NYPL Bookfest 2008 – Part 1 – Keynote Brian Jacques
As my co-worker, Priscilla, drove me right into the heart of Manhattan early yesterday morning (November 1), we were shocked to find so little traffic. We saw many roads blocked from traffic because of a marathon event as we made our way, on foot, from the Lincoln Tunnel toward the New York Public Humanities and Social Sciences Library on 42nd Street and 5th Ave. We happened to catch a glimpse of the runners before entering the Library.
The keynote speaker at this year’s NYPL Bookfest was Brian Jacques, author of the best-selling Redwall series. His address was humorous, colored by his lively Liverpool accent. He began with a compliment - ”August people, Librarians.” – and a joke – “A gentleman asked a Librarian, ‘Do you have any books on suicide?’ The Librarian answered, ‘We used to but people don’t seem to ever bring them back.’
He related that he originally wrote the Redwall series for the blind. In his own youth, he read to blind children, who repeatedly requested he read Little Red Riding Hood.
Jacques writes in his garden and brags about his children. “Don’t we love to brag about our children, especially our grandchildren?” This reminded me of the opening lines of Roald Dahl’s Matilda.
One attendee asked where he drew his descriptions of food from. He answered that it came from a starving childhood. His country was “getting bombed like hell” so ships couldn’t get in and there was no food. He was often frustration as a lad when a reading a book and the author just glossed over a feast to get to more exciting things. He enjoyed reading cookbooks and used them to help with his descriptions when writing himself. He has even published a cookbook.
Another asked, “How do you like that graphic novel version of Redwall?”
Jacques: “I rather like it,” he replied. It reminded him of a Yankee comic… like a Classic Illustrated.
Attendee: “What character in all of literature do you most identify with?”
Jacques: “Flashman.”
Jacques told many jokes during the course of his speech. It was his last event during his US tour.
New York Public Library Bookfest 2008
So it’s going to be held on Saturday, Nov. 1!! Can’t wait to find out who the keynote will be 
It will be tough to live up to M.T. Anderson and Lowry (the last two keynotes). Let me know if you are planning to attend!
NYPL Bookfest Review
I know this is a while in coming but here’s the BookFest review I promised.
Louis Lowry started things off. The 2nd Gen Librarian has a good run down of her speech. I will add that in her discussion of censorship, Lowry used a painting of the fall of Icarus as an example.
She points out the ship sailing calmly away from the drowning Icarus. The plowman going about his duty. And there is Icarus, drowning. Censors would have us turn away. Ignore the drowning man. Better, erase him from the picture. Ignore Life.
Then we broke off into our discussion groups. My group, Young Adult I, on YA fantasy went well. We hit on each book with The True Meaning of Smekday and The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney being the two big crowd pleasers. As an unexpected perk, Sparrow author Suzanne Harper was in the group! **SPOILERS AHEAD** Harper was able to answer some questions about the book. Yes, she had visited Lily Dale and attended a spiritual meeting there. She was approached by a psychic who said “You have put something to the side. You need to get back to that, right away.” Vague, I know, but it got her to continue writing the book (which she had put aside) so it was a good thing. Harper also addressed the “wistful subplot about Sparrow’s missing father [staying] hauntingly unresolved.” Harper wanted Sparrow to have felt loss (to have a more meaningful connection with Luke’s brother) but not to have had a death in the family. What the group liked most, the lightness of the work. We all agreed, after so many heavy, “can things get any worse?!” teen novels, it was great to read something with substance that didn’t take a dark tone.
It was a lovely day in the city so my friend (the 2nd Gen Librarian), my sister and I bolted for Little Italy I was sorry to miss the panel with David Wiesner! sigh…
Bookfest @ NYPL
I attended the last NYPL Book Fest where M.T. Anderson delivered a great speech. I am now very eager to attend the upcoming Oct. 13 Book Fest event at which Lois Lowry will speak. Even better, my sister, Deb will be joining me! I’ve selected to join the Middle Grades I discussion group:
No Drama Here: What’s So Funny About Fantasy?
True Meaning of Smekday – Adam Rex
Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett
Lightning Thief- Rick Riordan
The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney – Suzanne Harper
New Kid at School (Dragon Slayers’ Academy Book 1) – Kate McMullan
Anyone else attending?
Bookfest 2007 @ NYPL
I had the pleasure of attending Bookfest at the New York Public Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library on 42nd street this past Saturday. Librarians, publishers, and teachers gathered in the Celeste Bartos Forum for a light breakfast at 9:30 am (at which time I consumed too many scones to mention).
After a brief welcome, M.T. Anderson [Tobin] took center stage as the keynote speaker. I was surprised to learn he received his MFA from Syracuse University… my alma mater.
Though Tobin claims to feel faint at the task of speaking publicly, he eased into his speech after only a brief reliance on his notes. His speech focused on the genre of Historical Fiction and history’s role in educating today’s youth.
