Tag: children’s books

Illustrators of Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical fiction, re-tellings, and children’s stories books (up-dated) | 1950-95

Anthony Lawton3 Comments

Charles Keeping, Grendel from Beowulf

I am inching forwards in compiling a complete listing of all the illustrators of Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novels for children and adults, and of her writing for children (and others). I think this is now  accurate  – but does not yet cover book covers – but would as always welcome comments and improvements to the updated list. I think it may now be complete? But I need to move on to editions outside the UK. All help welcome.

Illustrators  are:  Lazlo Acs, Victor Ambrus, Michael Charlton, Emma Chichester Clark, Richard Cuffari, Shirley Felts, C Walter Hodges, Jane Johnson, Charles Keeping, Richard Kennedy, John Lawrence, Richard Lebenson, Alan Lee, John Vernon Lord,  Alan Marks,  and Ralph Thompson. The books they illustrated were:Read More »

Rosemary Sutcliff in German and Germany | With Verlag Urachhaus

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From Rosemary Sutcliff’s  German publisher, Verlag Urachhaus, a brief biography:

Rosemary Sutcliff wurde am 14. Dezember 1920 in England geboren und starb am 23. Juli 1992.

Sie besuchte eine Kunstschule und arbeitete zunächst als Malerin, bis sie Mitte der vierziger Jahre zum Schreiben fand.

Trotz ihrer starken Behinderung durch die Still’sche Krankheit, an der sie seit ihrem zweiten Lebensjahr litt, pflegte sie von jedem ihrer Romane wenigstens drei handgeschriebene Entwürfe anzufertigen, ehe sie mit ihrer Arbeit zufrieden war.

Intensiv an Geschichte, besonders derjenigen Großbritanniens, interessiert und im Erzählen hoch begabt, hat sich Rosemary Sutcliff mit ihren Kinder- und Jugendbüchern zu historischen Themen weit über England hinaus einen Namen gemacht.

Ihre Bücher sind in vielen Sprachen erschienen und mehrfach ausgezeichnet worden. 1975 erhielt sie als geniale und kompromisslose Chronistin den Orden des British Empire für ihre herausragenden Verdienste um die Jugendliteratur.

Als die englische Originalausgabe vom Lied für eine dunkle Königin (Song for a Dark Queen) 1978 erschien, wurde sie mit dem feministischen Literaturpreis The Other Award ausgezeichnet.

Für Morgenwind (Dawn Wind) erhielt Rosemary Sutcliff den begehrten New York Herald Tribune Preis.

Im März 2000 stellte Jean-Claude Lin Rosemary Sutcliff in dem Lebensmagazin a tempo vor und im Februar 2009 schrieb Ute Hallaschka in  der Rubrik weiterkommen über Ein Leseleben mit Rosemary Sutcliff.

Source here: Verlag Urachhaus website

Rosemary Sutcliff was a miniaturist painter and reviewer wrote: “The Chief’s Daughter is a miniature in prose” | The Times, 1967

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The Chief's Daughter by Rosemary Sutcliff cover

Rosemary Sutcliff  was a miniaturist before she became an author and The Chief’s Daughter is a miniature in prose, a very short story in which the lines are  neat, bold and clear, the characters lightly brushed in but arresting. Set in ancient Wales it tells how a chieftain’s daughter frees an Irish slave boy destined for sacrifice and how he in his turn unwittingly in his turn saves her  from dying in his place. The story was originally in a volume of tribute by many children’s authors to the memory of Eleanor Farjeon;  now, as a fully illustrated book in a series designed
for seven year olds, The Chief’s Daughter will
deservedly reach a far larger number of young readers.

Source: The fantastic living force of landscape by Elaine Moss; The Times, December 2, 1967, p 23.

Rosemary Sutcliff’s Chess Dream In A Garden | Covered in Once Upon A Bookshelf about ‘vintage kids books’.

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Cover of Chess Dream in a Garden by Rosemary Sutcliff and Ralph Thompson

I LOVE books. I love gardens too, especially mysterious old gardens with twisty turning paths and strange statuary and secret grottoes of flowers. I love history and old things, especially the sort of old things one finds in the poky corners of antique shops and in dusty old attics. And I love things that smack of magic, be it fairy tale transformations or quirky oddness a la Wonderland. When I find a book that combines all of those things in one place, well, let’s just say I am one happy, happy bookworm.

Chess Dream In A Garden is just that sort of book. For starters, it was written by Rosemary Sutcliff, which rocketed it to the top of my TBR list by that virtue alone. She is That Sort of Writer. If you aren’t acquainted with her work already, I highly recommend it. She wrote historical fiction, mostly focusing on Roman era Britain, and her ability to bring the past to life is uncanny. Her books are not always easy reads (they use challenging vocabulary and poetic imagery), but they are the sort that engulf and engross the reader and cause you to lose yourself in a world of the author’s making. Despite their antiquitous subject matter, she injects them with deeper, timeless themes of the universal human struggles of personality and power that make them relevant and relatable to modern readers.  Although most of them are classified as kid lit, they are equally enjoyable to adults.

via Chess Dream In A Garden | Once Upon A Bookshelf.