Posts Tagged ‘Lydia Syson’
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WELCOME
1August 14, 2018 by Lydia Syson
… you’ve reached the website of Lydia Syson, author of MR PEACOCK’S POSSESSIONS, (aTimes and Sunday Times Book of the Year 2018, available as UK paperback from 21st March 2019), the YA historical/political novels LIBERTY’S FIRE, THAT BURNING SUMMER, A WORLD BETWEEN US, & the biography DOCTOR OF LOVE: DR JAMES GRAHAM AND HIS CELESTIAL BED, all critically acclaimed. Do visit Reviews to discover what other readers have thought of all these books, and scroll down from there to find out more about the history behind each of the novels. You’ll find the latest blogpost just belowFind out more about Lydia here, and about author events and school visits here and about academic writing workshops here.
Buy MR PEACOCK’S POSSESSIONS here
Buy LIBERTY’S FIRE here
Buy THAT BURNING SUMMER here or here if you’re in the US
Buy A WORLD BETWEEN US here or the iBook edition with extra features (music, interactive maps, photographs, interviews with historians, archive materials and more) here at iTunes
Buy DOCTOR OF LOVE here
Or better still, ask your nearest independent bookshop for the books.
Photograph by Gianluca De Girolamo, Adshot, London.
Category Blog | Tags: author page, book reviews, books, Lydia Syson, Lydia Syson website
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Bookings & Events
0May 24, 2018 by Lydia Syson
Please contact lydiasyson@gmail.com to request more information or to make a booking for any kind of event. You’ll find more about school visits here and can also download full details: Lydia Syson’s school visits
Upcoming events will be found on the sidebar.
If you’re interested in booking a school creative writing workshop at The Wallace Collection, follow the links below to find out more and book with the museum’s education department.
Inspiration for Creative Writing (KS3 & 4)
Choose Your Words (KS2)
Getting Ready for Writing (KS1)
Category Events | Tags: author visit, book an author, Booking, events, literacy, Lydia Syson, school author visits, school visit
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Mr Peacock’s Possessions: sources and background reading
1May 4, 2018 by Lydia Syson
As noted in the book, the most important sources for Mr Peacock’s Possessions were:
Elsie K Morton Crusoes of Sunday Island, 1957.
Steven Gentry, Raoul & the Kermadecs: New Zealand’s Northernmost Islands, Steele Roberts, 2013.
Margaret Pointer, Niue 1774-1974: 200 years of contact and change, Otago University Press, 2015.
Category Reviews & more | Tags: Bibliography, blackbirding, island fiction, Kermadecs, Lydia Syson, Missionaries, Mr Peacock's Possessions, Native Teachers, Niue, Pacific Slave Trade, Raoul Island, sources
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Heading towards publication day. . .
1May 3, 2018 by Lydia Syson
As I write this in London, the Kermadecs – the chain of volcanic islands in the Pacific where Mr Peacock’s Possessions is set – feel further away than ever. Here’s a photograph of me back in March saying a sad farewell to Raoul, reimagined in my book as Monday Island. I’d come within feet of its landing rock in a NZ Navy speedboat, flown over the island in a keep reading
Category Blog | Tags: HMNZS Canterbury, interview, Kermadecs, Kim Hill, Lydia Syson, Mr Peacock's Possessions, Ocean Sanctuary, Pacific islands, Pew Trusts, Raoul, Sir Peter Blake Trust, volcanic islands
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31st March 2016: Children and Socialism series, Marx Memorial Library, London
0March 8, 2016 by Lydia Syson
New Ways to Tell Old Stories: putting the political into historical fiction for today’s young readers
Lydia Syson and Meirian Jump in conversation at the home of the International Brigade archives.
Lydia, a former BBC World Service radio producer, is the author of three critically-acclaimed novels for young adults. A World Between Us (2012) tells the story of three British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. Sparked by research into the anthem of the International Brigades, Liberty’s Fire (2015) brings the 1871 Paris Commune dramatically to life for a new generation. That Burning Summer (2013) is set during the Battle of Britain in small rural community where spyfever is infectious and pacifism a dirty word. Lydia and Meirian will discuss hidden histories, unexpected heroes, archives and sources, and the ethics of turning real lives into fiction. All welcome. No need to book. £3 on the door.
March 31st, 2016 7:00 PMMarx Memorial Library
37A Clerkenwell Green
London
EC1R 0DU
United KingdomPhone: 020 725 31485Category Events | Tags: Children and Socialism, Historical YA, Lydia Syson, Marx Memorial Library, Pacifism, Paris Commune, political, Spanish Civil War, YA
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A WORLD BETWEEN US reviews
0April 19, 2015 by Lydia Syson
Christmas book pick in The Observer , The Telegraph , The Morning Star & Radio Suffolk, Teen book club choice on The Guardian Children’s Book website, recommended as a ‘hot read’ on teen website Sugarscape. Highly Commended for Branford Boase Award 2013, longlisted for The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2013, shortlisted for WeRead Book Award 2013, longlisted for UKLA Book Award 2014 and Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2013, nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, 2014.
Please follow links for full reviews….
‘A World Between Us is an outstanding debut novel for teenagers…what Syson captures so well is a sense of heartbreaking courage, comradeship and lost innocence…Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, for what I suspect is a keep reading
Category Reviews & more | Tags: A WORLD BETWEEN US, Armadillo, Book bloggers, Books Teen & Magazines, Booktrust, Celia Rees, Historical YA, International Brigade Memorial Trust, Jewish Chronicle, Jewish Socialist, Julia Eccleshare, Lydia Syson, Morning Star, Observer, Red House, Reviews, Sugarscape, teen book reviews, Telegraph, The Guardian, UKYA, We Love This Book
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Longing for Lundy
6September 25, 2012 by Lydia Syson
The seat at the kitchen table by the relief map was the prized place at meal times, if I remember rightly. Did we take it in turns, or was there a pecking order to where we sat? There was always something irresistible about stretching up and running your hands keep reading
Category Blog | Tags: Braer storm, islands, Lundy, Lydia Syson, Maps, place names, shipping forecast
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And another thing
0September 7, 2012 by Lydia Syson
I spent yesterday filming for the iBook edition of A World Between Us. So I’m spending today with all the things I should have said yesterday swirling round my head. Too late. Did I really fail to mention the time my great-aunt Lulu was arrested after throwing a keep reading
Category Blog | Tags: AWBU, event, fiction, filming, iBook, Lydia Syson
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The Torch of History
0August 30, 2012 by Lydia Syson
For most of my life I’ve been as likely to pole-vault out of the garden as to sit down to watch the Olympic opening ceremony on television. The celebration of children’s books certainly softened my resistance to the occasion. And I enjoyed the glimpses of London in 1948 we had on our screens. And finally, I had time to watch – and get keep reading
Category Blog | Tags: A WORLD BETWEEN US, Cable Street, Lydia Syson, Olympics, Spanish Civil War
