Interview with Allan Stratton, Dennis Foon, and Oliver Schmitz at TIFF

On Tuesday, some of the Annick staff headed downtown to watch Life, Above All, the movie based on the novel Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton. Everyone agreed it was a moving, faithful reproduction of the book; it captured the powerful emotions of the story, from vulnerability, fear, and shame to love and loyalty.

Annick's Director, Rick Wilks, had this to say: "For a publisher, having a novel adapted for a feature film is like being struck by lightning. Even better, watching a beautiful, intelligent and deeply moving film based on a beloved book is one of those absolutely glorious experiences. This is a film with integrity: from the writing through to the remarkable actors, it telegraphs authenticity. One can’t help but have a deeply moving experience."

If you missed the film, don't worry: it will be out in theatres sometime next year. Until then, check out this post-movie Q&A at TIFF with Oliver Schmitz (the director), Allan Stratton (the author), and Dennis Foon (the screenwriter), courtesy of Ioncinema.com.


TIFF 2010: Life, Above All from IONCINEMA.com on Vimeo.

Life, Above All at TIFF: Update

Life, Above All, the movie based on Allan Stratton's novel Chanda's Secrets, will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this Sunday and next Tuesday. A few people from Annick will be in attendance, so look for an update next week.

In an exciting development, South Africa has chosen Life, Above All as its official entry for best foreign-language picture at the Academy Awards. We'll have to wait until late January to see whether the Academy officials give it a nomination, though, so our fingers are crossed!

Khomotoso Manyaka in the role of Chanda

Life, Above All at TIFF

Author Allan Stratton is having a very exciting (and busy!) year. The movie Life, Above All, which is based on his novel Chanda's Secrets, made its debut at the Cannes International Film Festival and has been receiving accolades ever since. The film also secured North American distribution with Sony Pictures Classics, and will be screened at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

In other news, the Toronto Public Library has announced that Allan will be their writer-in-residence this fall! If you're in Toronto, you can come and meet him at an event on October 2nd. Or read a short interview with him at TeenRC. (Here's a full chat transcript!) Young adult writers (both writers who are young adults, or who write about young adults) can also submit short excerpts of their work for a chance to meet with Allan for a manuscript evaluation and discussion. The deadline is October 16th: click here for full details.

And now for some Annick Press trivia: Chanda's Secrets is one of the first books we converted to ebook format. It's available from the Kobo and Chapters Indigo online bookstores, and will soon be available in more places... so stay tuned!

Early Summer Updates from Annick

Summer is just starting, but our authors have been very busy!

Ruth Ohi has recorded a great audio clip about her picture book Chicken, Pig, Cow for TeachingBooks.net: click here to listen! There are now three Chicken, Pig, cow books in print, and another one will be published this fall.

Henning Mankell, author of the Detective Wallander series as well as young adult titles such as Secrets in the Fire and Shadow of the Leopard, was recently on board a flotilla of boats bound for Gaza that were intercepted by Israeli troops. He gave an interview to the Guardian about the experience.

Allan Stratton was interviewed by Follett Library Resources's Behind the Book program, and he also posted some official production stills from the set of Life, Above All (the award-winning film based on his novel Chanda's Secrets). Here's one of the stunning pictures: you'll have to visit his blog for the rest! You can also buy the ebook of Chanda's Secrets on Kobo.

Life, Above All Wins Prix François Chalais!

Last week, I wrote about the accolades that Life, Above All--a film based on Allan Stratton's novel Chanda's Secrets--was getting at Cannes. And now there's more: the film has won the prestigious Prix François Chalais! Congratulations to everyone involved.

Here's a picture of some of the cast and crew (taken from Allan's blog). Left to right, front: Harriet Manamela (Mrs. Tafa), Khomotso Manyake (Chanda), and Lerato Mvelase (Mama). Back: Greg Buckle (South African producer), Oliver Stoltz (German producer), Allan Stratton (author), Dennis Foon (screenwriter), and Oliver Schmitz (director). For more pictures of the cast, Cannes, and Roger Ebert, and much more, visit Allan Stratton's blog!

