Last Friday a motivated group of readers went to a conference at Hendon Town Hall to select the Carnegie prize winning book for Barnet. This was organised by Barnet Libraries.
The group had been reading the eight short-listed novels over the last couple of months and meeting every Thursday with Ms Somerville and Caroline Green, our Writer in Residence. The PTA sponsored the books so a big thank you to them for enabling us to take part in this scheme.
The group were accompanied by Ms Somerville and Mrs Cobb, who helped to facilitate the conference. They were also able to listen to some popular classics and songs from Bugsy Malone on the minibus!
Caroline Green popped in during the morning so she could see the EBS presentation.
We were really lucky to hear last year’s winner, Tanya Landman, speak. She told us about how she became a writer and used her own life experiences in her books. She talked in a very amusing way – her description of her time working at Bristol Zoo when she had to walk around in a teddy costume was particularly memorable.
We then watched the Barnet schools’ presentations on all the books. EBS performed a wonderful play based on The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. We received several positive comments from the organisers.
The Barnet winner was Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley.
Everyone had a wonderful day!
