Literacy Through Latin wins the EU Language Label 2013

We were delighted to learn last week that the Literacy Through Latin project, run by The Iris Project (founded by Lorna Robinson, author of Telling Tales in Latin) has been awarded the EU Language Label 2013 for innovative language teaching projects.

The European Label is an award that encourages new initiatives in the field of teaching and learning languages, rewarding new techniques in language teaching. By supporting innovative projects at a local and national level, the Label seeks to raise the standards of language teaching across Europe. Each year, the Label is awarded to the most innovative language learning projects in each country participating in the scheme.

A judge visited St Saviour’s school in Brixton where the Literacy Through Latin project – and Telling Tales in Latin – was in use in the classroom, to see it in action, and reported:

“This project provides an opportunity for young children to be introduced to Latin, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and who may not have the opportunity to find out about Latin at any other time of their school career.  The teaching I saw was excellent, based on an exciting programme designed by the Iris project.  In my long career (primary) I have not seen children identifying, analysing and discussing grammar at such a high level as I saw at St. Saviours.”

Lorna Robinson, author of Telling Tales in Latin and founder of the Iris Project was delighted with the news:

“I’m completely over the moon at the news that the Literacy through Latin project has won this prestigious award. The judge who visited St Saviours school in Brixton was delighted at the pupils’ enjoyment of Latin. We have been teaching using our Telling Tales in Latin book at St Saviours and the pupils’ reactions to it have been very positive indeed.”

Congratulations to Lorna and the whole team at The Iris Project on being awarded the EU Language Label 2013 for their Literacy Through Latin programme. To find out more, visit the Iris Project website, or order a copy of Telling Tales in Latin today.

Address Unknown at the Soho Theatre: What the Papers Say

If you are a regular reader of our Take Home a Souvenir blog, no doubt you will have seen last month’s blog post about Address Unknown, the book by Katherine Kressmann Taylor, now taken to the stage at the Soho Theatre. With performances in French and English (though the French performances have now finished their run), this fascinating play is garnering rave reviews from all sections of the press.

Take a look at the round up of reviews for Address Unknown at the Soho Theatre:

“Address Unknown is a poignant story of broken friendship that deals in high tragedy while refusing to slip into melodrama. … Steve Marmion’s production effectively emphasises the frustrating sense of helplessness that comes from the distance between the characters, with snippets of broadcasts and radio static adding to the mounting tension.” – Evening Standard, 4 stars.

“A shockingly potent story that is well worth hearing, and one that reminds how easily politics, prejudice and circumstance destroy lives.” – The Guardian, 3 stars.

“An absorbing hour that offers a vivid depiction of how a sense of betrayal can lead to desperate measures.” – The Times, 3 stars.

“A must see.” – One Stop Arts, 4 stars.

“A stunning play … It’s a powerful piece, well staged and well acted … Essential viewing for our modern times.” – The Gay UK, 4 stars.

“Normally a home primarily to new writing, the theatre has taken a gamble on staging a 75-year-old play. And that gamble has paid off. … a provocative and devastating hour of friendship and betrayal.” – A Younger Theatre.

Address Unknown is showing at the Soho Theatre until 27th July. You can book tickets now, and be sure to pick up a copy of the book before you see the play!

Knut Hamsun and Edvard Munch

In 2009 to mark the 150th anniversary of Knut Hamsun’s birth, Souvenir Press  republished eight books and commissioned a new translation of a ninth by Hamsun, one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

The 150th anniversary of Hamsun’s birth was celebrated in Norway by schools, universities, theatres and libraries, including the inauguration of a Knut Hamsun Centre in the town of Hamaroy (where Hamsun grew up), and was an extraordinary national celebration of a writer whose work was for some time overshadowed by the scandal of his support for the Nazis in World War Two. Recently, though, there has been a revival of interest in Hamsun’s work, including Growth of the Soil, his novel that was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920.