Here's the official trailer for Life, Above All:


And here's the trailer for Chanda's Secrets (the book, not the movie!):

Chanda's Secrets a Big Hit at Cannes!

The film Life, Above All, based on Allan Stratton's novel Chanda's Secrets, recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to great acclaim. Not only did it receive a ten-minute standing ovation, but Roger Ebert then conveyed his compliments to author Allan Stratton and screenwriter Dennis Foon.

In fact, Ebert was so impressed with the film that he wrote a blog entry, in which he calls Life, Above All "the best heart-warmer and tear-jerker so far--and when I write from Cannes I use the term 'tear-jerker' as a compliment, because this is a hardened crowd and when you hear snuffling in the dark you know it has been honestly earned. The film is about deep human emotions, evoked with sympathy and love."

To experience a bit of the film for yourself, click here to watch the trailer! Or why not buy the ebook?

More links:
Read Allan Stratton's blog (he's got lots of pictures from the film set!)
Find out more about the making of the film

Allan Stratton at the Vietnam Book Fair

As you'll know from our March 19 post, Allan Stratton was recently in Vietnam where he attended the Vietnam Book Fair and promoted the Vietnamese edition of his internationally acclaimed YA novel Chanda's Secrets.

Allan is now back home, reporting a very successful and enjoyable trip. Following are a few pictures from his events at the book fair, which included a TV interview and book signing:


Above, author Allan Stratton (right) stands with Mr. Quang Toan Ton, the publisher of Thuong Huyen Books, Ltd., between two posters advertising Allan's events at the book fair.

Allan Stratton is surrounded by Vietnamese teens eager for him to sign their editions of Chanda's Secrets.

Check out Allan's blog for more details on his trip to Vietnam and other things.

Globe-Trotting Authors!

The Bologna Children's Book Fair is next week (March 23-26) but it's not just publishers and agents who are in travel mode this spring: a few of our authors have also been busy traversing the globe.

Allan Stratton will be attending the Vietnam Book Fair to promote the Vietnamese edition of Chanda's Secrets (published by Thuong Huyen Books, Ltd.). Here's a photo of a poster announcing his visit. Hopefully he'll post more pictures on his blog!

We're also very proud of K.V. Johansen, who will be this year's guest at the Skopje Book Fair in the Republic of Macedonia (April 13-18). She will also be receiving the International Anna Frank Award for the Macedonian translation of her book Torrie and the Snake Prince. Here's the cover:

And last month, author Sally Rippin blogged about going to Ghana to see the effects of her World Vision sponsorship of a girl named Elizabeth in person. After her visit, she decided to sponsor another child, too.

Happy spring travels, everyone!

Black History Month: The Bite of the Mango and Chanda's Secrets

February is Black History Month in Canada and the U.S. (in the U.K., it's in October), so today's blog post features two of our most popular books with African content.

Mariatu Kamara's powerful memoir The Bite of the Mango won the respected Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction last year, and continues to receive awards nominations and praise. So far, the foreign rights have been sold for Australia/New Zealand (Allen & Unwin), the UK (Bloomsbury), Germany (Droemer Knaur), Holland (De Fontein), Italy (Sperling & Kupfer), Spain (Intermon Oxfam), French North America (La courte échelle), Portuguese Brazil (Editora Planeta), Slovenia (Zaloba Alica), and Korea (BookInMyLife). We're thrilled to see Mariatu's story travel around the world in so many different languages.

Here's Mariatu on a trip home to Sierra Leone:


From previous blog posts, you'll remember that author Allan Stratton has been on-site in sub-Saharan Africa to watch as his novel, Chanda's Secrets, is transformed into a movie. He's recently updated his blog with the story of how his book got turned into a movie, more pictures of the actors on set, and a funny story about movie extras.

We'll leave you with this book trailer:


For Black History events, check a local newspaper or search online. (NOW Magazine has a good list of events in Toronto.)

