 Lines in the Sand
Introduction
Contributors
Introduction
2003 sprung a surprise on me; I had no plans to create, with my
daughter, the fastest ever published book of my writing career.
But Britain and America went to war on Iraq and Rhiannon and I both
felt we “had to DO something” about it. What
we did was have an idea at the end of March, find a publisher
within two weeks, commission over 150 pieces of writing and art
for an end of April deadline and get the book out on June 12th.
This was Lines in the Sand.
The Idea
On March 25th, we decided to approach other authors and artists
to find out if they would add their voices and talents to an anthology.
We hoped the book would make children aware of the human cost
of war and help them about the benefits of peace.
The idea rapidly gathered momentum. By 31st March, John Nicoll
at Frances Lincoln had agreed to publish the book. The publication
date was set for 12th June with all royalties and profits going
to UNICEF's emergency appeal for the children of Iraq.
Jane Ray promised to illustrate the front cover and Michael Rosen
lent his support by emailing the list of people who had signed
a letter to The Guardian (6th February) protesting about
the war. Within an hour of those emails going out, the first response
had come in from Ben Hodson, a Canadian artist. Then the floodgates
opened.
The Response
We set the deadline for submissions at 30th April. Within that
short period of time, nearly 150 writers and artists responded
by donating prose, poems and illustrations. The contributions
were international and included submissions from Australia, Belgium,
Canada, France, Greece, Japan, Turkey and the USA as well as the
UK. Contributors included some of the children's book industry's
most prestigious and talented authors and illustrators from David
Almond to Jane Yolen and Ros Asquith to Nick Sharratt.
| The overwhelming response and the high quality of
contributions made it clear it was an idea whose time had
come. As one contributor said, it was a book that wanted
to be. |
Rhiannon Lassiter |
The Result
- All the material is new or very recent with much of it written
or drawn specially for this anthology.
- The book covers covers a variety of wars including both World
Wars, the Falklands, Nigeria, the Gulf wars, Kosovo, the Spanish
Civil War, Croatia and Cyprus.
- The material ranges from an allegory for younger readers,
Laurence Anholt's Eco-Wolf and the War-Pigs, to some
hard-hitting messages like that of Nigel Gray's poem The
Butcher inspired by the conflict in Northern Ireland.
- The book is aimed at children aged 8 upwards and will also
appeal to adults.
- The book costs £4.99 with all royalties and profits
going to UNICEF.
 Lines
in the Sand
(ed with Rhiannan Lassiter)
Francis Lincoln 2003
0711222827
Buy
from Amazon
Contributors
Deborah Abela
Bruce Abrahams
Stephen Aitken
Aytul Akal
David Almond
Rachel Anderson
Laurence Anholt
Leah Aplin
Bernard Ashley
Alison Ashwell
Ros Asquith
Bruce Balan
Cat Bauer
Liz Berry
Julie Bertagna
Caroline Binch
Wendy Blaxland
Helen Brain
Mark Burgess
Robbie Butler
Ayla Cinaroglu
Carll Cneut
Paul Cookson
Nicki Cornwell
Kevin Crossley-Holland
Doug Cushman
Ender Dandul
Erzsi Deak
Mustafa Delioglu
Penny Dolan
Malachy Doyle
Carol Ann Duffy
Fiona Dunbar
Alan Durant
Vashti Ferrer
Simon Fletcher
Andrew Fusek Peters
Graham Gardner
Paul Geraghty
Alan Gibbons
Bob Graham
Gwen Grant
Shona Grant
Nigel Gray
Robin Grey
Aysel Gurman
Sandra Guy
Gill James
Julia Jarman
Cindy Jefferies
Susie Jenkin-Pearce
Ann Jungman
Pnina Kass
Jackie Kay
David Kinnaird
Lisa Kopper
Ann Kordahl
Mary Kuper
Zora Laattoe
Rhiannon Lassiter
Elizabeth Laird
Alison Leonard
Anna Levine
|
Maggie Ling
Joan Lingard
Karin Littlewood
Anne MacLeod
Chris Mansell
Graham Marks
Lorraine Marwood
Nlchola McAuliffe
Hilary McKay
Adrian Mitchell
Michael Morpurgo
Sue Moules
Moira Munro
Beverley Naidoo
Linda Newbery
Judith Nicholls
Martin Oisson
Hiawyn Oram
Shereen Pandit
Guy Parker-Rees
Brian Patten
Korky Paul
Maggie Pearson
Anne-Marie Perks
Jeff Perks
Pablo Picasso
Caroline Pitcher
Joan Poulson
Alison Prince
Stephen Raw
Jane Ray
Ben Redlich
Chris Riddell
Arthur Robins
Michael Rosen
Tony Ross
Linda Sargent
Laurence Schimel
Peter Schrank
Marcus Sedgwick
Jacqui Shapiro
Nick Sharratt
Dyan Sheldon
John Shelley
Naomi Shihab Nye
Nicola Smee
Poupette Smith
Sybille Sterk
Mark Svendsen
Hillary Taylor
Kate Thompson
Joanna Troughton
Chika Unigwe
Clara Vulliamy
April Halprin Wayland
Doffy Weir
Colin West
Kathryn White
Ann Whitford Paul
Marcia Williams
Sam Williams
Irene Wise
Jane Yolen
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