June News

I am continuing to blog every Monday on the Book Trust site as Writer In Residence.

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/writing/online-writer-in-residence/blog/875/

Next Monday I will be reflecting on my travels to the Hay Festival for events with Macmillan Children's Books and Barrington Stoke.

Helen Bray ( Editor Macmillan Children's Books and I on the beautiful traveller's caravan sat Hay Festival)

'Red Leaves' has been shortlisted for the Satffordshire Book Award in some lovely company. Especially pleasing as it's the beautiful county in which I got married!

I

http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/leisure/librariesnew/whatsavailable/childrenteens/YTF/staffordshireyoungteenfictionbookaward.aspx

I am also delighted that 'Red Leaves' has been shortlisted for The Redbridge Book Award on the Teen Shortlist.

It's always a treat to receive a copy of your books published in different countries. I have never been to Rio De Janeiro but 'Artichoke Hearts' has! Here is the lovely cover.

A picture every author wants to see....

You sit in a room all day and write because you hope your stories are going to be read, enjoyed, and speak to people These photos sent to me on twitter by Imogen Russell @ImogenRW will spur me on. I am now writing my next book for Macmillan Children's Books and I can't tell you how heartening it is to keep these pictures of a well thumbed copy of  'Red Leaves' in mind. and heart as I write....  

Yesterday I began a project with illustrator Jane Ray at a refugee project where those who are  experiencing Aisha's journey in 'Red Leaves' also held this book. What makes writing such a transformative process is to move from the need to tell a story...the imagination, research and hours at a desk crafting words and worlds... to then have that potent distillation published and placed into the hands of young readers... in this reality...is a kind of magic.    

Red Leaves is endorsed by Amnesty International UK as a book with a Human Rights heart.

Spring Update

Book Trust Writer In Residence
I am blogging a little less often on this site until the end of August 2015, as I am busy writing my weekly blog post for Book Trust. It's a real honour to have been made their Writer In Residence and I am so enjoying writing each week's blog. I have been touched by the messages sent in response to the blog posts. I hope you enjoy reading them.

Here's the link to this week's blog:

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/writing/online-writer-in-residence/blog/848/

You can find all the past blogs on the Book Trust site too.

'Red Leaves'
I am delighted that 'Red Leaves' has been shortlisted for 'The Redbridge Book Award' In the Teenage category.

http://www2.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/leisure_and_libraries/libraries/libraries_more_information/schools_library_service/childrens_book_award/shortlist.aspx

Storytelling Quilt
My storytelling quilt has had several outings and seems to be in great demand by teachers (InSeT's for Pop Up Festival) and students alike as an inspiration to creative writing. Teachers and students in several schools are creating their own patchwork paper quilts containing young people's stories, objects and materials.

Patchwork storytelling quilt made by designer Grace Manning - www.graceemilymanning.co.uk 

What are the next  pieces in my patchwork of storytelling? 
I am currently writing  'Car Wash Wish' for Barrington Stoke
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books/writing/online-writer-in-residence/blog/847/

And...I am so excited to be beginning a new commission for Macmillan Children's Books...
It definitely contains something at the heart of the artichoke!

Happy Spring time to you all,

Sita  X

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/

Human Rights in 2015

As we moved into 2015 it felt as if the world was becoming an increasingly fractured place. I wrote this piece about Human Rights for The Guardian Children's Online. I put a call out to authors, librarians, teachers, readers and publishers to suggest wonderful books championing human rights for all ages. I am delighted that this list can now be used to help children, young adults, parents and educators find stories to nurture empathy and an understanding of universal human rights.

http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/jan/12/books-breed-tolerance-children-read-errorist-attacks-paris?CMP=share_btn_tw

For reasons written in the Guardian article I am especially honoured that my latest book 'Red Leaves' is endorsed by Amnesty International UK as a book that can help foster understanding of human rights. 

I talk about the specific injustices that inspired me to write 'Red Leaves 'in the following blog for Amnesty International.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/stories-and-rights/sita-brahmachari-home-homelessness-identity-and-belief  

Most loved photo of 2014

Wishing you all a very happy festive season. Here is my favourite picture of the year. It was taken on a walk with my children on Hampstead Heath in October and seems to represent so much of what I love to write about in my books and it sparked an idea for another story...

11.11.11

I was privileged to spend Armistice Day with a group of young people from Fortismere school as part of my Patron of Reading partnership. We wanted to make the day one to remember. I took my dog Billie along and he became our remembrance day dog.   

Billie being with us reminded us of all the animals who have also died in warfare. He was so well looked after. There are suggestions that he may become the Fortismere Patron of Reading dog!

One hundred years on from WW1 it felt so important to mark that moment. But how do you bring an understanding of respect for a moment's silence to young people in our age? Perhaps for this hyper-technically-connected generation the concept of a minute's silence may be particularly alien. It also occurred to me that the concept of commemoration may seem rather faraway and abstract. The task of the day was to bring the story home to these young people.

At the beginning of 'Red Leaves' my character Zak reacts violently to the idea of a school visit to Flanders Fields. He has his reasons. His mother is a war journalist in Syria and he sees no point in thinking about an old war when there 'are wars raging all over the world every day.'

Zak's journey through 'Red Leaves' is to meet a soldier from WW1 who built the house in which he lives. Zak steps into his shoes, but the journey of the young people in my story is also to meet each other and to try to understand how war has impacted on contemporary lives.

A group of twenty students, teachers, librarians, myself and Billie headed for the woods to see the very air air shelter that gave me the idea for the young people in 'Red Leaves' to shelter inside. In this place Zak meets Aisha a Somali Refugee girl and her contemporary story of loss through war is also remembered and recognised.

There were many activitites as part of the day including quizzes, talks, readings discussion, teachers and students shared stories and artifacts dating back to WW1 and through all this there was a keen consciousness of how war is still impacting on the lives of so many people today. 

Just as is the case in most schools in world cites some of  the student's families will have come to this country seeking shelter and protection to escape the ugly face of war in their homelands.

There were two moments when we walked through the very wood in which 'Red Leaves' is set that I shall personally never forget. We discussed the fact that many wars are caused because people are forced to flee their homes when boundaries are crossed and territory taken. I asked why the youngest of children build dens and the answers came thick and fast ...'for protection' 'to feel safe' 'for shelter.' It was a wonderful moment for me when two young boys who could have been young Zak, sat in the shelter of a woodland den and read his story to the rest of us.

Omar and Casey reading the character of Zak in 'Red Leaves' with Billie listening too!

Of course a writer's trade is to weave words... and many were written and spoken during the day, but I shall never forget standing in an ancient wood listening to bird song with twenty young people for a minute's silence. 

The word 'respect' is often used by and about the young... often referring to 'lack of respect.' However, at that moment the young people, many of whose ancestors will have fought in WW1 and WW2, many of whom will have come from contemporary conflict and war... stood together in silence on the edge of a woodland conservation zone in their local wood...

The aim of the conservation zone in which my young characters hide in the fiction of 'Red Leaves' is to nurture the diversity of the trees, flora and fauna. It seemed so fitting to be standing with twenty young people in this wood holding together all their diverse and shared histories in a moment of communal remembrance of all the tragic loss caused by past and present wars and conflicts.

This sort of peace is to be cherished.  

Students created beautiful memorial leaves now on display at Fortismere Library

' My Grandpa went to fight in the war and I think he should be remembered because he fought for his country and never gave up...' Beth

  

With many thanks to all the wonderful staff at Fortismere who created such a beautiful remembrance day walk in the woods that I, for one, will never forget.