Myths Magic Mayhem

Want to go on a zombie walk? Learn about illustrating children’s books? Hear tales from around the world? Go to a comic book workshop? All this and more is on offer from Wednesday through to Sunday.

This week is the start of the first Cardiff Children's LiteratureFestival.

Information about the programme and how and where to buy tickets are available from the Festival website.

You can keep up with their activities by following @CDFKidsLitFest on Twitter. 

Sessions from experts encouraging adults to both read and write children's books run alongside appearances from famous authors & illustrators for children of all ages.There will also be plenty of FREE activities to get involved in including a Roald Dahl themed Treasure Hunt, craft sessions in the Cardiff Story and a hunt for Wally and Wenda.

Cardiff University is hosting some of the events, and in Cardiff UniversityLibrary Special Collections (SCOLAR) they are putting on an exhibition celebrating the history of children's literature, from the 17th century up to the 20th century.  They are looking at the chronological development of children's literature by highlighting several themes such as books for education and fantasy literature.

The Library has gathered items from SCOLAR's collections, including the Children's Literature Collection which can be seen in part in the glass cases at the entrance to SCOLAR, and from the modern children's literature collection held in the main part of the library.  Items from the modern collection are also being utilised in a display on level 1 of the library (ASSL), where readers can vote for their favourite children's novel.The exhibition is available online and at the Arts and Social Sciences Library, Colum Road  from March-May 2013

Cardiff Metropolitan University undergraduate students may access Cardiff University Collections through a reciprocal scheme. Postgraduates through SCONUL Access. See details here

 

 

 

 

Maurice Sendak

"Maurice Sendak, widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche, died on Tuesday". This statement opens a very full article about Sendak  and his work  published in the New York Times . It goes on "Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children. He was known in particular for more than a dozen picture books he wrote and illustrated himself, most famously “Where the Wild Things Are,” which was simultaneously genre-breaking and career-making when it was published by Harper & Row in 1963".

“Dear Mr. Sendak,” read a letter to Sendak  from an 8-year-old boy. “How much does it cost to get to where the wild things are? If it is not expensive, my sister and I would like to spend the summer there.”

Sendak’s work was the subject of critical studies and major exhibitions; in the second half of his career, he was also renowned as a designer of theatrical sets. He also illustrated other authors, including Hans Christian Andersen, Leo Tolstoy, Herman Melville, William Blake and Isaac Bashevis Singer.

His last story was about an orphaned pig who had never had a birthday party.

Shawn Lovell metalwork sculptor/designer

I have spotted some very gorgeous one off pieces of furniture from Californian based artist Shawn Lovell. The tree and birds nest bed and the scroll fireplace screen are my favourites.

Shawn specializes in making one-of-kind and commissioned work both commercial and residential using both traditional and modern forging techniques. Her work has ranged from large scale railings, gates, and arbors to fire screens and surrounds, lighting, furniture, hardware and much more.

If you are interested in reading about Blacksmithing in the UK then (if you are a registered UWIC staff or student member)-go to the Learning Portal>Electronic Library>Databases> select Design and Applied Arts Index and search for blacksmithing :UK. Your search results will bring up references to 8 journal articles (mostly from Crafts Magazine) . Howard Gardens has back copies of Crafts Magazine going back to 1973.

Music, fairy stories, folk practices and ghostly tales from Scotland

Bothy ballads, love songs, children's rhymes, laments and songs composed by village poets along with fairy stories, historical legends and tales of ghosts and kelpies. Birth, life and death customs and work practices , if these things interest you then check out

Tobar an Dualchais

More than 15,000 recordings from Scotland's past are available online on the oral archive, Tobar an Dualchais. The recordings, from all parts of the country,  some dating back more than eight decades, are drawn from the archives of the School of Scottish Studies, the BBC and the National Trust for Scotland's Canna Collection.