WRITE AWAY ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and the National Literacy Trust are launching a commission to examine the future of school library provision in England. The joint initiative will assess the role of the school library in the 21st century school. The commission will focus on the definition and role of a modern school library; the characteristics of effective school library provision; the agencies and partnerships which can best provide and support this model; and the articulation of a national improvement agenda. The final report will provide an informed and proactive vision for the future of school libraries and their role in supporting learning outcomes.

The commission will be chaired by Baroness Estelle Morris, who began her career as a teacher and has held a number of positions in government including Secretary of State for Education & Skills (2001-2002). Baroness Morris will be joined by commissioners including Peter Wanless Chief Executive of the National Lottery Fund, Jean Gross, Director of Every Child a Reader partnership and Catherine Blanshard, Chief Officer of Libraries, Arts and Heritage for Leeds City Council.

The commission will ask schools, local authorities, education professionals and any organisation or individual who is interested in the future of school libraries to submit their views and ideas.

Baroness Estelle Morris said, “Libraries provide children with fantastic educational and social opportunities and the central aim of the commission to look at ways to furnish school libraries with the very best support and advice.” Director of the National Literacy Trust, Jonathan Douglas, said, “School libraries are a vital resource for supporting literacy standards. They are powerhouses of reading where children and young people discover their identities as readers and develop appetites for literacy which will equip them to be lifelong learners. As such, school libraries are crucial in enabling students to fulfill their potential. A resource as important as this needs to be rediscovered in the context of a changing educational landscape.”

  Californian-based writer, Neal Shusterman, is currently undertaking a mini European tour, with school visits and signings, to publicise the forthcoming publication of Everwild, the follow-up to Everlost. Jeannette Towey caught up with him in the middle of his busy London schedule at a dinner hosted by his UK publisher Simon and Schuster, where he shared some of his thoughts on the writing process, school visits, and current projects.

Intriguingly, for someone who lives so close to the cradle of information technology, Neal chooses to write the first drafts of his novels by hand in spiral-bound notebooks. He describes his typical Californian writing day as: dropping the kids off to school, heading on over to Starbucks and getting out the notebook to write. Then, with a chapter under the belt, he returns home, avoids the ever-present call of the kids’ laundry and types up the chapter, editing as he goes. This first edit is then re-edited and re-edited until he reaches what he likes to call his ‘first draft’, typically the fifth or sixth edit since the hand-written original. This is the draft that goes to his publisher, and then, as he says, the real work of writing begins!

Of course, with his busy speaking and school visit schedule, quite a few of the chapters also get written in planes, trains, hotels and coffee bars, all round the US and further afield. This, he says, suits him fine. He regards school visits and talking to children and young people about his stories (his Californian number plate is STORYMAN) as integral to his creative process. He gets honest feedback from the kids and they energise him to create more. What he is actually scribbling in those notebooks at the moment is Everfound, the follow-up to Everwild. This will be the last book in the trilogy and should be out mid 2011.

Neal has also just finished writing the script for an Everlost film for Universal, which, he is told, has about a 50% chance of being made, (apparently that is rather better than average.) He has found this a rather challenging project, in spite of his considerable screen-writing credential, largely because the studio has asked him to rethink the Everlost world from a more cinematic point of view. This has led to major changes and he hopes it will be seen as a work in its own right, related to the book, for sure, but not simply a filmed version of it.

So, with Everwild, to be published on 4th February, Everfound coming next year, and a potential film of Everlost in the offing, it looks like being an exciting year or so ahead for Neal Shusterman fans.