Pullman wins Whitbread (was Nebula), "children's" fiction

[davewitley]

i queen plus wrote:

> > Interesting to note that Pullman made it for _The
> > Amber Spyglass_ but Rowling didn't for any of hers.
> 
> Amy
> who, forced to take only one or the other to that mythical desert 
> island, would take The Amber Spyglass 

But The Amber Spyglass has *won* the Whitbread Award (£25,000), which 
is for all fiction of every kind.  It's the first time a book in 
the "children's" category has won the award.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme the day before yesterday, 
Pullman said that the whole idea of writing a story 'for' a 
particular audience is problematical for him.  He made his oft-
repeated assertion that children are capable of grasping the big 
issues, provided they are cast into story form.

news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/arts/newsid_1777000/1777169.st
m

(you'll need to put the link back together)  I think what's on this 
web page covers most of what he said.

He mentions that he boycotted the award during the period when it 
downgraded (what is perceived to be) children's literature.

I'm not sure if this is tending towards arguing that there is no such 
thing as children's literature, or that there is, and that at its 
best it's as good as the best adult literature.  I might try to sort 
it out properly in my mind wrt HP on the main list one day.

David