Allan Stratton Blogs from Movie Set of CHANDA'S SECRETS

Allan Stratton, author of Chanda's Secrets and Chanda's Wars (among other books), has taken up blogging. He's fortunate to have some very exciting news to blog about, too: Chanda's Secrets is being turned into a film! And Allan has been on set in sub-Saharan Africa watching it all unfold.

I especially like the post in which he introduces us to some of the actors. He also explains why the director, Oliver Schmitz, and his crew had to switch from speaking German to English while on set. He's updating fairly regularly and includes lots of pictures (including pictures of his cats editors), so go to http://allanstratton.blogspot.com/ and check it out!

More Author Interviews!

Our authors have been busy! Allan Stratton, author of Chanda's Secrets, was interviewed by Open Book Toronto about his new book, Chanda's Wars. Click here to read about how he researched the book, his ideal writing environment, how he first got published, and his advice for writers! (You can also watch a trailer for Chanda's Secrets here!)


Sally Rippin, author of Chenxi and the Foreigner, was recently interviewed on the Tower of Books blog. Click here to read about her thoughts on Shanghai and her upcoming projects!

Sally Rippin will also be doing a blog tour this summer: if you have a blog and would like to interview her, there's still time to sign up -- just reply in the comments!

Stay tuned for a blog post on the American Library Association (ALA) conference in Chicago!

Chanda's Secrets in Namibia!

Chanda's Secrets author Allan Stratton shared a heart-warming story with us recently: Aly Martin, a young woman teaching with the Peace Corps in Otjimbingwe, Namibia, is using Chanda's with her grade 10 students, shown above in this photo, and the book is having a big impact on everyone.

Allan was originally contacted by Aly's mother, as Aly has limited internet connection from her village. She informed Allan that his novel of 16-year-old Chanda, whose family and village in Sub-Saharan Africa are struggling with HIV/AIDS, reflects well life in Otjimbingwe and is touching everyone there who reads it. To point, here's a passage from one of the messages from Aly's mom:

A touching story for you. Last year, at Aly's request, I sent several of Chanda's Secrets books. She carefully lent them out (she is also in charge of the Library) to students she knew would take care of the book. One boy, kept begging for the book. Aly was wary as the boy was very irresponsible and a troublemaker. Sadly, he lives by himself in a tin shack without electricity or running water - I believe he is an orphan. His many chores kept him from attending school altho Aly said he is very bright. Aly decided to loan him the book and this is what she relayed onto me: The boy was in bed reading your book. All of a sudden he noticed the sun was shining on his face and he was crying very hard. He hadn't cried in years. Now, he is reading the book to his friends who cannot read and cannot go to school because they can't afford it. This is why she wants to teach your book the entire semester because it is the story of her village. She starts the whole process today! Through donations from her family and friends, every student will have a copy of the book.

This is heart-warming praise, indeed!

Chanda's Secrets, Africana Book Award winner and Printz Honor Book, is published in over 20 countries around the world.

Video: Leslie's Journal

Leslie's Journal by Allan Stratton

Video - Chanda's Secrets

Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton (Ages 14+ ) ...A book of great sorrow and great hope that puts a human face on the AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Smart and determined, Chanda is a character whom readers come to care for and believe in, in spite of her almost impossible situation.”—School Library Journal, starred review

“The statistics of the millions infected with HIV/AIDS in southern Africa find a human face in this gripping story of one teenager.”—Booklist, starred review

“The strong, respectful writing makes this crucial and broadly relevant story unfailingly human.” —Kirkus

“It is not only an important book; it is also a good story.” —VOYA

*Michael L. Printz Honor Book for Excellence in YA Literature, ALA *Best Book for Older Readers, Children’s Africana Book Awards *Best Books for Young Adults List, ALA *Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults List, ALA *“Editor's Choice”, Booklist *Top 10 Black History Books for Youth, Booklist

Now available from your favorite bookseller
Published by Annick Press
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(c) BookShorts Inc for Annick Press who acknowledge the assistance of the OMDC Book Fund, an initiative of Ontario Media Development Corporation.