyers are created. Without the huge choice of books which libraries provide, children are not going to discover their favourite authors, and will not then be asking for books for their birthdays or buying them when they are adults with their own money," she said. "One of my sons found Horrible Histories in the library, and I used to buy them for his birthday. I would never have found them without the library, so I think library borrowing definitely contributes to sales.
Donaldson pointed to recent statistics which show that children's fiction has seen an increase in borrowing numbers for the last two years, saying that "the toddlers who go to the 'Rhymetime' sessions in libraries and the schoolchildren who do the Summer Reading Challenge are much more likely to become readers and future book- buyers than those who don't".
On Deary's comment that libraries are not needed because schools provide access to literature, Donaldson said she had "never visited a primary school which could provide a fraction of the books or specialist knowledge and advice which a library can provide". Deary agreed with her, saying that "all I am asking is 'are there other ways of addressing the problem?' Ways that do not involve a library building perhaps? Let's start with a blank sheet of paper here, not with a 100-year-old building."
Donaldson did agree with Deary that "writers need to make a living", and admitted that it "annoys me when we are often expected to do events for free", but said she had "never met any other author who feels that libraries are robbing them of their income. Like him I am one of the country's most-borrowed authors … but I think it is partly for this reason that we are also among the bestselling ones".
Deary has received an avalanche of hate mail this week, and has been subjected to what he has described as a "witch-hunt", as well as a petition – since taken down – for his bestselling Horrible Histories books to be removed from library shelves. "Some enlightened people have welcomed the debate," he said. "Many disagree but concede my right to freedom of speech. Many simply post obscenities to me that would make a grown man blush."
But according to Deary, "the most astonishing thing" was that "the campaign of vilification" against him has been led by authors. "Why is their language so intemperate, crude, personal and at the level of the playground? What are they doing for their reputations by their petty spite? And what exactly are they afraid of? And why didn't these same saintly authors march in protest against the closure of Borders bookshops as they did against the closure of libraries?" he asked.
Many authors have not been as measured as the children's laureate in their response to Deary's salvo. Neil Gaiman called Deary's views "selfish & stupid, shortsighted & sad" but "mostly selfish" on Twitter, adding: "Terry Deary gets avaricious & anti-library".
David Almond dismissed Deary's remarks as "self-serving ignorant cynical twaddle" on Twitter, and Joanne Harris wrote: "another middle-class author with plenty of money to buy books ignores the value of libraries to the old, the young & the less well off … Terry Deary's solo attempt to prove that all best-selling authors are venal, ungrateful & out-of-touch".
Speaking to the Guardian, the Chocolat author added: "It seems sad he thinks that. It also seems slightly insulting to his readership. The value of libraries to people is greater than just access to books – it is one of the benchmarks of civilisation. Free libraries were introduced for a reason – to give people who might not have access to books the chance other people had. They are the complete leveller."
Like Donaldson, Harris believes readers are not making a choice between borrowing a book from a library or buying it. "The assumption that everyone who borrows one of his [Deary's] books would otherwise be buying it from a shop is just naive," she said. "Books are borrowed from libraries, and often if people love them, they will buy them later. Libraries offer a legitimate way of trying an author, and maybe taking a punt on buying them later. Terry has left out of the equation the poor, the elderly and the vulnerable, and just people who don't have the space or money to buy thousands of books."
But "if that is what Terry genuinely thinks, then he should say it," said Donaldson. "Who knows – maybe one of us can get him to change his mind."
Deary was open to the possibility. "On a personal note I've not been to my local library for six months now. I prefer browsing and buying for my Kindle because I have a couple of million titles to choose from delivered in seconds. I feel terrible and disloyal but when my fabulous local librarian was pushed out of the door (budget cuts) I lost the motivation to go. Sorry," he said. "But I'm not alone. My experience exemplifies the problem libraries will face in the future. Where should an author stand on the question of library closures? I want libraries to convince me they are the future. I want them to lure me back in. Then I will support them with all my heart. Lovely places, lovely people."
And on a different note (not bolding because it is just a good read):
Oliver Jeffers: Maurice Sendak's jumper and me
Where the Wild Things Are's author made a huge impact on me, and it required conscious effort to evade his influence
There is a reason the character of the Boy in my first picture books wears a red and white stripy jumper, and that reason is Maurice Sendak. Or, more specifically, that reason is an homage to my favorite monster in Sendak's most famous picture book, Where the Wild Things Are.
Like millions of others, I developed a personal relationship with this picture book when I was too small to understand hype. I came to love this picture book, not because millions of others must be right, but because it is excellent on so many levels and for so many reasons, some of which lay just beyond explanation.
