Calling All Art Lovers!

Check out this website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/
It is building up a database of images of all 200,000 oil paintings that are in the public collection, which will feature works by 40,000 artists. You can browse the pictures, find information about the artists and even contribute to the site by tagging objects in the paintings.

Blue Peter Award Shortlist Announced

Check out the BBC page for more info:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16066528

The Grey Coat Hospital's Top Ten Authors for Autumn 2011

1. Jacqueline Wilson - 288 loans

2. Malorie Blackman - 111 loans

3. Louise Rennison - 94 loans

4. Cathy Cassidy - 92 loans

5. Meg Cabot - 88 loans

6. Robert Muchamore - 74 loans

7. Agatha Christie - 70 loans

8. Mary Hooper - 66 loans

9. Michael Morpurgo - 62 loans

10. Sophie McKenzie - 59 loans

These are the top ten, but I was pleased to see that Charles Dickens was in the top 30, having been borrowed 27 times.

Other honourable mentions go to:

David Almond (21)

EM Forster (19)

Judy Blume (17)

JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and Kazuo Ishiguro (9)

Sebastian Faulkes (8)

Interactive E-Books

Check out these videos about interactive E-books. Is this the sort of thing you imagine the library having in the future?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FPqqA712Rs&NR=1

http://fwd.channel5.com/gadget-show/videos/challenge/21st-century-author-vs-comic-book-full-challenge 

Trailer for the Hunger Games Released!

The trailer for the Hunger Games film is now available to watch on Youtube (see the link below). It looks awesome! It's not out until March though, so there is plenty of time to get excited, and read (or re-read) the books!
What are you opinions on the actors they've picked?

British Library Exhibition: Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination

A new exhibition at the British Library showcases 150 of the best illustrated manuscripts from their collection.
If you can't make it along to the library itself. Check out their website for online images from the exhibition and from some of their other manuscripts.
http://www.bl.uk//whatson/exhibitions/royalman/about/index.html

The British Library have also created an app for those of you lucky enough to have iphones, android phones or ipads which you can download (it costs £2.99) and enjoy more images and information.

The 10 best fictional women dressed as men

Check out this link to the article from the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/28/ten-best-women-dressed-men
What do you think? Are there any other good examples of cross-dressing women in literature?