tanya landman

Wonderful and amazing news - MONDAYS ARE MURDER has won the Red House Children's Book Award (Younger Children's Category)! My boys traveled with me up to the ceremony in Birmingham's Botanical Gardens and we had a brilliant day. I was so shocked when the announcement was made that first I squealed like a pig and then came over all Kate Winsletty. I made a terrible, choked up speech and the photographer who snapped a picture of me being given my (very beautiful) silver bookmark said, "You could look a bit happier about it."
I have discovered that it's extremely hard to smile when you're trying not to burst into tears!
I was also handed a dazzling portfolio of drawings and reviews which I treasure - thank you so much to everyone who contributed to it!
You can see photos of the event at:
www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/past-award-ceremony-2010.html

A couple of days later I went up to the Leeds Book Awards which was also a lovely, fun-filled event. The extremely talented groups of children taking part did some awesome presentations including a Poppy Fields rap (which, naturally, was my favourite). I came over all Kate Winsletty again when I won that too. 2 prizes in a week! My ego is becoming dangerously over-inflated. Still, I'm sure it won't be long before a bad review comes along to puncture it...
Photos of the Leeds event are at:
www.leedsbookawards.co.uk/2010/events.php?m=p

There are going to be ten Poppy Fields titles all together. The next one - POISON PEN - comes out in November. It's dedicated to all the cherubic-looking-children I've done murder mystery workshops with in the last year whose ideas have proved far more eye-poppingly gruesome than anything I would have dared to write!

There's a fantastic new trailer for the series here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXSYHQGHP38

You can download a Poppy Fields crime busting detective pack on the Walker website:
www.walker.co.uk/poppyfields.aspx

NEW IN 2010
As well as the 3 new Poppy Fields titles MARY'S PENNY has been published by Walker this year. Beautifully illustrated by Richard Holland it tells the story of one farmer, his three children and an ingenious competition that will determine who should inherit the farm. Who will be able to fill the house with something that costs a mere penny? Does straw do the trick? Are feathers sufficient? Or will it take something a little more creative?
I've loved this story since I first heard it - it says so much about the triumph of intelligence over brute force. It's the kind of tale everyone should hear at least once.
* MARY'S PENNY has been awarded the designation 'A Junior Library Guild Selection' for Spring 2010 in the USA.

In January GERONIMO was published by Barrington Stoke. It grew out of visiting schools and chatting to teenagers. Since APACHE was published I've toured the country giving talks and I've discovered that many people don't know anything about the history of America. Some have no idea that the USA was settled by white European immigrants. Some think that an Apache is a helicopter or a computer programme. So when Barrington Stoke asked me if I'd be interested in writing some non-fiction I leapt at the chance.

* APACHE was shortlisted for the 2008 Carnegie Medal (and was voted the Shadowing Groups' favourite), the Calderdale Book of the Year Award, the Highland Books Award, the Salford Young Adult Book Award and the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize.
Re-titled I AM APACHE for the US market it won the Borders Original Voices Award in the young adult category and the Western Writers of America 2009 Spur Award in the Best Western Juvenile Fiction category.

* THE GOLDSMITH'S DAUGHTER was nominated for the 2008 Guardian Children's fiction prize, longlisted for the 2009 Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the 2008 Berkshire Book Award. It's also been shortlisted for the 2010 Cheshire Book Award.