Since I began making picture books I have come to realise over time that I call them just that. Picture books. Not children's books. The reason for this is twofold; firstly I don't believe they are just for children. I have met countless adults that collect picture books for themselves, and they are growing in confidence about openly admitting this in a book-signing queue. It's not for my daughter, or a friend's nephew. It's for me. Often these individuals are teachers, librarians, publishing employees, art college students / aspiring picture-book makers themselves. But increasingly, they are doctors, civil servants, bus drivers … just people who have discovered the joy of a story unfolding visually over a few dozen pages.
I refrain from calling them children's books because that implies I write them specifically for children. I don't. I write them for myself. And for everyone.
I recently watched an interview between Maurice Sendak and the US comedian Stephen Colbert and realised that Sendak and I share this trait in common. And it was then that I became conscious of something I'd probably known for a long time. Sendak was trying to satisfy himself. He was telling these stories, as much a way to make sense of the world around him as anything else. He was using them as a poet uses poetry and a painter uses paint. He was making art that ultimately transcended himself and neat classification. Perhaps as a result he was one of the first contemporary picture-book makers to discover the power of picture book as a way of storytelling for everyone. Perhaps this might go some way to explain why his books have won over so many, regardless of geography or decade – because he is putting himself, and the way he views the world on paper, darkness and all.
Sendak's final contribution to this earth, My Brother's Book, illustrates this perfectly, and possibly more directly than any of his previous works. Who could classify this poem of love, separation and death as anything other than universal? From a man who has lived a long life through trauma, pain and strife, you can almost sense an acceptance, a relief that he has reached the end of a turbulent world, and is saying goodbye gracefully.
His legacy has certainly not reached an end. I believe children and adults alike for generations to come will know and love his work.
As a young artist trying to find my style, I deliberately tried to avoid being directly influenced by – and thus compared with – such strong and unique work. However, as he so informed my childhood, I could not resist one very direct and visual tribute – a red and white stripy jumper.
• Oliver Jeffers is an award-winning picture book maker and artist. His most recent book is This Moose Belongs To Me (HarperCollins). His next picture book The Hueys: It Wasn't Me will be published on 25 April. Oliver lives and works in Brooklyn.
And finally:
Neil Gaiman Announcement
SOURCE
SOURCE
SOURCE
SOURCE
tyvm for your time
"I'm not attacking libraries, I'm attacking the concept behind libraries, which is no longer relevant," Deary told the Guardian, pointing out that the original Public Libraries Act, which gave rise to the first free public libraries in the UK, was passed in 1850. "Because it's been 150 years, we've got this idea that we've got an entitlement to read books for free, at the expense of authors, publishers and council tax payers. This is not the Victorian age, when we wanted to allow the impoverished access to literature. We pay for compulsory schooling to do that," said Deary, who has received hate mail since he first aired his views in the Sunderland Echo yesterday.
But despite the negative reaction to his comments, the Horrible Histories author is adamant that the public attitude around libraries "has to change". "People have to make the choice to buy books. People will happily buy a cinema ticket to see Roald Dahl's Matilda, and expect to get the book for free. It doesn't make sense," he said. "Books aren't public property, and writers aren't Enid Blyton, middle-class women indulging in a pleasant little hobby. They've got to make a living. Authors, booksellers and publishers need to eat. We don't expect to go to a food library to be fed."
As one of the most popular library authors – his books were borrowed more than 500,000 times during 2011/12 – Deary will have received the maximum amount possible for a writer from the Public Lending Right scheme, which gives authors 6.2p every time one of their books is borrowed, up to a cap of £6,600. "If I sold the book I'd get 30p per book. I get six grand, and I should be getting £180,000. But never mind my selfish author perception – what about the bookshops? The libraries are doing nothing for the book industry. They give nothing back, whereas bookshops are selling the book, and the author and the publisher get paid, which is as it should be. What other entertainment do we expect to get for free?" he asked.
Bookshops are closing down, he said, "because someone is giving away the product they are trying to sell. What other industry creates a product and allows someone else to give it away, endlessly? The car industry would collapse if we went to car libraries for free use of Porsches … Librarians are lovely people and libraries are lovely places, but they are damaging the book industry. They are putting bookshops out of business, and I'm afraid we have to look at what place they have in the 21st century."
Deary is calling for a public debate around libraries, and for an end to the "sentimentality" he believes has framed the issue so far. "Why are all the authors coming out in support of libraries when libraries are cutting their throats and slashing their purses?" he asked. "We can't give everything away under the public purse. Books are part of the entertainment industry. Literature has been something elite, but it is not any more. This is not the Roman empire, where we give away free bread and circuses to the masses. People expect to pay for entertainment. They might object to TV licences, but they understand they have to do it. But because libraries have been around for so long, people have this idea that books should be freely available to all. I'm afraid those days are past. Libraries cost a vast amount … and the council tax payers are paying a lot of money to subsidise them, when they are used by an ever-diminishing amount of people."
