Huge congratulations to Nicola Davies whose stunning adventure novel Skrimsli has won the Wales Book of the Year Children’s Book Award 2024!
Illustrated by Jackie Morris, this epic prequel to The Song that Sings Us tells the thrilling story of a tiger sea-captain, a boy called Owl, a desert princess, a horse with a heart of gold and many others as they fight to save their worlds from war, hate and environmental destruction. Born into captivity in a circus, Skrimsli must work out where he belongs in a world ruled by human fear and greed. But he soon finds he has friends in many places, and that fear is not the only story…
Jackie said: There are few characters that are so dear to my heart as Skrimsli, the tiger captain, born in the imagination of one of Wales’ finest writers, and now roaming the wild. It is a real honour that the strength of this tale has been recognised by Wales Book of the Year. This book is born of truth and carries a great green message, about how to make a better world. It is also a rip-roaring adventure. So proud to have played a small part in its creation.
Firefly publisher Penny Thomas said, ‘Massive congratulations to Nicola and Jackie, and a huge thank you to the judges for picking this stunning and important book from an outstanding field of Welsh writing for children in English, which also included wonderful authors Atinuke and Lesley Parr.
‘This was also a tremendous night for Firefly which has never won a Wales Book of the Year award before. I am so proud of this awesome story and all it stands for: inclusion, kindness and forces for good in a environmmentally threatened world. If you want change, you have to write it!’
To celebrate Skrimsli’s win, we’re running a limited time offer for 50% off the hardback gift edition of both Skrimsli and The Song That Sings Us.
Firefly is roaring forward this weekend as hard on the hells of Skrimsli the tiger, our heartwarming story, Call me Lion by Camilla Chester is shortlisted for the UKLA awards, with the ceremony taking place tonight.
Skrimsli is the second fantasy adventure from author Nicola Davies set in a world where animals and humans can sometimes share their thoughts. It traces the early life of Skrimsli, the tiger sea captain who, along with his friends, Owl and Kal, must escape the clutches of a tyrannical circus owner, then stop a war and save the ancient forest.
Also in the series:
Harlon has been raised to protect her younger siblings and their outlawed power of communicating with animals. But when the sinister Automators attack, they must flee for their lives. In a thrilling adventure they must all journey alone through ice fields, forests and oceans to try to rescue each other and fulfil a mysterious promise.
YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) has fast become a popular event bringing together fantastic authors, publishers and readers for two packed days of YA events, writing workshops, book signings, book-themed activities and more!
WORKSHOP: Lie or Die with A.J. Clack (approx 1 hour) Saturday 16th November 2024
Join author A.J. Clack for a live game of Lie or Die (similar to Mafia/Werewolf) influenced by her debut YA thriller Lie or Die. Perfect for fans of The Traitors!
Objective
Players must identify and eliminate both Agents before the Agents eliminate all Players in order to deactivate the Ticking Time Bomb.
Roles
Players – Players must uncover the Agents hidden among them, accuse and vote them out.
Agents – Disguised as Players, the Agents must work together to eliminate Players.
Detective – A Player with special abilities. They have the power to find out the status of one contestant of their choosing each round.
Do YOU have what it takes to survive?
PANEL: Intense Intent (approx 45 mins) Saturday 16th November 2024
The thriller genre is ever popular and continues to send chills down the spines of readers as they attempt to unravel the mysteries of these amazing books. Join our authors to hear about how they go about their writing and see if ‘who done it’ is always the same person as they thought it would be when they started writing the book.
A.J. Clack, Holly Jackson, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Kayvion Lewis (Chair)
From eerie adventures at sea, to endearing sausage-dog tales Firefly Press has the stories to encourage children to read for pleasure. And now we are thrilled to announce Let Your Imagination Fly, a book promotion and marketing programme aimed at reaching new readers aged between 7 and 18 in 2024.
As a Wales-based publisher, this outreach programme, funded by the Welsh Government’s New Audiences Fund, will focus on our home country. The latest PISA figures found that children’s reading levels in Wales are the lowest in the UK, and along with other countries, there has been a steep decline post-pandemic. And with a score of 466 in reading, comparable to an OECD average of 476, the need to encourage new readers is stronger than ever.
