Other Terry Pratchett Books

Terry Pratchett’s latest book, Nation, is on the Children’s Book Council list of nominations for their 2009 Teen Choice Book Award.

Anybody can participate in this nomination round by filling out a form at TeenReads.com. Titles published in 2008 are eligible, and the five most nominated books will move on finalist status.

The winner will be announced May 2009.

The nominating period ends today, January 31, 2009, so make sure to help out Nation soon!

Terry Pratchett interview in Times

An interview with Terry Pratchett published January 25 on TimesOnline.co.uk discusses his experience with Alzheimer’s in the past year and his recently awarded knighthood. To quote the article:

Sir Terry Pratchett cannot help wondering why it was this year - after 30 years as a bestselling writer - that he was honoured with a knighthood: ‘All I know is that on the citation it says ‘for services to literature’, and it would be nice to think that that got me the knighthood - though it may have been for what I stood up for and what I’ve done for Alzheimer’s.’ All in all, Pratchett is treating his recent knighthood with modesty: ‘I am 60. I know exactly who I am,’ he says. ‘I am just me - which is why it’s slightly amusing to be addressed by the postman as ‘Sir Terry”….

When he describes living with Alzheimer’s as ‘a minor flaw in a good, though complicated, year - without it, it would have been a fairly anodyne one’, you can’t help feeling he is underselling his recent literary achievements. Nation, his new book, was an instant bestseller; his Discworld series celebrated its 25th anniversary; and he was at work on two new titles: Unseen Academicals and I Shall Wear Midnight….

“As a science-fiction writer, [knighthood] is an achievement. Despite its popularity, sci-fi is still a ghetto genre. So when a hand of welcome comes from the Establishment, you can do nothing but shake it.”

Nation is an ALA Notable Children’s Book, on Best Books For Young Adults Top Ten

In addition to the Printz Honor Award, Nation has been made an American Library Association (ALA) Notable Children’s Book and put on the Best Books For Young Adults Top Ten list.

Nation is the only book this year to be on the Top Ten list and honored by the Printz Committee.

This is the first time a novel by Terry Pratchett made the top ten of the Best Books For Young Adults.

(Thanks to Colin Smythe for the info.)

Nation awarded Printz Honor

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) awarded yesterday one of the four prestigious Michael L. Printz Honor Awards for 2009 to Nation for “excellence in young adult literature.” The honor awards are runners-up to the Printz Award, which this year is Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta.

Nation shares the honor award with The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M. T. Anderson, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, and Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan.

The American Library Association (ALA) also announced the Caldecott and Newbery awards yesterday. Neil Gaiman, who has collaborated with Terry Pratchett on Good Omens, had his Graveyard Book receive the Newbery “for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature.”

Nominate Nation for Children’s Choice Book Awards

Terry Pratchett’s latest book, Nation, is on the Children’s Book Council list of nominations for their 2009 Teen Choice Book Award.

Anybody can participate in this nomination round by filling out a form at TeenReads.com. Titles published in 2008 are eligible, and the five most nominated books will move on finalist status.

The winner will be announced May 2009.

The nominating period ends January 31, 2009, so make sure to help out Nation soon!

Nation number 10 according to MacLeans

Maclean’s magazine posted an updated list of the top ten hardcover fiction books list for Canada on January 22. Terry Pratchett’s latest novel, Nation, received number ten billing.

Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden topped the list, followed by A Mercy by Toni Morrison, and 2666 by Roberto Bolano.

More about Nation adaptation

theBookseller.com has more information about the November stage adaptation of Nation which we reported previously.

A spokeswoman for the National Theatre, which will be staging Nation, said “There has been a huge appreciation of the slightly older family shows. We were looking for a successor – we were looking for one in that sort of tradition. Nation was one of the many books we have read – our directors thought it filled the bill.”

In the January 14 press release, the National Theatre called Nation a “new family epic” in the traditions of Coram Boy, War Horse, and the high-profile His Dark Materials.

Nation to be “new family epic” at National Theatre November

The National Theatre announced today in a press release that Terry Pratchett’s most recent novel, Nation, is to be on the National Theatre stage in November 2009.

As a “new family epic,” Nation follows the productions of Coram Boy, War Horse, and the high-profile His Dark Materials, which Michelle Dockery (Susan, Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather) played in.

The press release calls Nation “a brilliantly wise and witty story about two children from cultures a world apart coming of age on a desert island, which challenges the way we think about identity, nationhood and the history of the Empire.”

The adaptation, which will open in the Olivier auditorium, will be adapted by Mark Ravenhill (The Cut) and directed by Melly Still (Coram Boy).

Nation is sponsored by Accenture.

Nation on Canada’s bestseller list

Maclean’s magazine compiled its weekly top ten hardcover fiction books list for Canada on January 8, and Terry Pratchett’s latest novel, Nation, received number nine billing.

Other books on the bestselling hardcover fiction list include The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson, The Flying Troutmans, by Miriam Toews, and Through Black Spruce, by Joseph Boyden, which took the number one spot.

Terry Pratchett interview in the Irish Times

Donal Clarke of the Irish Times interviewed Terry Pratchett when he was in Dublin for his honorary degree from Trinity College in mid-December, and just recently released the article. Terry Pratchett talks about his characteristic hat:

“There’s no significance to the hat,” he says in his focused way. “I just happened to see it in a shop one day and thought: ‘Bing! I am going to have a hat like that.’ Charlie Chaplin always said that there was no great plan to his image. He just looked into a wardrobe and saw this bowler hat, baggy pants and a cane.”