All nine Knut Hamsun books were published in beautiful  uniform editions all featuring cover art work by another famous Norwegian, Edvard Munch. This year the National Museum in Norway, together with the Munch Museum, are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Munch’s birth with an exhibition of his work that will also be shown in cinemas across the world. But if you can’t get to the exhibition or any of the screenings, and you don’t have a spare $120m (which is how much Munch’s iconic painting The Scream sold for last year), then this is your chance to take home some Munch artwork and discover one of Norway’s greatest writers.

“The most outstanding Norwegian writer since Ibsen.” – Times Literary Supplement

“The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun” – Isaac Bashevis Singer

“Thanks to Souvenir, readers can now reclaim extraordinary works such as the eerie Mysteries and the epic Growth of the Soil… an unsettling master of modern fiction.” – The Independent

This #translationthurs why don’t you add some Knut Hamsun to your reading list?

Address Unknown at the Soho Theatre

Kressmann Taylor’s Address Unknown has an extraordinary history for an international bestseller, and now it will be further enhanced as it takes to the stage.

Originally published in the USA in 1938, Katherine Kressmann Taylor’s Address Unknown became an immediate bestseller. The subject of the book being inappropriate for a woman to be writing about at the time, her publishers dropped her first name and the book was published under her masculine sounding family name, Kressmann Taylor. Unsurprisingly the book was banned in Germany, and Taylor found herself on Hitler’s death list for daring to write such a book.

With the onset of war European publishing was a lost opportunity, and it wasn’t until recently that the book was rediscovered for the classic that it is. In 1995 it was reissued in the USA for the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, garnering rave reviews again:

“[b]etter just to call it a masterpiece … remarkable power and economy … a reminder that important messages come in small envelopes.”  – TIME Magazine

“[t]his modern story is perfection itself.  It is the most effective indictment of Nazism to appear in fiction.” – The New York Times Book Review

“[a] tale already known and profoundly appreciated by members of my generation.  It is to our part in World War II what ‘Uncle Toms Cabin’s’ was to the Civil War.” – Kurt Vonnegut

Here in the UK we at Souvenir Press rediscovered it in 2002 and have already reprinted it thirteen times to an equally enthusiastic press:

“[t]his simple but profound work reminds us just how cowardly other story writers have been … ‘Address Unknown’ remains one of the most significant, innovative and genuinely engaged fictions about the Nazi era.” – The New Statesman

“spend three-quarters of an hour with it and you’ll be jabbing all comers with the injunction: “Read!”” – The Guardian

“celebrate[s] the power of words to name, accuse and condemn human evil.  Taylor’s book is a rare example of fiction that has made a political difference.” – The Times

Previously it has been broadcast by the BBC as an Afternoon Play with Henry Goodman and Patrick Malahide and also at festivals including one in London starring Andrew Sachs and Henry Goodman. Now the pioneering Soho Theatre in the West End of London is simultaneously staging (in early/mid-June) the French adaptation, bringing over its film star participants Christian Clavier (Les Visiteurs, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre), and Thierry Lhermitte (An American Werewolf in Paris, Les Papas du dimanche, Le noir (te) vous va si bien; and an English version with Jonathan Cullen and Simon Kunz, both directed by Steve Marmion, Soho Theatre’s Artistic Director.

This “timeless tale of friendship and betrayal” will run from 13th June to 27th July, with the French performances running between 13th June and 22nd June.

Want to book tickets? Check out the Soho Theatre website for more information, ticket pricing and booking.

Want to read the book before you see the play? Find out more on the Souvenir Press website, or order a copy in hardback or e-book.

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Reviews round-up

This week has got off to a flying start here at Souvenir Press as we arrived in to the office this gloomy Monday morning to a selection of wonderful reviews of our new and recent titles. Have you written a review of a Souvenir Press title and want it to be included in our next review round-up here on the blog? Send me a message in the comments, on Facebook, on Twitter, or by email using the address in the Contact Us page.

