 Siobhan Dowd Trust: Trustees On Wednesday 19th March 2008, the children's book world gathered at Dartmouth House for a double celebration: the launch of Siobhan Dowd's Bog Child and the the launch of The Siobhan Dowd Trust It was an uplifting evening ,though the void left by Siobhan's absence was a poignant reminder of her untimely death last year. The Siobhan Dowd Trust is the bequest to which Siobhan devoted her energies up to her death in August 2007. The aims of the trust are simple and direct: - To take stories to our children without stories.
- To bring the joy of reading to our children deprived of reading.
- To bring books to our children deprived of books.
- To fund disadvantaged readers where there is no funding, and to support disadvantaged readers where there is no support.
- To fund and support any persons or organizations who help disadvantaged young readers.
Siobhan personally and energetically supervised its foundation, to support, in all ways possible, disadvantaged young readers in the UK and Ireland. It was one of the very last things on Siobhan’s mind and clearly for her the most pressing cause in our society today. I hope you will take time to visit the Trust's website and to pledge your support. And may Siobhan's determination in the face of personal adversity be an inspiration to those of us able to continue to carry on working to fulfil her dreams.
 Siobhan Dowd Siobhan spent most of her career looking after writers. Working for PEN she fought to help writers silenced by oppressive regimes around the world. Closer to home, she did all she could to get reading material into the hands of disadvantaged young people from all walks of life, for example encouraging people in young offenders’ institutes to read, and youngsters from the Romany culture to record their history. Her support for, and encouragement of, her fellow-writers was inexhaustible. In some ways perhaps she sacrificed her own brimming talent for the benefit of other authors. And then, just as she discovered she was fatally ill, she put pen to paper and produced four of the most remarkable novels for children you could wish for. She was a writing phenomenon. The overriding thought of all those who knew her work is that her loss to the world of children’s writing is a tragedy. It is utterly characteristic that Siobhan should, at the end, put her mind unerringly to the most deserving group of all: the young reader. Siobhan realized that our literary culture - critics, bookshops, agents, publishing, libraries, schools - depends ultimately on the reader. And, of readers, the young reader is the most vulnerable. And amongst young readers, the disadvantaged young reader is the most deprived of all. Siobhan, at the last, and with all her usual clarity, decided to help them.
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