Author: Virginia Bergin

German reviews/Deutsches Rezensionen

Fantastisch! My wonderful German editor, Melanie Becker at Fischer, has sent some review links! My German is so terrible I only understand a little bit (meine Deutsch so schreckliche ist das ich nur ein bischen verstehe), but I think these look pretty good . . . ?! (Aber ich denke das dieses Rezensionen sind gut . . . ?!)

I got some help from a lovely friend to translate the very first review, from Nicole Ramge at Little Mythica’s Buchwelten. Here’s what I think it says:

Little Mythica translation.

And here are even more – click to read:

Lesemonsterchen´s Buchstabenzauber

Lese-Welt

Book Naerrisch

Claudias Bücherhöhle

His & Her Books

Nickis Bücherwelt

lit.marcel

Kleine Bücherinsel

LOVELYBOOKS

Was Leist Du?

Leidenschaft Lesen

Sharons Bücherparadies

Werde Buchtesterin auf LizzyNet

Lilstar

 

Vielen, vielen danke, jeder Leser!

Err . . . so if any German or UK readers can help with translation, that would be amazing!

 

 

Lancashire Book of the Year

Absolutely delighted – and very honoured – to hear that The Rain has been shortlisted for the Lancashire Book of the Year Award 2015.

There are some seriously good titles on the shortlist, and the really great thing is that the winner will be decided by Year 9 readers at Lancashire schools. You can read about the 2014 results and the award process here . . . and find the Twitter link to support and chat with Lancashire’s lovely libraries.

Survival videos

How scary are these?!

If you want to survive the killer rain, watch these tips from UK book bloggers . . . erm, except you might have to remember these are BOOK bloggers . . . so books – and bookshelves! – are so going to be the most important things!

Here’s the full collection of survival vids on My Kinda Book.

Good luck! Vx

 

My votes, in no particular order:

Most informative and helpful: Cold Tea and Crumbs!

Most cinematic and coolly stylish: Sarah Churchill!

Most personal and practical: Where is Wallis?!

Most comforting – and I love your hair: Charley Reads!

Most fashionable and gin-ish: Rosianna Halse Rojas!

Most dramatic (sooo dramatic!):  Benjamin of Tomes!

Most bookish (sooo bookish!): Casey!

 

How much do I love this films? I love them a lot . . . !

 

How (not) to write a sequel

Ever wondered how to write a sequel? Me too . . .

You can read my blog about how (not) to do it over at Macmillan’s site for teens, My Kinda Book. (Click the link to see the blog.)

 

I’ve even thrown in a writing tip that usually works like a dream . . . only Ruby wasn’t having any of it!

 

BOTM again

BOOK OF THE MONTH!

That’s what The Storm is this March on Macmillan’s site for young adults, My Kinda Book, so keep an eye on MKB for The Storm blogs, news and giveaways . . . and a special feature on the amazing book bloggers’ killer-rain survival videos that have been posted on YouTube . . .

S’gonna be great!

UK Schools Tour: the report

I had such an incredible time!

Right up until the first gig kicked off at KEVICC in Totnes, I was a nervous wreck (I’d never done anything like this before) . . . but as soon as I started meeting students I began to calm down (a bit!). Every school was so welcoming . . . and the audiences were BRILLIANT. The enthusiasm and engagement was AMAZING.

The students – from years 7, 8 and 9 – imagined all kinds of ways to survive the killer rain, and asked tons of tricky and intelligent questions. They also fell about laughing (and cringing) when I read the Caspar-in-the-hot-tub kissing scene. It was a lot of fun!

So, thank you very much indeed to the bookshops who supported the tour, and to the students, librarians and teachers at:

TOTNES ALTERNATIVE CASTLEKINGSDOWN adobe FITZHARRYSHEARTLANDS FORTISMERE

ST EDSLANCS HIGHOUR LADY'S

So, huge thanks to: King Edward VI Community College, Totnes, Devon (supported by the Totnes Bookshop); The Castle School, Thornbury, Bristol. (supported by The Chepstow Bookshop); Kingsdown School, Swindon, Wiltshire (supported by Browns Books for Students); Fitzharrys School, Abingdon, Oxfordshire (supported by Mostly Books); Heartlands High School,  Wood Green, London and Fortismere School, Haringey, London (supported by the Big Green Bookshop); St. Edmund’s Girls’ School, Salisbury, Wiltshire (supported by Waterstones); Central Lancaster High School, Lancashire and Our Lady’s Catholic College, Morecambe, Lancashire (supported by SilverDell Books). (For links to schools and bookshops, see here.)

The Swindon audience didn’t just come from Kingsdown School, there were also students from Nova Hreod, Dorcan Academy, The Commonweal School, The Ridgeway School and Highworth Warneford School . . . and we made it into the Swindon Advertiser! (Click link to read the article.)

Swindon Advertiser

 

Also, thanks to Macmillan staff Bea Cross, Rachel Petty, Helen Bray and Leanne Bennett for support and school snaps, and to Ruby Sylvester-Jeyes for KEVICC pic and chalkboard art.

UK Schools Tour

25th Feb – 3rd March 2015!

The Rain and The Storm are on tour . . . with me.

Am I scared? Yes, I am . . . but . . . here we go:

Wednesday 25th Feb
King Edward VI Community College, Totnes, Devon. Supported by the Totnes Bookshop.
The Castle School, Thornbury, Bristol. Supported by The Chepstow Bookshop.

Thursday 26th Feb (THE STORM PUBLICATION DAY!)
Kingsdown School, Swindon, Wiltshire. Supported by Browns Books for Students.
Fitzharrys School, Abingdon, Oxfordshire. (Where I went to school!) Supported by Mostly Books.

Friday 27th Feb
Heartlands High School,  Wood Green, London. Supported by the Big Green Bookshop.
Fortismere School, Haringey, London. Supported by the Big Green Bookshop.

Monday 2nd March
St. Edmund’s Girls’ School, Salisbury, Wiltshire. Supported by Waterstones.

Tuesday 3rd March
Central Lancaster High School, Lancashire. Supported by SilverDell Books.
Our Lady’s Catholic College, Morecambe, Lancashire. Supported by SilverDell Books

 

Then I go home . . . and what I hope is that I’ll have done OK. Ruby would be furious if I didn’t. No pressure . . .

 

 

Storming quotes

Over the past few days, these have popped up on the internet . . . here’s the full collection:

Number 1 Take it from meNumber 2 Brocken spectreNumber 3 Look up

Cut out and keep?!

(Thank you, Macmillan’s My Kinda Book!)

World Book Day Teenfest

It’s a thing . . . and it’s coming 4/5 March.

Here’s the line-up: World Book Day TeenFest

And – yup – I’m on it . . . doing The Rain/The Storm playlist on Spotify.

Now you’d think my favourite would be . . .

 

But we’ll have to wait and see . . .

Meet the German Ruby

It’s Josefine Preuß!

Josefine_Preuß

The fabulous actor Josefine Preuß has narrated the German audiobook of  The Rain (Rain – Das tödliche Element) – and it’s released tomorrow!

Adapted by Oetinger Audio from Rainer Schmidt’s translation (published by Fischer), it’s an amazing performance. Just listen to the clip!

 

Honestly? I cried when I heard ‘Ruby’ speak for the first time because it was as though she had truly come alive . . . Josefine, you did a superb job.