Edward Ardizzone artwork donation at the CILIP Youth Libraries Group conference

On 17th and 18th October I was delighted to attend the CILIP Youth Libraries Group, National Conference in Durham.  It was wonderful to meet so many enthusiastic Local Authority and School Librarians, who despite current financial challenges, are excited about children’s books and eager to enthuse their users about books and reading.  Over the two days, we were treated to a great line-up of speakers from the children's literature world including: authors such as Elizabeth Laird, Jackie Morris, and David Almond (all of whom are represented in Seven Stories’ archive collection); Prue Goodwin (lecturer and author of books about children’s literature); and Wendy Cooling (former head of the Children’s Book Foundation now known as ‘Book Trust’).

The magnificent Conference Gala Dinner was attended by a whole host of librarians, local dignitaries, publisher representatives, authors and illustrators.  Impassioned speeches about the importance of libraries were given by both Carnegie Medal 2014 winner author Kevin Brooks, and author Mal Peet (a former Carnegie medal winner).  During the proceedings I was presented, on behalf of Seven Stories, with a delightful piece of signed original artwork by Edward Ardizzone.  Apparently, in 1957, it was decided to have a special bookplate designed for items in the Library Association Youth Libraries Section (now known as CILIP Youth Libraries Group) collection.  Edward Ardizzone agreed to design the bookplate, and a fee of 10 guineas was accepted.

This is a lovely addition to our existing Ardizzone holdings which include artwork for two of his titles 'Tim in Danger', ’Tim and Charlotte' and his artwork for Graham Greene's, 'The Little Train'.

Tea and lunch breaks throughout the conference were sponsored by different Publishers during which delegates were treated to an amazing array of ‘book themed’ cupcakes!  One batch that particularly took my eye, were those provided by Macmillan Children's Books in celebration of eight titles in a new Classics edition, which include two titles by Ursula Moray Williams which are represented in our archive collection - Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat and Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse.

One of the conference Workshop sessions was led by Seven Stories, and centred on our recently announced book list, ‘Diverse Voices – 50 of the Best Children’s Books celebrating cultural diversity in the UK’.   Here are Debbie Beeks (Learning & Participation Manager) and Jake Hope (Freelance Children's Book Consultant) leading the workshop.

To find out more about ‘Diverse Voices’ and to see the list of 50 titles follow this link:

www.sevenstories.org.uk/news/latestnews/diverse-voice-top-50

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the conference and even came back to work with 48 Proof copies of books (due to be published in 2015) for our Staff Library as well!

By Paula Wride - Seven Stories Collections Officer

To find out more about the Seven Stories Collection click here. To contact us click here.

A Fantastic Legacy: Diana Wynne Jones Memorial Conference

We have just had an especially exciting weekend here at Seven Stories, celebrating the work of Diana Wynne Jones at 'A Fantastic Legacy: Diana Wynne Jones Memorial Conference'.

In 2010, Diana Wynne Jones very generously donated her entire archive to Seven Stories. Very sadly, Diana passed away shortly after her donation, in 2011. The idea for a conference in her memory was thought as a fitting way to explore the archive and make it widely available, but also importantly to celebrate Diana's memory.

The archive of material is extensive, ranging over her many published and unpublished works,  and even includes her childhood writing! To find out more, click here for our 'Collection Highlight' page, where you can also see digitised images from the collection.

Day 1 of the conference was held at Seven Stories, mostly in the 'Artist's Attic' on level 7 (where the extended roof pokes out on the image below). There were talks from:

• Laura Cecil, Diana's Literary Agent, to whom we are endebted, as she was mainly responsible for Diana's archive finding it's final home at Seven Stories.
• Nicholas Tucker, children's literature scholar and childhood friend of the Jones' family, who shed fascinating light on parenting practices of Diana's childhood.
• Hannah Izod, archivist at Seven Stories for 7 years, who was responsible for cataloguing the collection.
• Ursula Jones, Diana's sister and now co-author, having recently had the difficult job of finishing Diana's last book 'The Islands of Chaldea'. Ursula described the process of taking up her sister's work beautifully.

Seven Stories, in glorious sunshine on Day 1 of the conference.

Hannah Izod, giving a talk about cataloguing the collection.

We also made sure we had plenty of time to explore the collection, and most conference delegates were very sad to leave at the end of each session. We had many conversations about the archive, and it was wonderful to see people making their own discoveries.

There was also a drinks reception to celebrate the launch of 'Islands of Chaldea', kindly sponsored by Harper Collins, and a meal at the Blackfriars restaurant in central Newcastle.

Day 2 of the conference was hosted by our partners at Newcastle University. In the beautiful Armstrong Building, spread throughout several smaller lecture rooms. 

Newcastle University campus, and the lead up to the Armstrong Building through the Quadrangle.

A suitably mythical looking door led to the conference.

There were 7 panel sessions, and a keynote address by Catherine Butler. The papers given at each session ranged from 'The Colonisation of Fantasyland' by Aishwarya Subramanian to 'Shark-Infest Custard: On chaos as a force for good in the works of Diana Wynne Jones' by Gili Bar-Hillel, with many in between. Details of all the papers can still be found on the conference website here.

These panel sessions explored a huge variety of themes in Jones' books, and it was also interesting to hear from those who had been able to visit the archive before the conference and the discoveries they had made from this. In particular I remember hearing from Gabriela Steinke, who described her experiences opening the papers for the first time from their archival wallets as overwhelming and an "amazing experience". 

Catherina Butler's keynote was very well received, discussing 'Enchanting Places: Readers and Pilgrimage in the Novels of Diana Wynne Jones'. Looking at the sense of place within Jones' novels, Catherine explored the idea of pilgrimage to the various settings, and the level to which these sites have become 'enchanted' through the association. Not only that, but also letting the audience in to discussions she had herself had with Diana about the locations in the novels.


If you want to find out more about this collection, or about any other of our archives then
email: collections@sevenstories.org.uk, phone: 01914952707 or visit: http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/collection.