He also spoke of his Alzheimer’s campaigning:

“I do feel like something of a fraud,” he laughs. “I am sitting here talking to you and I guarantee that you would not guess there is anything wrong with me. What I have is posterior cortical atrophy, an early onset form of Alzheimer’s that happens on the rear of the brain. You have a whole bridge hand of problems, but initially they are all to do with visual acuity or sight in general.” … “Several people have told me I have been getting better recently,” he says. “Well, unless there has been a minor miracle that has not really been happening, but I am learning to cope. There is not really the language to explain how it affects me. I have to think before approaching a revolving door. My typing has got quite bad and my spelling has deteriorated. I also have a problem with my short-term memory.” He pauses and plays with his teacup.

“I also have a problem with my short-term memory. And then there’s my short-term . . . ” Yes, yes, yes. I can see where this is going.

Asked about his view of Death as described in the books and whether it’s changed since his diagnosis, he responded:

“No. I wouldn’t say I have changed my view,” he says. “Death is not a buffoon in the books. He’s still Death, but he has a certain amount of compassion. As he points out, it is the falling rock, the microbe or the bullet that kills you. Death’s job is just to take you away.”

He also says something we’ve never heard before about his rise to prominence in his early writing career:

“The Colour of Magic was serialised on Woman’s Hour and that brought some attention,” he said. “When I wrote the second one I really began to sense something moving out there. Later, I remember being summoned to my boss’s office at the CEGB. He had three of my books in front of him and he said: ‘Did you write these?’ I thought I was in trouble, then he asked me to sign them for his sons.” Pratchett quit the job shortly afterwards.

He also spoke about the marginalization of fantasy in literary circles:

“Alternate worlds are now the stuff of Booker winners, but they call it ‘magic realism’ not that ‘awful fantasy stuff’,” he says.

And he reiterates the fact that not all of his fans are 14-year-olds named Kevin (as the runners of this site can attest to):

“The first thing I would say is that 70 per cent of the people who come to my conventions are female,” Pratchett retorts. “Look, the stereotype lacks any accuracy. The stereotype fan is a 14-year-old in an anorak called Kevin. If that ever was true then Kevin is now long married to Daphne and he is beginning to wish he’d started his pension plan a little earlier. If you have parents who are Discworld fans then you will, most likely, be surrounded by books. Fantasy fans tend to read everything.”

And about the media interest in what is Britain’s most high-profile Alzheimer’s patient:

“Now, if somebody phones up and says, ‘I am from Radio WANK, tell me about Alz-heimer’s’, then I know they just want to fill an hour with Pratchett. I tell them to piss off. But it never occurred to me not to announce it.”

There’s much more in the article itself, including a powerful observation: “They say, ‘Don’t let them see you bleed’. But I say, ‘If you let them see you bleed then one of them might offer you a bandage’.”

Retro News: Pratchett interview, in which he actually talks about things other than Alzheimer’s (29 November 2008)

Deborah Orr at the Independent.co.uk interviewed Terry Pratchett late in November, and in doing so provides some insight into Terry Pratchett’s writing process.

The article gets the requisite Alzheimer’s questions done early. Terry Pratchett summed up the effect of his very public diagnosis:
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Retro News: Pratchett interview (08 November 2008)

In a Daily Mail interview titled I’m not beaten yet: Terry Prachett on the frustration and fury of Alzheimer’s, Terry Pratchett shared with the interviewer some more about his attitude towards the “embuggerance” of Alzheimer’s. To quote the article:

Although he calls it a ‘wretched disease’, since disclosing that he has it, he has retained his dark sense of comedy. He began an address to his latest convention of fans by cracking a joke. ‘I said, “Hello my name is…” Then I retrieved a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket and read out my name,’ he recalls.

The audience laughed because Terry, afflicted by an illness that steals both memory and identity, was permitting them to do so.

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Neil Gaiman biography features foreword by Terry Pratchett

A biography about Neil Gaiman, who co-wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchett, features a foreword by Terry Pratchett. Titled A Slightly Worn But Still Quite Lovely Foreword, the foreword states of Neil Gaiman, “You’re in the hands of a master conjurer. Or, quite possibly, a wizard.”

The biography, Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman, was released October 28, 2008.

Pratchett books often stolen from South Wales libraries

South Wales libraries report 53,000 books stolen or not returned in the last two years–and at the forefront of “the most popular books to be taken and never returned” are Terry Pratchett’s novels, the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling, and books by Roald Dahl and Jacqueline Wilson.

This adds to Terry Pratchett’s widely-known (if apocryphal) dubious honor of being the author of Britain’s most shoplifted novels.

Update: There is more detailed information available from WalesOnline.co.uk. The article says:

In Neath Port Talbot, the top adult authors of books stolen were Virginia Andrews, Terry Pratchett and Iris Gower while the most popular books for children to go missing were by Jacqueline Wilson, Roald Dahl, RL Stine and JK Rowling. In Cardiff, the highest number of non-returned books for adults were by Terry Pratchett, Stephen King, and Martina Cole.