Telling Tales in Latin by Lorna Robinson

“Each chapter tells a story and draws the reader straight into Latin with stories, exercises and suggestions, cleverly set out to give the reader confidence that he can read and understand Latin. The colourful illustrations add greatly to the enjoyment of the book. It’s a very interesting approach which shows that Latin is still relevant and enjoyable today.” – Parents In Touch (read the full review)

“Telling Tales in Latin is an inviting, absorbing, and embracing learning experience. Young students new to the language will enjoy themselves, and love their learning, both of Latin and classical mythology, and be inspired to learn more. It’s a beautiful beginners’ book, the like of which most of us never had in the past, and I look forward to its success and the love that its students will have for it in years to come.” – The Classics Library (read the full review)

Where the Ghosts Walk by Peter Underwood

“‘Where the Ghosts Walk’ is set to become the handbook and must-read for every seasoned and every would-be paranormal investigator. … If I could give this book 12 out of 10 then I would. Excellent work Mr Underwood….excellent, excellent work.” – Ghost Investigators blog (read the full review)

Welcome to Biscuit Land by Jessica Thom

“An honest, moving account… This book is a valuable one for anyone who lives with Tourettes or knows someone who does. …  Jessica Thom is inspirational and her story will help, encourage and amuse millions of people around the globe who understand or want to learn what it’s like living with Tourettes.” – Blogcritics (read the full review)

Code Name Caesar by Jerome Preisler and Kenneth Sewell

“The only submarine in history to sink another submarine in underwater combat.” – Britain at War

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

“The standard work for artists, teachers and millions of students and amateur artists… It should be on every artist’s bookshelf.” – The Artist, June 2013 issue

Tintin in the New World by Frederic Tuten

“A playful and imaginative expansion of the boy reporter’s life experience; he loses his virginity and receives instruction from the main characters in Thomas Mann’s cerebral door-stopper The Magic Mountain.” – Times Literary Supplement (read the full blog)

Out today: Where the Ghosts Walk by Peter Underwood

Things are getting more spooky today at Souvenir Press with the publication of WHERE THE GHOSTS WALK: A Gazetteer of Haunted Britain by Peter Underwood.

Britain is the most haunted country in the world with a wealth of places that feed the imagination. From Cape Head in the north of Scotland to Beachy Head in the south of England, it is a land of ghosts and phantoms.

Peter Underwood’s fiftieth published book, WHERE THE GHOSTS WALK is the culmination of a lifetime’s work devoted to investigating the haunted places of Britain. In this his definitive work, Underwood puts together a thorough guide to places across Britain where ghosts have been seen outside – that is, public places, not buildings or private houses, which can be visited by anyone at any time.

It is arranged by the various environments where ghosts appear: airfields, ancient sites, bridges, battlefields, graveyards, gardens, highways, railways, ruins, seascapes, and woods. From the ghosts of Jacobite soldiers in Gallows Tree Lane, the ghost of King Arthur which has been seen in Tintagel, to the phantom Spitfire of Biggin Hill airfield, WHERE THE GHOSTS WALK is an indispensable guide to the rich world of the unexplained.

Peter Underwood is Britain’s leading authority on the paranormal. He is Life President of the Ghost Club Society and President of the Society for Psychical Studies. He has devoted his life to investigating the haunted places of Britain, over 70 years and 50 books.

“The world’s leading ghost hunter” – The Observer

WHERE THE GHOSTS WALK is now available in paperback and as an e-book.

Author Corner: Discovering Classical Myths by Lorna Robinson

Lorna Robinson is the author of Telling Tales in Latin, a new Latin course and storybook for children. With Ovid as the narrator, this book is an ideal first introduction to Latin, and features some of the most famous classical myths including stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. These stories are vital for capturing children’s imaginations, and colour illustrations throughout by Soham De help bring these magical stories to life. Telling Tales in Latin features all the grammar and vocabulary needed for the OCR entry level Latin qualification.

