Book short-listed for award
“A powerful story told in words and pictures assembled from first-hand accounts…reveals shocking details of children’s lives in a Welsh TB hospital.”
That’s what the judges say about “Children of Craig-y-nos”.
Well, I guess I never thought of it in that light. To me who spent four years in Craig-y-nos as a child it seemed normal. I didn’t know anything else.
It is only now with a distance of more than 50 years I realise in writing this book, along with Carole Reeves, that it was far from normal.
There are five books short-listed for the Open Book Award and the winner will be announced on Tuesday evening at a special presentation to be held at the
Wellcome Foundation. The others on the shortlist ( General readership, category) include “Manufacturing Depression, the secret history of a modern disease” by Gary Greenberg, “An Infinity of things: how Sir Henry Wellcome collected the world” by Frances Larson and “Medic: saving lives – from Dunkirk to Afghanistan” by John Nichol and Tony Rennell.
So you see the field is very strong…the miracle is that we have even got as far as the short-list! I will be travelling by train from Scotland to London tomorrow…
Our brochure for Forth Valley Open Studios with over 100 artists and more than 70 venues is now at the printers. Phew!. …what a relief!
Now we are starting on the media campaign. Today sees a full page centre spread in local newspaper, Wee County News.
I rang up the Editor to thank him and asked when their online site was going to be updated. He told me tomorrow. I asked if our story on Forth Valley Artists would be going up . He said only some stories get put up so I did a bit of quick talking and expained that it would bring a lot of people to his newspaper site etc if our story did go up.
He promised he would have a word with the web-master….and to think I nearly didnt make that call.
Have just heard that our book, “The Children of Craig-y-nos” is shortlisted for the annual book award for medical journalists.
The winner will be announced at a special reception in London on April 27th.
Still, even to get on the short list is an achievement when I look at previous authors who were on the short list and didn’t win- Professor Susan Greenfield and Lord David Owen.
Forth Valley Open Studios.
Whoever would have thought that something that started as a vague idea before Christmas with some friends (” wouldn’t it be nice if we could have an Open Studio event in our area just like Perthshire?”) has snowballed three months later to over 100 artists opening their studios, galleries, venues throughout Forth Valley for a 9 day “art feest” of arts in the central belt of Scotland.
It will take place from 12 – 20th June.
Well, it has taken us all by surprise, such has been the demand. We have 97 entries for our brochure which is now at the design stage and we are turning late-comers away..
PS for those “south of the border” who are uncertain of the exact location of Forth Valley we are situated between Glasgow and Edinburgh on the edge of the Trossachs.
Well, my exhibition is down and there is a feeling of sadness. What to do with the work now? only a little sold but that I attribute to the fact that people are relunctant to buy something that has the whiff of a computer to it.
And my latest work is totally computer driven though it originates in finger painting using the “Brushes” app on my iPhone.
I must say it is this work that has attracted all the local media coverage.
