Terry Pratchett News Update for June 26, 2007

As we reported earlier, the winners of the 2007 Locus Awards were announced June 16, in Seattle. Locus magazine readers, we’re proud to say, voted Wintersmith (third in the Tiffany Aching series) the best Young Adult Book. This is Terry Pratchett’s third award in the same category, as both of Wintersmith’s prequels received the same honor. Pratchett beat out two other well-known children’s fantasy authors, Garth Nix and Ursula K. Le Guin for the award.

Terry Pratchett News Update for June 15, 2007

On the UK Government’s official e-petition site, the petition to award Terry Pratchett knighthood (for services to literature) has garnered 1, 361 signatures since we first told you about the petition. Today, at a total of 2, 142 signatures, we’re optimistic that Terry Pratchett will be awarded knighthood. Although it is too late to add your support, you can see the list of other signers here.

On another note, in a couple of days we will find out how Wintersmith (third in the Tiffany Aching series, by Terry Pratchett) fared in the 2007 Locus Awards, at the awards ceremony (to be held June 16 in Seattle). Readers should be reminded that the award was a voters’ choice award, though voting is closed and the winners in each category are already determined, though unannounced. The possible winners in the Young Adult Book category (for which Wintersmith is competing) include Sir Thursday (Garth Nix) and Voices (Ursula K. Le Guin).

Terry Pratchett News Update for May 25, 2007

As part of an effort to encourage reading in teenage boys, Education Secretary Alan Johnson of the UK released a list of the top books for boys to read May 16. Secondary schools have the chance to choose 20 books free from the 160-book list. At 103 on the list is Terry Pratchett’s A Hat Full of Sky, second in the Tiffany Aching series.

Terry Pratchett News Update for May 24, 2007

A chat transcript with Terry Pratchett on the Douglas Adams Continuum is online now (scroll down to the first post), where Pratchett (amidst complaints about the font) answers questions about everything – from the movies to the books to his meeting with Douglas Adams. The concise statements include:

I met DNA [note: DNA is Douglas Adams] only once, at a crowded party, where it as almost impossible to be heard, and I think we were almost immediately dragged in opposite directions by people who wanted us to meet interesting people. I have no idea if we would have got on. I was in a hotel in Chicago when I read that he had died, and I sang the Betelgeusian Death Anthem, all by myself. It was a shame.

I don't have a secret desire to write somthing else--if I did, I'd do it. There eill [sic] be a Y/A book that's non-DW next year, though. One book a year is not punishing, but life seems to fill up with other things, [sic]

To judge by the biographies [Douglas Adams] thought writing got in the way of having a good time. For me, it’s the other way round. I get a kick out of it, is the simple answer. When a book is going well, I’m on a high.

Among the interesting bits of news we get what seems to be a confirmation that The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are being adapted together by Sky after the tremendous success of Hogfather. Additionally, an illustrated Wee Free Men (of the YA Tiffany Aching series) is in the works, possibly in the style of The Last Hero.