Wild Flower Walks of Upper Teesdale - Christopher and Gayle Lowe
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Anne Fine 'mystified' by media storm
Aug 27, 2009
ONE of Teesdale's best-known residents found herself at the centre of a national media storm this week - much to her surprise.
Author Anne Fine, who lives in Barnard Castle, was widely quoted as saying children's books are ‘too bleak' and there are not enough happy endings.
The stories were published after Anne spoke at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
She told the Mercury: "Everywhere I looked there were headlines declaring ‘Former Laureate deplores gritty realism in children's books' and claiming I had called for nothing but happy endings.
"Every time I turned on the radio people seemed to be discussing the matter, and the phone never stopped ringing. But I don't hold such rigid views at all, so I found the whole business mystifying.
"Then I realised that at one point I had asked the audience, most of whom deal with children in care, what effect they thought this new wave of utterly gloomy books that mirror so closely these children's bleak lives had on their young clients.
"It must have been a very slow news day for someone to blow that up into a news flash."
Anne added ruefully: "If my views were anything like that simplistic, I would feel obliged to pulp at least one or two of my own books!"