World Book Day - Thursday 7 March

World Book Day is Thursday 7 March and OLA will be celebrating!

We are delighted to host the book launch of Kate Rundell's second children's novel Rooftoppers. Years 6 & 7 and children from local junior schools will be meeting the author and hearing about the book.

Planning and preparations are also in hand for the Decorate-a-door-as-a-Book Competition which is for forms and clubs. Over the years this activity has produced some wonderfully inventive ideas, so watch this space for photos.

Guinness World Record attempt at OLA Library

On Wednesday 6 February thousands of students in over 100 schools across the UK will be attempting to set a new Guinness World Record in collaboration with author Matt Haig. Students will take part in “Parallel Universes”, a story-writing workshop that will attempt to break the world record for the most people writing a story. The current record is 953 participants at 5 venues. The beginning of the story has been written by the award-winning children’s author, and on the day each venue will then continue this story, with each participant adding a maximum of two sentences.
At OLA the Mayor of Abingdon will be in the Library to witness the launch of OLA's version of "My Family and Other Aliens". Pupils from OLA Junior School will begin the session, which will continue all afternoon, in the presence of independent witnesses.
This is one of the many celebrations taking place this week in school, college, university, workplace and public libraries across the UK to celebrate National Libraries Day on 9 February.

Report: Eighty pupils from OLA's Years 4 to 6th Form contributed to the story writing record attempt. We won’t know until late May if the record of 953 has been beaten, as each of the venues has to send off their story, photographic and video evidence plus witness statements. Over 120 schools took part with at least 25 participants at each school.

Blue Peter Book Awards 2013 shortlist

A shortlist of six books for this year's Blue Peter Book Award has been announced.
Best Story
The Boy who Swam With Piranhas by David Almond, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes
Tom Gates - Genius Ideas (Mostly) by Liz Pichon
Best Book with Facts
Horrible Science: House of Horrors by Nick Arnold & Tony De Saulles
Walter Tull's Scrapbook by Michaela Morgan
Fantastic Mr Dahl by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Quentin Blake.
These will now will now be judged by 200 Blue Peter viewers from 10 schools and the winning books in the two categories will be announced on World Book Day, Thursday 7 March.
More information

Costa Book Awards - Category Winners

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner has won the Costa Children's Book award. Other category winners are:
Costa Novel Award: Hilary Mantel - Bring up the Bodies
Costa First Novel Award: Francesca Segal - The Innocents
Costa Biography Award: Mary Talbot and Bryan Talbot - Dotter of Her Father's Eyes
Costa Poetry Award: Kathleen Jamie - The Overhaul.
The winner of the Costa Book of the Year will be announced on 29th January.

Eleanor Farjeon Award to Quentin Blake

The illustrator Quentin Blake has won the 2012 Eleanor Farjeon Award, which recognises an outstanding contribution to the world of children’s books by an individual or organisation. Last year the award was given to The Federation of Children's Book Groups.
More information

Best of the best award

Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter was recently named the best fictional work to have won the James Tait Black Prize since it was founded in 1919 in memory of publisher James Tait Black. Past winners of this annual prize have included D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh, and Martin Amis. Nights at the Circus originally won the James Tait Black Prize for fiction in 1984. Two prizes, judged by scholars of literature, are awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh for the best work of fiction and the best biography published in the previous year. A third category - drama - is being introduced with the next prize.
More information

2012 Costa Book Awards shortlists

The shortlist have been announced for the 2012 Costa Book Awards. There are five categories: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children's Book. The winner in each category receives £5,000, and then one of the five winning books is selected as the overall Costa Book of the Year, receiving a further £30,000. The Category winners will be announced on 3 January 2013, and the Costa Book of the Year awards presentation ceremony will be on Tuesday 29th January 2013.
Costa Children's Book Award shortlist:
Sally Gardner - Maggot Moon
Diana Hendry - The Seeing
Hayley Long - What's Up with Jody Barton?
Dave Shelton - A Boy and a Bear in a Boat
Costa Novel Award shortlist
Hilary Mantel - Bring up the Bodies
Stephen May - Life! Death! Prizes!
James Meek - The Heart Broke In
Joff Winterhart - Days of the Bagnold Summer
Costa First Novel Award shortlist
J W Ironmonger - The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder
Jess Richards - Snake Ropes
Francesca Segal - The Innocents
Benjamin Wood - The Bellwether Revivals
Costa Biography Award shortlist
Artemis Cooper - Patrick Leigh-Fermor: An Adventure
Selina Guinness - The Crocodile by the Door: The Story of a House, a
Farm and a Family
Kate Hubbard - Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household
Mary Talbot and Bryan Talbot - Dotter of Her Father's Eyes
Costa Poetry Award shortlist
Sean Borodale - Bee Journal
Julia Copus - The World's Two Smallest Humans
Selima Hill - People Who Like Meatballs
Kathleen Jamie - The Overhaul
Two graphic novels are included in the nominations: Joff Winterhart’s Days of the Bagnold Summer and Dotter of her Father’s Eyes by Mary Talbot and Bryan Talbot.