Deary's comments were described as "horrible" by his fellow author Alan Gibbons, a key figure in the campaign to save libraries. "Is the support of the vast majority of the artistic community for libraries 'sentimentality'? OK, Terry, tell that to Lee Hall, author of Billy Elliot. Tell it to Jacqueline Wilson and Lee Child, Kate Mosse and Kathy Lette, Philip Pullman and David Almond. Tell it to the hundreds of authors, illustrators and poets who have joined protests. Are they just dewy-eyed romantics? No, they are convinced proponents of the effectiveness of libraries. They are backed up by numerous reports by the OECD and the National Literacy Trust," said Gibbons.
"Some of us who have devoted enormous amounts of time and effort to the library cause, who have marched and petitioned, lobbied and demonstrated, argued with councillors and ministers, feel utterly betrayed by Terry's words. Does he really want to line up with the philistines? Terry's pronouncement is not quirky or eccentric or 'just Terry'. In current circumstances it is downright irresponsible," said Gibbons.
Oh Terry.
Julia Donaldson defends libraries from Terry Deary's attack
Children's laureate joins other authors saying libraries do not harm the book trade but 'create readers'
Children's laureate Julia Donaldson has come out in staunch support of libraries, dismissing Horrible Histories author Terry Deary's belief that they have "had their day" as "seriously flawed".
Earlier this week, Deary told the Guardian that in an age of compulsory schooling, libraries were "no longer relevant". But Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson – the third most-borrowed author from the UK's libraries last year – said Deary's belief that bookshops are closing "because someone is giving away the product they are trying to sell" is mistaken.
"I think it's brilliant that libraries are free. Not only do library users also buy books, but if some users genuinely are too poor to buy books, then it's great that we've got libraries for those people … [And] If libraries have any bearing on bookshops, it's the other way – libraries are creating readers," said Donaldson, who has "never met" a bookseller who believes libraries are putting them out of business.
"When I did my recent library tour from John O'Groats to Lands End, I interspersed the library visits with signings in local bookshops, and the booksellers all blamed Amazon, and to some extent ebooks, for their decline," she said. "If yet more bookshops close and people can only find books online, without public libraries there would be no place for children to physically browse and discover their tastes in reading. And publishers would only be able to publish the most popular titles, so that far more authors would be out of a living."
According to Donaldson, there is not an "either/or" between bookshops and libraries. "In reality, libraries are the places where our readers and book-buyers are created. Without the huge choice of books which libraries provide, children are not going to discover their favourite authors, and will not then be asking for books for their birthdays or buying them when they are adults with their own money," she said. "One of my sons found Horrible Histories in the library, and I used to buy them for his birthday. I would never have found them without the library, so I think library borrowing definitely contributes to sales.
Donaldson pointed to recent statistics which show that children's fiction has seen an increase in borrowing numbers for the last two years, saying that "the toddlers who go to the 'Rhymetime' sessions in libraries and the schoolchildren who do the Summer Reading Challenge are much more likely to become readers and future book- buyers than those who don't".
On Deary's comment that libraries are not needed because schools provide access to literature, Donaldson said she had "never visited a primary school which could provide a fraction of the books or specialist knowledge and advice which a library can provide". Deary agreed with her, saying that "all I am asking is 'are there other ways of addressing the problem?' Ways that do not involve a library building perhaps? Let's start with a blank sheet of paper here, not with a 100-year-old building."
Donaldson did agree with Deary that "writers need to make a living", and admitted that it "annoys me when we are often expected to do events for free", but said she had "never met any other author who feels that libraries are robbing them of their income. Like him I am one of the country's most-borrowed authors … but I think it is partly for this reason that we are also among the bestselling ones".
Deary has received an avalanche of hate mail this week, and has been subjected to what he has described as a "witch-hunt", as well as a petition – since taken down – for his bestselling Horrible Histories books to be removed from library shelves. "Some enlightened people have welcomed the debate," he said. "Many disagree but concede my right to freedom of speech. Many simply post obscenities to me that would make a grown man blush."
But according to Deary, "the most astonishing thing" was that "the campaign of vilification" against him has been led by authors. "Why is their language so intemperate, crude, personal and at the level of the playground? What are they doing for their reputations by their petty spite? And what exactly are they afraid of? And why didn't these same saintly authors march in protest against the closure of Borders bookshops as they did against the closure of libraries?" he asked.
Many authors have not been as measured as the children's laureate in their response to Deary's salvo. Neil Gaiman called Deary's views "selfish & stupid, shortsighted & sad" but "mostly selfish" on Twitter, adding: "Terry Deary gets avaricious & anti-library".