Research also shows that reading for pleasure is ‘the single biggest indicator of a child’s life chances’. An OECD 2021 report stated that: ‘engagement in reading, framed by a desire to read for pleasure, can mediate socio-economic status and may help address endemic inequalities’.
As our titles are aimed at children and young adults, we feel it is vital that they: a) appeal to young readers as reading for pleasure, and b) are discoverable through schools and libraries and other community spaces as well as bookshops, and virtually, online, where new readers might come across books for the first time. We also believe it is key that our titles can show readers themselves reflected in the books they read, and are empathetic reads that encourage understanding of Wales’ diverse communities.
The Let Your Imagination Fly project aims to organise author visits to schools, libraries or community centres, particularly in low income and/or ethnically diverse areas across Wales, to target potential new readers through social media, and to collaborate with reading promotion agencies to encourage more children from Wales to read for pleasure.
If you would like to find out more about the opportunities to get involved with Let Your Imagination Fly, please contact Megan.Rees@fireflypress.co.uk
Firefly Press is thrilled to announce Firefly Ignite 2, a follow-up to last year’s acclaimed programme for aspiring children’s writers from underrepresented backgrounds, born or living in Wales.
The original programme ran in May and June 2023 and aimed to demystify Young Adult and children’s publishing with sessions from agents, authors and editors. In 2024 we hope to build on the success of the first Ignite Programme with three new online workshops/ sessions developed from the Ignite 1 feedback.
In addition, we will be selecting up to 2-3 aspiring YA and children’s writers to take part in an exciting mentoring programme, in which they will receive mentoring from an experienced published children’s author between May and Sept 2024.
We are delighted to confirm that the next set of online sessions will be delivered by literary agent Gemma Cooper, editors Janet Thomas and Penny Thomas, and author Emma Smith-Barton. We can also share the exciting news that author Catherine Johnson will be joining the programme as a mentor.
More information will be available after Christmas, when you’ll also be able to book a place on this new programme of events. We look forward to welcoming new and familiar faces to Ignite 2.
A new book from the Children’s Laureate Wales, Alex Wharton is aiming to encourage a new generation of budding poets and lyricists.
An innovative poetry ‘how to’ collection aimed at school pupils, Doughnuts, Thieves and Chimpanzees, is packed full of fun poems, limericks, haiku, song and rap from Alex Wharton, all illustrated by Rhiannon Smith.
There are brief introductions to different types of poets and lyric-writing. And the collection also contains sections on how to create your own poems, songs and more, spaces to write them, and links from songs in the book to performances on Alex’s website.
Alex, who is based in Torfaen, has been a spoken word children’s poet for a number of years, and published a first collection, Daydreams and Jellybeans in 2020, which was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year and the Laugh out Loud (LOLLIES) children’s book awards. He said:
‘Doughnuts, Thieves and Chimpanzees is curious, playful and imaginative. It is interactive, encouraging the reader to enjoy, collaborate on and participate in many forms of writing including limericks, haikus, raps and songs.
‘The book is fun, leaning towards the playfulness of language that I’ve found works so brilliantly in a school setting, after visiting thousands of students over the years. I hope the book inspires the reader to use poetry in their own lives, as a method of reflection, communication, solidarity, creativity, education or even therapy. The poems stir a sense of joy, and I hope that encourages a long-lasting connection with literature that is purposeful and developmental.’
Doughnuts, Thieves and Chimpanzees is to be published on 12th October 2023 by Firefly Press, and Alex also has a new collection of poetry out in February 2024, entitled Red Sky at Night, Poet’s Delight.
We are thrilled to share a digital anthology of creative writing from Year 7 students at Cardinal Newman Catholic School.
In preparation for Empathy Day, we visited Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Rhydyfelin, Pontypridd. Over two writing workshops, the students developed empathy-rich characters and stories through a series of writing prompts and activities.
After the workshops, the Year 7 students worked on the openings of these stories and we are delighted to share these with you today.
We’d like to thank the class teacher, Kathryn Jenkins, and the school for their help and support during the project, and a huge well done to all the talented writers.
The Headteacher, Justin O’Sullivan, said: “A fantastic project and a great opportunity for children to showcase their creativity and writing skills. It is great to see our pupils involved and contributing such high quality pieces of work. Well done to everyone.”
Please click on the cover to download the anthology.
Firefly Press acknowledge the financial support of the Books Council of Wales and Creative Wales towards this New Audiences project.