He opened by reading two notes written by teenagers for their peers: one a gossip piece passed around a contemporary classroom and the other a picnic invitation written and shared many years past. The notes revealed a gap. While they were equally vivid and accomplished their intent, the note from the past appeared quaint.
Anderson suggested authors should “lean into the past” through detail — that the real interest, and the hook, lay in accurately detailing the world past. Tobin also discussed the use of rhetoric, pointing out that U.S. texts, regarding the revolution and events afterward, are mostly mythical. Citing examples, he illustrated that the rhetoric undercut factual history. He also noted glaring absences from historical texts, such as the role of African Americans during the Revolutionary War.
He then posed, “In what ways are historical novels effecting us all? What are the mechanisms of the genre?”
Historical novels affect us privately, either through Direct Identification — binding readers to the text as in Chic Lit novels for example, or through Empathetic Relation — rechanneling information… a simulation. Fantasy genres do this. In the case of a historical novel, teens might identify with the slaves because both feel objectified and undervalued.
Historical novels also affect us politically, through Genealogical Relation where there is a direct cause and effect (a situation in a novel directly effects today’s atmosphere, such as the civil rights movement), or through Analogical Relation which uses analogies (satires for example or 1984 by Orwell and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells).
Anderson concurs that the emphasis on ambiguity in literature is rightly praised but points out that books do contain messages/lessons and encourages authors who know what they stand for to include messages in their writings, asking “Why is there a necessity to disavow?” His impetus, “The world is on the brink of crisis… an age of ease is coming to a close… current systems are malfunctioning.” The children need to be prepared for the future, their inheritance. He briefly mentions resource consumption, global warning, the demand for resources leading to war, etc.
He ended with some powerful lines:
We cannot escape history.
We are all mired in our own circumstances, a single unit in a huge trend we cannot see until it becomes the past.
Literature in time of war is different than literature in times of peace. We are at war. In difficult times, writing cannot be neutral.
We cannot ignore that we are on the brink of disaster and must explore the complexity and understand the long term consequences.
We must question invasive, misrepresentative media!
He then recommended a few excellent titles, many not nearly as heavy as his recent book (and National Book Award winner), The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. Two mentioned were Fever by Laurie Halse Anderson, and When my Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park. He also mentioned The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli as a book that draws you in only to find some ways through you are SMACK in the middle of a very familiar story.
Things wrapped up at this point and people headed to their book discussion groups. I was very fortunate to be in Young Adult II, in which we discussed Octavian Nothing at great length as Tobin was on hand to answer questions. Other books discussed, briefly, were Saint Iggy by K.L. Going, Firestorm by David Klass, Undine by Penni Russon and The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga.
All returned to the Celeste Bartos Forum for a snack box lunch before launching into the Go Graphic! afternoon panel discussion. I didn’t stick around for this section but heard it was entertaining (“cute”) and informative (esp. publisher Calvin Reid, Co-Editor of PW Comics Week).
NYPL Bookfest – Part 2 – Afternoon Panel
November 3, 2008 at 5:45 pm (Commentary, Library Programs, News, Presentations, interviews, programs, videos) (children's literature, nypl bookfest, peace, Professional Development, war)
The afternoon panel, titled “War & Peace in Books for Children” consisted of two authors and one author/illustrator: Walter Dean Myers – Sunrise over Fallujah, Ibtisam Barakat – Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood, and Jeanette Winter – Wangaris Trees of Peace, respectively.
Each author was given 15 minutes to address the audience before being asked questions by a moderator.
Jeanette Winter began by sharing her most recent, and currently unpublished, picture book for children called A School for Nasreen. Based on a true story, this picture book tells of a young girl in Afghanistan. It opens with Nasreen and her brother living peacefully under the care of their mother and grandmother (the narrator). When the Taliban seizes power, Nasreen is forbidden to attend school and her brother is taken away by soldiers. Art and music disappear as well. Her mother leaves in search of her soon, although it is forbidden for a woman to walk alone. She does not return. Nasreen stops talking. When whispers of a secret school reach Grandmother, Nasreen is taken there to study. Young boys protect the school by distracting soldiers when the get close. Should a soldier enter, they find a room of girls reading the Koran, which was allowed. Nasreen remains silent until after a long school break. Finally, she opens to her classmate, Mina, by saying, “I missed you, too.”
Ibtisam Barakat spoke and gesticulated passionately as she spoke of war and peace. Hailing from Palestine, Ibtisam grew up where disputes and conflict was everyday acted upon with aggression. Here are some of her main points:
Walter Dean Myers is a veteran, his brother died in combat abroad, and he is the author of many stories about war for young adults. Here are his talking points:
These speeches were followed by a Q and A session. Here is a video of the panelists responding to “How do you do your research?” (The piece missing from part 2 is Walter Dean Myer saying he does his research, mostly, in bars.)
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