Latest News: Thornspell is out in paperback in now!
The Press Christchurch Writers' Festival, 9-12 September 2010: Hot Off The Press
I've been invited to be part of the festival's "Hot Off the Press" event on Friday 10 September, talking about and reading from my work. Majorly exciting—I'm really looking forward to it!
On Sunday 31 May 2009, at the Sir Julius Vogel Award ceremony held at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Auckland, Thornspell won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel: Young Adult. (The other shortlisted finalists, in alphabetical order, were: Fleur Beale, Juno of Taris; Glynne MacLean, The Spiral Chrysalis; Margaret Mahy, The Magician of Hoad, and Ella West, Anywhere But Here.)
The Sir Julius Vogel Awards are given annually by SFFANZ, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand, and recognize achievement in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror by New Zealanders.
And see photos here
Thornspell a The Children's Hour (Teach Literacy) "Best of Year 2008" Book for Middle Grades (10-12 Years) in the United States
Thornspell a Storylines "Notable" Book of 2008 The Storylines Childrens' Literature Trust have just released their Notable Books List 2009, for books published in 2008—and Thornspell has been included as a "notable" book in the Junior fiction category.
You can read more here
Thornspell has been shortlisted in the category of Best YA Novel for the 2009 Sir Julius Vogel Awards (given by SFFANZ, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Association of New Zealand); Helen has also been nominated in the category of Best New Talent.
The Sir Julius Vogel Awards recognize excellence in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror by New Zealanders. The awards will be announced at Queen's Birthday Weekend, as part of ConScription, the national Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention.
You can read more here and here
Sleeping Prince: Thornspell and Helen featured in the Your Weekend supplement to the Christchurch Press, Dominion Post and Waikato Times newspapers on Saturday 21 February. Read the article here (PDF, approx. 160KB)
ConScription: Helen has recently accepted an invitation to attend this year's Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand's annual convention, Conscription 2009, where she will likely be running an event around "Building Fantastic Worlds" with international literary Guest of Honour, Julie Czerneda (In the Company of Others—Prix Aurora award). Helen will also be running an event based around YA Fantasy.
Russell Kirkpatrick (the Across the Face of the World series—Harper Collins) and Nalini Singh (Angel's Blood, Mine to Possess—Berkley Books) will also be literary guests of honour at ConScription; the Fan Guest of Honour is Robbie Matthews, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine).
Featured Book: Thornspell is February's featured book on Flamingnet, a US website for Childrens/YA books that won the YALSA/Sagebrush Corporation award in 2008. Check it out!
See Maria Gill's favourite books for 2008 on KidsReadNZ, which include Thornspell, Kate de Goldi's The 10 PM Question and Fleur Beale's Juno of Taris
Thornspell has now been nominated for two awards in New Zealand:
The NZ Post Children's Book Awards in the Fiction and Best First Book categories http://www.booksellers.co.nz/nzpb_abt_awards.htm
The Sir Julius Vogel Awards, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand, in the Best Novel and Best New Talent categories http://sffanz.sf.org.nz/sjv/sjvAwards.shtml
Read Helen's online interview on Beatties Book Blog, New Zealand's most-read literary blog.
Listen to Lynn Freeman of Radio New Zealand's Arts on Sunday programme talk with Helen about Thornspell and writing Fantasy-fiction in New Zealand
Thornspell has been nominated for a CYBIL, the Children's and Young Adult's Bloggers' Literary Awards in the Fantasy and Science Fiction category: Middle Grade http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/2008/10/the-2008-nomina.html
See the article on Helen and Thornspell's New Zealand launch in Christchurch's Nor'West News newspaper (PDF file, 417KB, opens in a new window).
Read the Official Chronicle of Thornspell's New Zealand launch at Fendalton Library on 20 September and view the photo gallery, including live action from the Society for Creative Anachronism (the Southron Gaard)
See the Eos (HarperCollins USA) follow-up on Helen, Thornspell and The Wall of Night, including reader feedback
Read Tim Jones' comprehensive interview with Helen on his "Books in the Trees" blog ~ with sneak previews to forthcoming Eos series The Wall of Night and Helen's current work-in-progress, the novel Yrth (working title)
Read Richard Liddicoat's interview with Helen on The Pulse-Te Auaha, Christchurch City Libraries' blog — more about Thornspell, the launch at Fendalton Library & some of Helen's favourite reads
Hear Plains FM Mornings host Nick Pegg talk with Helen about Thornspell, writing, and getting published in America
Read the Eos (HarperCollins USA) introduction to Helen & Thornspell on their blog (OutofthisEos:The Next Chapter), including the excellent review by Kirkus
