September 2011

Hi everyone,

I am hoping, as we head into my favourite season of Autumn, that we’ll be

able to enjoy some weeks of clear days when we can appreciate the gorgeous

colours Nature displays at this time of the year.

As a complete Techno-Idiot I’m amazed that I’ve now got a Theresa Breslin

Facebook page up and running, totally due to the efforts of A.N. Other. Do

please check it out. Absolutely everything is on universal display so you don’t

even need to be a member of Facebook to catch up with what’s happening

with my books and events. It would be great if you could comment on it or

about this Newsletter so that the next edition can feature items of special

interest.

Traditionally this is a busy time of year for children’s writers: Book Week and various Festivals

etc. I’m off on my travels soon, from the far north of Scotland south to Oxfordshire and environs.

Going by train which is my preferred mode of transport - so much better for reading and writing

and gazing out of the window to daydream, sorry, I mean working of course. I’ll be editing the

latest manuscript and organising my research notes so that I can use the best of these to compile

presentations for next year’s launch and book tours.

As we live in the age of visual image and young people are so

sophisticated in this sphere, myself plus my photographer will be out and

about capturing the best possible shots for this new book. In the past this

has got us into some strange situations e.g. for THE MEDICI SEAL we

managed to blag our way into a convent of enclosed nuns to photograph

the tomb of Lucrezia Borgia (hot topic due to the current TV series)

First stop for this is the Scottish Borders.

Jedburgh here we come!

THERESA BRESLIN NEWSLETTER  

WELCOME

Welcome to the first of what we hope will be many newsletters about

award-winning author Theresa Breslin. We’re planning a regular

newsletter to fill you in on what Theresa is working on, where she’s

been doing events, any news and also exclusive competitions to win

proofs, books and posters. This exploratory edititon is a pre-cursor to

the newsletter proper which will begin in the new year - we hope it’s a

useful resource for any fans of Theresa’s books.

WRITING

Theresa says:

Through our last grim winter and all this summer I’ve been writing a

book. It’s almost done. I don’t really like to talk about what I’m

working on until it’s finished but perhaps you can work out for

yourself what and who it is about.

There was once a Queen…..

And, as in all good stories, this Queen was beautiful - tall, elegant,

with shining auburn hair and gorgeous amber eyes. At a very early

age she was sent away to safety in France where she grew up, adored by the Court and her

husband-to-be, the future king, to whom she was married while still a teenager. Sadly he died and

so, at only eighteen years old, she returned to rule in her native land.

She had great daring, was excellent at archery, loved horse riding and went hawking and hunting,

easily keeping up with the most adventurous and daring in the chase. One of her favourite things

to do was to don men’s clothes and slip out of her palace to go about as an ordinary person to

find out how her people were living, what their problems were and how she might help them. Her

bravery of spirit was shown, when, beset by enemies who wished to kill her, she put on armour,

stuck two pistols in her belt and rode out to face them. They turned and fled and she chased

them all the way across the border and they were forced to beg pardon from her. So gentle of

heart was she that she forgave them. Perhaps it might have been better not to…

If she had a fault at all it was that she was impetuous and she fell in love with a weak vain man

who loved himself more than he did her. Although causing her a lot of heartache she did give

birth to his son, a handsome Prince. When her husband was foully murdered many people said

she had a hand in it which I do NOT believe.

However,

She did then marry the man whom people said had been the lead assassin and that, it has to be

admitted, does not look good.

Woe, and more woe. For when she and her new husband tried to rule the kingdom together her

enemies and some of her disloyal friends banded together. By telling her lies that she would be

treated well they coaxed her to surrender to them and then immediately imprisoned her in a

castle on an island in a loch and hoped that the world would forget her. But she had other

ideas….

One of her jailors, a young lad, moved by pity and

probably more than a little in love helped her escape.

People flocked to her banner and she gathered an

army around her. Alas! She was betrayed and had to

flee for her life.

Helped by faithful followers she fled south to seek

help form her cousin, a sister Queen in the

neighbouring country.

I’m guessing that by now you’ve guessed who this is.

More in the next newsletter….

OUT AND ABOUT

Theresa’s had a busy summer getting out and meeting her readers. She

did two events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, one about

the stage adaption of Divided City at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow

and another schools session with Karen Campbell where they spoke

about the grittier subjects their books deal with. In August Theresa also

took part in an attempt to break the world record for the longest

reading chain at Sighthill Library in Edinburgh. 219 people attended

on the day to each read one sentence from Theresa’s book, Prisoner in Alcatraz, and thereby

grabbing the British record (narrowly missing out on the world record).

SPOTLIGHT

It has just been announced that Prisoner of the Inquisition is shortlisted for the

Scottish Children’s Book Award 2011 older age group category. Now young

people throughout Scotland are encouraged to vote for their favourite books

and the winners will be announced in March 2012.

Prisoner of the Inquisition has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the

UKLA award, the Northern Irish Children’s Book Award, the Young Quills

prize and it was selected as favourite book by the Carnegie Shadowing scheme.

OFFER

Theresa’s new book about Mary Queen of Scots is coming out in May 2012. In advance of

publication there will be book proofs available and we will have a limited number to offer for

subsrcibers to this newsletter. If you want to be in with the chancing of winning a proof and getting

ahead of the crowd see how to register your interest below.

ONLINE

You can keep up-to-date with Theresa’s events, media coverage,

awards and more by checking out her various websites. Firstly her

own website www.theresabreslin.co.uk and secondly her dedicated

fan page site on Facebook (you don’t have to be a member of

facebook to see this page) www.facebook.com/theresabreslinauthor.

Theresa loves to hear comments or suggestions from fans of all ages

and, using her Facebook fan page, she always does her best to

respond, so please do log on and encourage any young readers you know to do the same.

GETTING IN TOUCH

We would love to hear your feedback on the newsletter – what content would

you like to see in it, what would the young people you know like to find out

about Theresa’s books, and how can we help you to spread the joy of reading?

Please do send us your comments. You can also unsubscribe from this

newsletter or register interest in winning a proof of Theresa’s new book.

For all emails please contact breslinbooks@ntlworld.com. Please write ‘Newsletter’ in the subject

line of your email. As we expect a lot of feedback, please note we will be unable to reply to each

individual email immediately but rest assured that your comments and feedback will be taken on

board and are much appreciated.

Theresa Breslin – Carnegie-winning author

www.theresabreslin.co.uk - www.facebook.com/theresabreslinauthor

If you would l ike to unsubscribe to this newsletter please email

bresl inbooks@ntlworld.com