Class Writing Competition - Win a visit from children's author Tom Palmer

Win a school visit to your class from successful children's author Tom Palmer! Have fun telling together and creating in the classroom a single piece of spooky creative writing.  It could be either a story, cartoon, play script, film script or a poem, but has to incorporate 10 selected spooky words. 

Download your free Ghost Stadium pack for full details. http://www.tompalmer.co.uk/index.php?page_id=74

You can find out more about Tom Palmer and his work at www.tompalmer.co.uk.  You can also follow Tom on Twitter at @tompalmerauthor.

Good Luck!

PRESS RELEASE: DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE - BE PART OF THE SERIES TRAILER!

To celebrate the upcoming UK paperback publication of Days of Blood and Starlight, book two in Laini Taylor’s stunning Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, Hodder & Stoughton are asking Laini’s fans to feature in the series trailer and be in with the chance of winning fabulous prizes!

To enter, simply use your phone, webcam or digital camera to create content inspired by the book. This could take form of reading all of or part of the book’s synopsis, sharing your thoughts about the book or using visual imagery to convey your passion. Be as imaginative as you like! Images will also be accepted as valid entries.

Entries can be submitted directly to the Smoke and Bone Book Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheSmokeandBoneGroup - or as a video response to the launch video on www.youtube.com/smokeandbonebook. Alternatively, Vine videos and images can be shared with @smokeandbone on Twitter or tagged on Instragram and Instagram Video using #smokeandbone. Entrants will need to include their name and country of residence in comments. Entrants must be 13 years old or over to enter.

ALL those who submit videos will see their names printed in the next book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, due for release in 2014! Hodder and Stoughton will also select 20 UK entrants, based on the content and quality of their submissions, to win 20 signed copies of Days of Blood and Starlight, and one UK entry will receive a star prize of £100 worth of Topshop vouchers!

The competition opens on 5th July 2013 and closes on 31st July 2013 11:59 pm London Time. Winners will be informed by the method of their entries and the trailer will be released in August 2013.

For the book’s synopsis and full terms and conditions see: http://on.fb.me/16R2DX3

If you'd like embed/share the trailer competition launch video, you can do so as follows:
Link to the video on youtube - http://youtu.be/JaXO9NNAGsQ

News from Dean Atta, Poet, plus competition to win tickets to Point Blank Poets and 2 signed poetry books ...

I have recently been to New York for a week and taught in a High School in Brooklyn. Back home in London I led a poetry workshop for young people at City Hall and Jadan and Will Smith came to visit us. And I was invited to speak at London Southbank University alongside Doreen Lawrence about the legacy of her son Stephen Lawrence. These have all been incredibly inspiring and humbling experiences from which I have drawn great strength. They have also prompted me to reflect and take a pause, give thanks and know that I am on the right path. 

I don't have time to pause for very long as the month of June is looking incredibly busy! I've put up all the dates on the events page of my website (including shows in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, London and Wales) but I wanted to let you know about one particular show this Saturday 1st June at Southbank Centre with Point Blank Poets. This show will invite questions and discussion with the audience in between poetry from myself, Bridget Minamore, Deanna Rodger, Chimene Suleyman, Hollie McNish, Sabrina Mahfouz and a special musical guest Josh Osho. 

You can read more about the show here and win a pair of tickets and a signed copies of mine and Hollie McNish's poetry books: http://uprise.org.uk/chance-to-win-a-pair-of-tickets-to-point-blank-poets-at-the-southbank-1st-june/

Check out the events page on Dean's website for all his June shows: http://deanatta.co.uk/

You can also follow Dean on Twitter at http://twitter.com/deanatta

The Winners of the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards

The Winners of the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards have been annouced - "the only major book awards decided by readers", voted by the public.

J.K. Rowling claimed the Best Fiction prize for her grown-up book 'The Casual Vacancy', with 11,525 votes, proving that critical receptions don't necessarily dictate the opinions of readers.

Gillian Flynn topped the Mystery and Thriller category for her immensely popular third novel 'Gone Girl'; Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's 'The Long Earth' lead in Science Fiction; and 'Fifty Shades Freed', the third part of the trilogy from E.L. James Grey dominated Romance, receiving over 22,000 votes.

And the Winners Are ...

•     Best Fiction: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

•     Best Mystery & Thriller: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

•     Best Historical Fiction: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

•     Best Fantasy: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King, Jae Lee illustrator

•     Best Paranormal Fantasy: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

•     Best Science Fiction: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter

•     Best Romance: Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James

•     Best Horror: The Twelve by Justin Cronin

•     Best Memoir & Autobiography: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by    Cheryl Strayed

•     Best History & Biography: Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith

•     Best Non-fiction: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

•     Best Food & Cookbooks: The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier by Ree Drummond

•     Best Humor: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson

•     Best Graphic Novel & Comics: The Walking Dead, Vol. 16: A Larger World by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, illustrator

•     Best Poetry: A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver

For further information please visit http://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2012