HisDarkMaterials.org

The author Philip Pullman has launched an attack on schools that drill children to get good marks rather than awakening in them "a wonder of the world".

"Education should be about lighting a fire in the child's mind, filling it with desire and delight and curiosity and encouraging these human qualities, rather than educating in order to prepare a workforce that will meet the economic challenges of the 21st century," he said yesterday.

He is "dead against" the current emphasis on league tables. Children should not be "going to school in order to get qualifications so that the school doesn't fall down the league table, rather they should be "going to school for something interesting, for a first acquaintance with a delight that will last you a lifetime".

A £6.5m centre dedicated to children's books opens its doors on Friday.

A Grade II listed Victorian granary in Newcastle has been transformed to house Seven Stories, which includes an art gallery and interactive centre.

Top children's author Jacqueline Wilson, along with her principal illustrator Nick Sharratt, were opening the centre on Friday morning.

The centre will collect and preserve artwork and manuscripts by the country's writers and illustrators.

Philip Pullman has posted his August message on his website. He talks about the movies, the Book of Dust, his public-appearance schedule and the pronunciation of some of the words in His Dark Materials.

Read Philip Pullman's message.

Philip Pullman posted the following response on his website with regards to the news that Anand Tucker is directing His Dark Materials

I'm glad to say that New Line Cinema has announced the appointment of Anand Tucker to direct the first His Dark Materials film.

I met Anand recently, having admired his film 'Hilary and Jackie', and we had a long and encouraging conversation. I was very impressed by his knowledge of the story and his passion for it. He has plenty of very good ideas, and he isn't daunted by the technical challenges.

But the best thing from the point of view of all who care about the story is his awareness that it isn't about computer graphics; it isn't about fantastic adventures in amazing-looking worlds; IT'S ABOUT LYRA.

What happens next? Very soon he and I will be talking extensively with Chris Weitz, whose screenplay will be the basis of what Anand does from here, and then the whole big process will begin to roll.

An article from The Register reported: Online retailer Amazon has come under fire for letting any old person pose as an author and submit a comment about a book they haven't written.

According to The Independent, Philip Pullman, John Christopher and Terry Goodkind have all suffered and they are not happy. In the case of Pullman, the bogus comment maker was illiterate. It read: "Trully my best piece of work. Good day to all my readers, I never new I had so many ..."

On the Amazon.co.uk site, all it says when you click on the line 'I am the author and want to comment on my book' is: Just a Moment! Are you the Author? If you are not the Author or the Author's authorised representative, please fill out a customer review.

Read Philip Pullman's June Message.

No news about the movies, but an interesting bit about coloured socks and a few paragraphs about why Philip likes the Swedish royals.

What do leading thinkers from the arts and sciences really believe about God, faith and the afterlife? In a selection of interviews from her fascinating new book, Joan Bakewell talks to Jeanette Winterson, David Puttnam, Robert Winston and Philip Pullman about their beliefs

Preparations were going ahead yesterday for Liverpool's first festival of children's theatre. And if rehearsals at the city's Unity Theatre were anything to go by, it is the sort of theatre to make adults envious.

The Unity-based festival will run from Thursday, June 3 to Sunday June 5, and will include theatre from Europe as well as locally-created events.

Among the latter shows will be Feast Your Eyes, a strange show first conjured up by the London company Fevered Sleep.

As is so often the case for British authors, it has taken a lavish prize from another country for Philip Pullman to be as fully honoured in the UK as he is abroad.

Yesterday Pullman, the author of the Dark Materials trilogy and a holder of the Whitbread book award, was beckoned from his Oxford home to the British Library in London to be formally congratulated for his work by the culture secretary Tessa Jowell, "on behalf of the government".

Then he prepared to fly to Stockholm to collect the cause of these congratulations, the Swedish government's Astrid Lindgren memorial award for children's and youth literature.

The prize, second only to the Nobel prize for literature, is worth £385,000.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Those are words imprinted on the memory of a generation that snuggled down by the radio for Listen With Mother. But perhaps they are more familiar to the previous generation: the parents who made sure their children were indeed sitting comfortably and not fidgeting, and then got hooked themselves by the narrative and were transported into the world of make-believe.

They will nod with familiarity and pleasure at news that children's books are enjoying unprecedented sales among adults. Inevitably the prime example is the Harry Potter series, given the scale and power of marketing as well as JK Rowling's talent. But the young wizard is far from alone. It is a rare parent who is not beguiled by the wealth of ideas, as well as the excitement of Lyra and Will's grand quest in Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials. There is Mark Haddon's brilliant evocation of an autistic boy, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and many more.

Fiction can teach us what's good, bad, generous, selfish or cruel.

Not far from the door of St. Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich, England, there's a finely carved tomb with the following inscription: "This Stone is dedicated to the Talents and Virtues of Sophia Ann Goddard, who died 25 March 1801 aged 25. The Former shone with superior Lustre and Effect in the great School of Morals, the THEATRE, while the Latter inform'd the private Circle of Life with Sentiment, Taste, and Manners that still live in the Memory of Friendship and Affection."

I've been fond of that tomb, and this inscription, and by extension, of Miss Goddard herself, for most of my life.

Philip Pullman is among the authors nominated for the Carnegie Medal for children's literature for his new story The Scarecrow and His Servant.

Other nominees include Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy, Heartbeat by Sharon Creech, Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko, The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson and Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

The winner will be announced on July 8.

The following note appeard in The Telegraph, thanks to Eowyn for spotting it

Johnny Depp could be making an appearance at the long-awaited opening of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Buckinghamshire on June 10. It's hoped that the star of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which opens in July) will be joined by authors JK Rowling, Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson, all of whom have contributed to the centre's all-important creative writing section. This will reveal all manner of juicy tidbits to aspiring young writers, such as the fact that it took Dahl seven attempts at James and the Giant Peach before he got it right - and that it was originally a cherry.

Our world is awash with stories,” said Philip Pullman, discussing fiction at last week’s Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival — a statement resoundingly confirmed by this brilliant eight-day celebration of all that’s best in our phenomenally varied literary culture.

A festival that started with John Mortimer, Alan Hollinghurst and Kazuo Ishiguro (plus Ned Sherrin on comic quotations) was rounded off the following Sunday by Zadie Smith, David Mitchell and P D James: writers at the top of their powers, providing revealing, entertaining insights into how writing and reading affects their lives. In between, 250 writers came to the city, and more than 25,000 visitors flocked to hear them.

Phlip Pullman made some interesting comments about this survey, read the last paragraph.

Britain has emerged as one of the most tolerant nations in the world. A wide-ranging survey of national attitudes, comparing international beliefs and values, found that we are more likely to embrace our neighbours whatever their ethnic background. Britons are also more tolerant of casual sex, divorce and drug use.

However, while Britons are more accepting of alternative lifestyles, they are less trusting of public institutions. Confidence in the political system in this country is half that in many other countries. The World Values Survey was compiled using research from the London School of Economics. About 175,000 people were questioned in 81 countries.