Lorna Robinson tells us how she discovered the magic of the myths of ancient Greece, stories that sparked her imagination and which she believes are the way to engage children with studying the classics. Here she shares some of her favourite classical myths.

Like many people, I learned about the myths of the Greeks and Romans as a young child, long before I learned any Latin. When I did first learn Latin, it was alongside descriptions of slaves and masters in country villas, remote and staid characters far removed from the weird, dark, colourful, alive stories that had long fascinated me.

My very first encounter was through the “Usbourne Book of Greek myths and Legends”, which had a picture of the Minotaur on the cover – I can still remember the huge curling horns and the terrible, but oddly human, face. Inside its pages, tales spilled out, precious and mysterious and frightening all at once, in a way my other childhood books were not. All these years later, I still carry those stories with me, and they’ve shaped my world and fuelled my imagination.

Here are two of my favourites!

Orpheus and Eurydice

This is my all-time favourite myth, and appears at the end of my book Telling Tales in Latin, a new Latin course and storybook for children, for that very reason.

The story of a man with the unearthly talent of moving all living things with his song. He lost his wife, and then dared to enter the underworld to ask for her back. Orpheus sings a song of grief so beautiful that even the ghosts weep and Hades is moved. Hades agrees to return Eurydice to life, but on one condition: Orpheus must not turn around before they reach the earth’s surface. They make the gloomy, eerie, lonely ascent, Orpheus first, Eurydice behind. Just as they are getting close, his fear overcomes him and he turns to see if she’s actually there. She instantly slips back into the underworld forever.

There are many things about this story which have haunted me. The fact that this man with his superhuman gift has such a human flaw, and lets his fears overwhelm him is very moving. There’s the image of this one man singing his heart out in that dark, foreboding land, and the ghosts being spellbound as his song enchants the underworld. And finally, there is the unanswerable question of why Hades set this rule at all – is it because he knew Orpheus would fail? Why did there have to be a condition? And why did Orpheus give in, so close to the end?

Persephone and Demeter

This is the story of how we came to have seasons. The tale goes that Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the goddess of fertility and plants, was picking flowers in a field, when Hades saw her and seized her away to the underworld to be his wife. Demeter searched high and low but couldn’t find her daughter. She grieved and mourned, and while she did this, the plants and crops all withered and died as she neglected to care for them. Eventually, she discovered that Hades had her daughter and she went to get her back. While Persephone had been in the underworld, she had eaten six pomegranate seeds and so she had to spend six months of every year with Hades, but for the remaining six months, she could return to earth to be with her mother. And so it was forever more, that for the six months that she is in the underworld each year, Demeter grieves and all the crops and plants and trees die – this is our autumn and winter. But when she returns, everything flourishes again and we have our spring and summer.

As with the Orpheus story, part of the fascination for me with this story is the strange and unwritten rule. Why does eating in the underworld invoke this rule – what does it represent about life and death and beliefs surrounding these things? Also, there is the human element within this goddess who is so powerful, that she grieves desperately for her daughter. And finally, for me there is something wonderful about explaining the seasons in such human, emotional terms.

So these are my favourites. What are yours?

Telling Tales in Latin by Lorna Robinson, illustrated by Soham De, is published May 2013 by Souvenir Press.

Code Name Caesar: The Secret Hunt for U-Boat 864 During World War II

Published today by Souvenir Press, CODE NAME CAESAR by Jerome Preisler and Kenneth Sewell reveals one of World War II’s most intriguing untold stories: the hunt by MI6, the British Navy, the Norwegian resistance and the RAF’s 617 Dambusters Squadron for the German U-Boat U-864 towards the end of the Second World War.

What made U-864 such an important target was what was on board: with German forces suffering huge losses at the hands of the Allies, Hitler made one last attempt to prolong the war and land a decisive blow against the Allied forces. He prepared to send plans and parts for Germany’s weapon technology – jet aircraft, rockets, mini-submarines – along with scientists to develop the technology, to his Japanese allies. U-864 was ordered to transport this most valuable cargo, carrying on board the opportunity to lengthen the war.

