Hugh Brewster

Displaying Entries: 1 - 5 of 24.

Hanging the Lanterns in Broadway - Aug-19-10 - 07:53

On June 6th I took part in the hanging of 3,000 Chinese lanterns around the village of Broadway in Worcestershire, England. The lanterns were to launch the first Broadway Arts Festival which ran from June 11-20, 2010. The theme of the festival was a celebration of John Singer Sargent's painting 'Carnation,Lily, Lily, Rose' which was painted in Broadway during the summers of 1885-86. I had suggested the idea of a festival to celebrate Broadway's unique artistic heritage to local gallery owner John Noott in 2007 when I returned there with finished copies of my book Carnation,Lily, Lily, Rose: The Story of a Painting. John promoted the idea, a committee was formed and the first festival took place this year and was a great success.

I took part in a performance of Carnation,Lily, Lily, Rose adapted from the book. There was a splendid exhibition of paintings by John Singer Sargent and members of the Broadway colony that was opened by Sargent's great-nephew, Richard Ormond as well as a full complement of other exhibitions plus concerts, plays and tours. The next Broadway Arts Festival will take place in June of 2012.

'Breakout Dinosaurs' Is Nominated for the 2010 Hackmatack Award - Mar-19-10 - 08:27

I was thrilled to hear that BREAKOUT DINOSAURS: Canada's Coolest, Scariest Ancient Creatures –Return! has been nominated for the 2010 Hackmatack Award. This marks the third of Canada's 'tree' awards for which this book has been nominated. These hugely successful reading awards programs select a list of Canadian books for young readers and students are encouraged to read as many of them as possible and then vote on their favourites. Breakout Dinosaurs was nominated for the Silver Birch Express Award in Ontario last year, is up for the Red Cedar Award in British Columbia this year and is now nominated for Atlantic Canada's Hackmatack Award for which the winner will be announced next spring. While it's nice to win one of these awards, being nominated makes you a winner already since the schools and libraries purchase copies of your book and you receive fan mail from lots of young readers.

Making a YouTube Video for the Silver Birch Award - Mar-12-10 - 09:35

"Gee, you don't ask for much!" was my reaction when I was contacted by the Forest of Reading Awards about making a video for their website. I'm delighted that my book DIEPPE: Canada's Darkest Day of World War II has been nominated for the 2010 Silver Birch Award and am enjoying giving talks in schools that participate in this amazing reading program. But I'm a bit of a techno-peasant and had never made a YouTube video before. I asked my young nephew about this and he said: "It's no big deal, you can do it with your MacBook." He showed me how to do it and then wrote out instructions for me. I then spent a morning working on it and managed to succesfully upload it to YouTube.

To watch it simply go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMIJRuXVKIY

North to the Yukon for T-D Children's Book Week - Nov-13-09 - 07:41

On November 14th I fly to Whitehorse, Yukon, for a week of school and library talks sponsored by TD Canadian Children's Book Week. I'm just one of the 29 authors, illustrators and storytellers who are fanning out across Canada for this great national reading festival organized by the Canadian Children's Book Centre. I'll be sending updates on Facebook and Twitter so you can check in on my Yukon adventures!

DIEPPE is selected for Forest of Reading 2009/10 - Nov-09-09 - 12:51

DIEPPE:Canada's Darkest Day of World War II has been nominated as one the the non-fiction selections for the Silver Birch Award 09/10. It's always exciting to be selected for one of the provincial 'Tree' Awards and Ontario's Forest of Reading is the biggest award program of all. Sponsored by the Ontario Library Association, the Forest of Reading is an amazing reading motivator where kids vote for their favorite books. Being nominated means that the schools and libraries buy your book and frequently invite authors in to give talks. It's capped off with a big awards ceremony in May where hundreds of kids attend to cheer for their favorite books.