UKYA egg hunt

Welcome to the UKYA Easter Egg Hunt! One very lucky person will win a huge grand prize of signed books by over thirty YA authors who write and live in the UK. 

The hunt will be activated at 12pm on Thursday 19th March  and closes at noon (UK time) on Sunday, 5th April, and is open internationally.

All you have to do is read this blog, count up how many UKYA branded Easter eggs you see in the blog and follow the link at the end to the next blog.

Keep going until you get back to the blog where you started, and add up how many eggs you’ve seen along the way.

Email your answer to: UKYA2015egghunt@gmail.com. A winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries, and contacted by email.

So get finding those eggs! And some awesome UKYA authors and books along the way.

Good luck!

Who Am I? 

'Award-winning Sita Brahmachari has a great gift of understanding for the confusions and loneliness of adolescents and their need to be gently nurtured and cherished.' Julia Eccleshare (Guardian's Book Doctor)

I'm Sita Brahmachari and I write 'Rites of Passage' plays and novels that draw on some of the big concerns we face in the real world. I am obsessed with themes of family, inheritance, home, love, identity, community and what forms a sense of self. In my first novel 'Artichoke Hearts' ( Winner of The Waterstone's Children's Book Award 2011) the lovely Nana Josie gives her Granddaughter a charm in the shape of an artichoke. All my stories are about exploring the complex layers of the heart for my characters and their worlds. I am the current Booktrust Writer In Residence for which I write a blog every Monday. http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/writing/online-writer-in-residence

I was born in Derby, England in 1966. My father was a doctor from India, my mum a nurse from the Lake District and I grew up in a family with a love of exploring each other's cultures, histories and faiths... Now I live in London with my lovely three children, husband, dog and sparkly fish!

3 random things about me!

I saw ghosts as a child (I've put a few in my books)

I refused to read till I was nine years old ( preferred to live in my imagination) But then,,, My thirteenth birthday present was voted by my brother 'the geekiest teenage birthday present ever!' a reading chair that I still have and given the chance, I would live in!

An escaped snake from a neighbour's house (in London) appeared in my kitchen while I was writing one day last year (apparently very good luck for me - but freaked me out!)

My books are: 'Artichoke Hearts' 'Jasmine Skies' 'Kite Spirit' and 'Red Leaves' (Macmillan Children's Books)

http://www.panmacmillan.com/author/sitabrahmachari

'Brace Mouth, False Teeth' (Barrington Stoke)

http://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/Brace-Mouth-False-Teeth.html

'Arrival' - Based on Shaun Tan's graphic novel. Play script (Bloomsbury)

http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-arrival-9781472535009/

My novels are published in a number of territories. 'Artichoke Hearts' has the title 'Mira In the Present Tense' In the US (Published by Albert Whitman)  as is my second novel 'Jasmine Skies.' All my books published by Macmillan Children's Books are audio-recorded.

http://www.albertwhitman.com/content.cfm/bookdetails/Mira-in-the-Present-Tense

In keeping with this treasure hunt theme I see writing itself as a kind of treasure hunt of the imagination... and that's how I feel when I read so many of the wonderful UKYA authors who write such diverse, radical, ground-breaking and un-put-down-able books. My favourite read recently is 'A Song For Ella Grey' by the inspirational and magical David Almond.

Further details and reviews of all my books, plays and awards are on this site.
There is also a full interview about my work here:

http://justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/blogs/interviews/17678184-sita-brahmachari-interviewed-by-noga-applebaum

I will be offering my most recent book 'Red Leaves' Published by Macmillan Children's Books (October 2014) as treasure!

Red Leaves is endorsed by Amnesty International and shortlisted for The Redbridge Book Award

'Sita Brahmachari has created a beautiful tale of modern multicultural life.' 

 Booktrust Review

 "We are proud to endorse Red Leaves because of its sensitive depiction of diversity and the human need for somewhere to call home. ''

(Nicky Parker, Publisher at Amnesty International UK)

Red Leaves is set in an ancient London wood (where I walk every day with my dog Billie. Here he is ... Billie the beautiful!)

A wood in which three young people from very different backgrounds run away into the city woods. Aisha is a refugee from Somalia, Iona a young homeless girl from Scotland and Zak is the child of a historian father and war journalist mother currently reporting from Syria. A stray dog and an ancient homeless woman  also circle the woods - all are seeking shelter. Incidentally... in keeping with this egg theme... the ancient and mystical Elder in 'Red Leaves' wears amber beads the size of hens eggs; inside there are insects, butterflies and particles of leaves that date back millions of years....

A treasure hunt- like model like the ones made by my sculptor character Garth in ' Kite Spirit' ( Macmillan Children's Books)

Thanks for visiting my site and collecting your Easter eggs! Your next adventure starts here with the wonderful Tanya Landman. Click on the link below to continue your UKYA treasure hunt! 

Good Luck! I hope you win! 

.

http://www.tanyalandman.com/