With German technology and expertise, the Japanese would divert more Allied troops to the war in the Pacific, giving Germany time to regroup.

British codebreakers based at Bletchley Park discovered Hitler’s plan and, working with the Norwegian resistance movement, the RAF sent its Dambuster Squadron on bombing raids against German naval installations in an attempt to destroy U-864… and its deadly cargo. But the submarine escaped, and slipped out to sea.

Now the British Navy had only one chance to destroy the U-Boat.

CODE NAME CAESAR is the thrilling true story of the hunt for U-864, an event that changed the course of the war, and the course of history. As gripping as a thriller, it brings to life the tense, action-packed underwater battle, recreating one of the least-known but most crucial victories of World War II.

If you want to try a sample of CODE NAME CAESAR, you can read the introduction and beginning of part one on Amazon using the ‘Look Inside’ feature.

CODE NAME CAESAR is available now in hardback and as an e-book.

Are you ready to discover our authors?

Things have been a little quiet here on the Souvenir Press blog over the last couple of weeks – sorry about that. I’ve been busy working away behind the scenes of the Souvenir  website, and have been lining up some fantastic blog posts for you guys over the coming weeks/months.

We’re going to be bringing back our Author Corner feature, and have currently got several of our authors scribbling away to bring you an exclusive view into their lives. Whether they’re sharing their inspiration, telling the story of how their book came to be, or sharing tips and advice, you won’t want to miss it!

Our previous Author Corner posts featured Jessica Thom writing about her book Welcome to Biscuit Land, Richard Smyth on Bum Fodder: An Absorbing History of Toilet Paper, and Arthur Plotnik, author of Better than Great with a handy guide to terms of endearment for your loved one, suitable for Valentines Day and the rest of the year.

Away from the blog, we’ve had some exciting post this week: finished copies of three of our new Spring titles: Code Name Caesar by Jerome Preisler and Kenneth Sewell, Telling Tales in Latin by Dr Lorna Robinson (both published later this month), and Where the Ghosts Walk by Peter Underwood, published early next month. What do you think?

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and we’ll be back in the Souvenir Press office on Tuesday after the Bank Holiday. As always, if you’ve got any queries (Where can I buy these books? Can I get your books on my new Nook? Where’s the British Museum in relation to your office?) feel free to leave us a comment below, or you can drop me an email.

 

Another week, another set of wonderful reviews!

It’s been a busy week here in the Souvenir Press office. Monday-Wednesday was the London Book Fair, with meetings and events continuing throughout the week. But finally, on Friday afternoon, I’ve found a moment to bring you the round-up of all the wonderful reviews that have come in this week.

How Puzzles Improve Your Brain by Richard Restak and Scott Kim

“[The] puzzles were beautifully designed and a nice progression to help keep your thought processes working… It made me think and play in ways I had not done before and actually explained what my brain was doing whilst attempting these puzzles.” – Kevin on the PuzzleMad blog

“A very readable look at thinking and an excellent selection of puzzles to enhance brain function.” – The Book Bag

Bum Fodder by Richard Smyth

“Quite apart from the sheer entertainment provided by the book, I can say that I have actually learnt a considerable amount… The thinking person’s toilet library should now begin with three core acquisitions: Sale, Nohain/Caradec, and now Smyth.” – Jonathan Pinnock

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

“The latest edition includes updated research, better quality reproductions of the Old Master paintings and also work by recent students who followed the course. Their drawings certainly make a compelling case for how successful the approach is.” – Artists & Illustrators magazine, May 2013

Leisure Painter magazine, May 2013, featured the book as part of their article ‘How do I draw that?’

If you’re interested in finding out more about any of our titles at Souvenir Press, feel free to email me asking for a copy of our latest catalogue.