A Fine time for young and old

3:40pm Wednesday 12th March 2008

Former Children's Laureate Anne Fine and poet Roger McGough headline a varied programme of events for children and families in Halifax in July.

Anne, whose books have won major literary awards, opens proceedings at the town's Square Chapel of the Arts on July 1, starting at 7.30pm.

She said: "I will be answering questions that all authors are asked by adults and by children: How much do you earn? What do you read? Do you get stuck? Where do you get your inspiration?

"It's all part and parcel of the fact that there are so many distractions against reading. We have to intrigue children; and so we have to be enthusing about books as well as writing them."

She is indefatigable in personally supporting events that encourage reading and a love of books.

"When I was young my generation never heard people talking about what they did. It never occurred to me that Enid Blyton was a real person.

"The first author I met was Geoffrey Trease, whose books I adored. I was 26 when I was introduced to him by a publisher. I said to him, My God, I thought you were dead!' I was really startled.

"As a result of telly, I don't think the situation has changed for the better. Now we have celebrity. I think the concentration should go back on the book rather than the author," she added.

Whereas Anne regrets that the spotlight has gone from books to their authors, she is full of admiration for the way the writers of children's books especially engage their young audiences.

"If you look around in the children's book world, the sheer professionalism of their performances is quite remarkable - people like Mike Rosen, Grace Nichols and Jacqueline Wilson.

"After J K Rowling she's the second biggest-selling children's author in Britain (50,000 sales a month, more than four million overall in the UK alone)."

Anne added: "She wears lots of goth silver rings. Her joke about herself is that she's a biker granny (she is 63). The reason she is on children's wavelength is that there's something girlish about her.

"If you are old or shy, your books will have to stand on their own feet. It must be quite difficult for authors who cannot project themselves, because they don't get the same attention or marketing from publishers.

"I have three virtues. I am efficient so I remember the day of a particular event; I am punctual; and I have a loud voice," she said.

Roger McGough, one of the few British writers who makes a good living out of poetry, will be reading poems from his book Bad Bad Cats - for seven to 11-year-olds and their families - at the Square Chapel on July 7, starting at 7.30pm.

BetweenFine's opening session and McGough's reading there will be performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Peter Pan; soccer coaching camps at five venues and plenty of other activities.

• Calderdale Council's July Project runs from July 1 to 13. For more information and tickets ring (01422) 349422. Anne Fine's seventh novel for adults, A Fly in the Ointment, is published this month.

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