To London this week for the ceremonial dishing out of the coveted
Carnegie Medal. (That's me in the back row, wearing what I'm starting to think might be the last neck-tie in captivity.) While it was nice to be nominated, I never imagined that
Fever Crumb would get it, which was lucky, because she didn't. The winner was
Neil Gaiman's all-conquering
The Graveyard Book, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, since it's an excellent book which has already won the Newberry Medal, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, the Mrs Joyful Prize for Raffia-Work, etc. etc. I've not encountered Mr Gaiman's work before, although I know he's terribly famous and prolific (I completely stopped reading sci-fi and fantasy for about fifteen years starting in 1984, so the writers who came to prominence during that time tend to have slipped under my radar). Anyway, I didn't expect to like
The Graveyard Book - ghosts and vampires being Not My Cup of Tea - but it soon won me over; it's a charming story which manages to be both sweet and macabre, and you probably don't me to tell you to dash out and buy it.
It was also good to see
Freya Blackwood pick up the Kate Greenaway Prize for her beautiful illustrations to
Harry and Hopper.
