David Maybury | Blog

In between sleeping and er… sleeping over the weekend, I managed to read a few papers and a book or two - including Sarah Webb’s first Amy Green Teen Agony Queen, Boy Trouble.

I’m no 13 year old girl and I can solemnly swear that Dermot O’Leary is not on my swoonsville wishlist - but I still enjoyed the read. Everyone should have a Clover in their life to look out for them and the books is all based in Dublin so I got that ridiculous twang of pride when I read about somewhere I recognised - and there’s a blogger named Dave. The book comes complete with a new website and updates from Amy and Clover - go and have a read… (Don’t blame me for the pink and girly content - guys probably shouldn’t open it in work or next to their mates.)

And back to the papers…

Peter Murphy gets the Irish Times treatment this weekend - an interview with Catherine Cleary and a review from Eileen Battersby.

Murphy has his own voice. There are moments of violence and throughout the book John Devine is subjected to shocking, quasi-Joycean dreams. This may be a story of relatively recent contemporary Irish life, but Murphy also conveys a sense of the Ireland that went into making John’s world, a place in which the Bible and folklore walked hand in hand.

Across the water, Leonie Flynn in the Times UK suggests some books for 8 - 12 year.

Joanna Carey interviews Oliver Jeffers in the Guardian:

Jeffers became passionate about making picture books when he began to understand the subtle relationship between words and pictures - “that was what excited me. Until I got really involved, I hadn’t realised how just a few words can totally change the meaning of a picture.”

And another interview, this time in the Times UK, Kate Muir talks to Lauren Child:

The question that I must get asked the most, which I’m most dumbfounded about, is: ‘How do you write for children when you don’t have any children?’” Child scowls down into her Moomintroll coffee mug. At 39, she has a boyfriend, but no children so far. “Would you ask most writers that? Do you ask a crimewriter if he’s committed any murders recently? Childhood: we’ve all been there.” She continues: “Writing is all about observation. That’s your job. I remember Alan Bennett saying writers are very cruel people because they are always looking for those little oddnesses. It’s a kind of curiosity, that’s what you have to have.”

Hello - it looks like this is your first time here - you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed or click here to find out more about me. Thanks for visiting!