David Almond dismissed Deary's remarks as "self-serving ignorant cynical twaddle" on Twitter, and Joanne Harris wrote: "another middle-class author with plenty of money to buy books ignores the value of libraries to the old, the young & the less well off … Terry Deary's solo attempt to prove that all best-selling authors are venal, ungrateful & out-of-touch".
Speaking to the Guardian, the Chocolat author added: "It seems sad he thinks that. It also seems slightly insulting to his readership. The value of libraries to people is greater than just access to books – it is one of the benchmarks of civilisation. Free libraries were introduced for a reason – to give people who might not have access to books the chance other people had. They are the complete leveller."
Like Donaldson, Harris believes readers are not making a choice between borrowing a book from a library or buying it. "The assumption that everyone who borrows one of his [Deary's] books would otherwise be buying it from a shop is just naive," she said. "Books are borrowed from libraries, and often if people love them, they will buy them later. Libraries offer a legitimate way of trying an author, and maybe taking a punt on buying them later. Terry has left out of the equation the poor, the elderly and the vulnerable, and just people who don't have the space or money to buy thousands of books."
But "if that is what Terry genuinely thinks, then he should say it," said Donaldson. "Who knows – maybe one of us can get him to change his mind."
Deary was open to the possibility. "On a personal note I've not been to my local library for six months now. I prefer browsing and buying for my Kindle because I have a couple of million titles to choose from delivered in seconds. I feel terrible and disloyal but when my fabulous local librarian was pushed out of the door (budget cuts) I lost the motivation to go. Sorry," he said. "But I'm not alone. My experience exemplifies the problem libraries will face in the future. Where should an author stand on the question of library closures? I want libraries to convince me they are the future. I want them to lure me back in. Then I will support them with all my heart. Lovely places, lovely people."
And on a different note (not bolding because it is just a good read):
Oliver Jeffers: Maurice Sendak's jumper and me
Where the Wild Things Are's author made a huge impact on me, and it required conscious effort to evade his influence
There is a reason the character of the Boy in my first picture books wears a red and white stripy jumper, and that reason is Maurice Sendak. Or, more specifically, that reason is an homage to my favorite monster in Sendak's most famous picture book, Where the Wild Things Are.
Like millions of others, I developed a personal relationship with this picture book when I was too small to understand hype. I came to love this picture book, not because millions of others must be right, but because it is excellent on so many levels and for so many reasons, some of which lay just beyond explanation.
Since I began making picture books I have come to realise over time that I call them just that. Picture books. Not children's books. The reason for this is twofold; firstly I don't believe they are just for children. I have met countless adults that collect picture books for themselves, and they are growing in confidence about openly admitting this in a book-signing queue. It's not for my daughter, or a friend's nephew. It's for me. Often these individuals are teachers, librarians, publishing employees, art college students / aspiring picture-book makers themselves. But increasingly, they are doctors, civil servants, bus drivers … just people who have discovered the joy of a story unfolding visually over a few dozen pages.
I refrain from calling them children's books because that implies I write them specifically for children. I don't. I write them for myself. And for everyone.
I recently watched an interview between Maurice Sendak and the US comedian Stephen Colbert and realised that Sendak and I share this trait in common. And it was then that I became conscious of something I'd probably known for a long time. Sendak was trying to satisfy himself. He was telling these stories, as much a way to make sense of the world around him as anything else. He was using them as a poet uses poetry and a painter uses paint. He was making art that ultimately transcended himself and neat classification. Perhaps as a result he was one of the first contemporary picture-book makers to discover the power of picture book as a way of storytelling for everyone. Perhaps this might go some way to explain why his books have won over so many, regardless of geography or decade – because he is putting himself, and the way he views the world on paper, darkness and all.
Sendak's final contribution to this earth, My Brother's Book, illustrates this perfectly, and possibly more directly than any of his previous works. Who could classify this poem of love, separation and death as anything other than universal? From a man who has lived a long life through trauma, pain and strife, you can almost sense an acceptance, a relief that he has reached the end of a turbulent world, and is saying goodbye gracefully.
His legacy has certainly not reached an end. I believe children and adults alike for generations to come will know and love his work.
As a young artist trying to find my style, I deliberately tried to avoid being directly influenced by – and thus compared with – such strong and unique work. However, as he so informed my childhood, I could not resist one very direct and visual tribute – a red and white stripy jumper.
• Oliver Jeffers is an award-winning picture book maker and artist. His most recent book is This Moose Belongs To Me (HarperCollins). His next picture book The Hueys: It Wasn't Me will be published on 25 April. Oliver lives and works in Brooklyn.
And finally:
Neil Gaiman Announcement
SOURCE
SOURCE
SOURCE
SOURCE
tyvm for your time
deseti_prsten 16th-Feb-2013 04:17 pm (UTC)