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Julia Eccleshare

British journalist and critic (born 1951)

Summary

British journalist and critic (born 1951)

Julia Eccleshare MBE (born 1951) is a British journalist and writer on the subject of children's books. She was Children's Books editor for The Guardian newspaper for more than ten years, at least from 2000, until 2016. She is also an editorial contributor and advisor for the website Love Reading 4 Kids. She is a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award. She was appointed children's director of the Hay Festival in 2016.

Life and career

Eccleshare was born in Cambridge, England, and grew up in North London, the third of four children of Colin Eccleshare, a publisher with Cambridge University Press, and Liz, a history teacher.

Eccleshare was children's book editor of the Times Literary Supplement from 1974 to 1978.

She served as non-fiction and picture book editor at Penguin Books children's imprint Puffin Books from 1978 to 1980, and as fiction editor at Hamish Hamilton children's books from 1980 to 1984, before returning to freelance book reviewing.

She selected hundreds of books for Children's Books of the Year from 1985 to 1993. The annual exhibition and annotated list had been established c.1970 by the National Book League (later renamed Booktrust) and had missed one year before its 1985 resumption.

Eccleshare has also served on many book award panels including the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 2001, and chaired the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize panel from 2001 to its conclusion in 2007. In 2000 she co-founded the Branford Boase Award for an outstanding novel for young people by a first-time writer, and continues to chair its panel of judges. From 2000 to 2012, she chaired the panel of three children's writers who judge the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. 2001 award "relaunch" http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/mar/12/guardianchildrensfictionprize2001.guardianchildrensfictionprize 2012 publisher submission form https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/352237/childrens-fiction-prize-application-form.pdf

In 2000, she won the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of "her outstanding contribution to children's books".

Eccleshare was children's books editor for The Guardian newspaper for more than a decade, until 2016. She has also made regular appearances on the BBC Radio 4 programmes Open Book and Front Row. In 2014, she was appointed Head of Policy and Advocacy for Public Lending Right. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to children's literature. She was an awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt, Hons) by the University of Worcester in 2014.

In 2016, Eccleshare was appointed director of the Children's Programme of the Hay Festival. She has also judged and chaired the judging panels of many significant children's literature prizes, including the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 2001, and chairing the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize panel from 2001 until it ended in 2007.

She is married and has four children, and lives in London.

Books

Eccleshare covered the Harry Potter series for Continuum (Contemporary classics of children's literature) when four volumes were in print. Following an introduction on "major success in children's books", Enid Blyton and others, she interpreted the Potter stories (part 2) and the Potter phenomenon including its impact on writing for children (parts 3–5). Two WorldCat library records with different "Contents": "Guide to the Harry Potter novels" (1); "Guide to the Harry Potter novels" (2).

Selected works

  • Children's Books of the Year, 1985; 1986; 1987; 1988; 1989; 1990; 1991; 1992; 1993 (London: National Book League/Booktrust/Children's Book Foundation; in association with Andersen Press from 1988) —catalogues of the annual exhibition
  • Treasure Islands: The Woman's Hour Guide to Children's Reading (BBC Books, 1988)
  • British Literature for Young People: A Bibliography 1990–2000 (British Council, 2001)
  • A Guide to the Harry Potter Novels (Continuum, 2002, Contemporary Classics of Children's Literature series)
  • Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter: Portraits of Children's Writers (National Portrait Gallery, 2002) —catalogue of an exhibition
  • The Rough Guide to books for teenagers (London: Rough Guides, 2002, ), by Eccleshare and Nicholas Tucker —"more than 200 books reviewed"
  • 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up (Cassell, 2009, )

References

References

  1. David McKitterick, ''A History of Cambridge University Press: New worlds for learning, 1873–1972'', Cambridge University Press, 2004. {{ISBN
  2. William Eccleshare, [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/jun/04/otherlives-obituaries "Liz Eccleshare"] (obituary), ''The Guardian'', 4 June 2009.
    [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jun/25/obituary-letter-liz-eccleshare Letter: Liz Eccleshare"] (obituary letter), ''The Guardian'', 24 June 2009.
  3. http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/julia+eccleshare/children27s+books+of+the+year+1989/3722961/ "Children's Books of the Year 1989"] (bookseller display). ''waterstones.com''. Includes "Synopsis" that is partly about the author.
  4. [https://www.amazon.co.uk/1001-Childrens-Books-Must-Before/dp/1844036715 "1001 Children's Books To Read Before You Grow Up: Classic Stories For Kids (Paperback)"] (bookseller display for 2009 Cassell Illustrated edition). ''amazon.com''. Retrieved 28 January 2011. Includes "Product Description" that is "About the Author".
  5. [http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/33/childrens-books/articles/bfk-briefing/bfk-news-%E2%80%93-july-1985 "BfK News – July 1985"] {{Webarchive. link. (16 March 2012 . ''[[Books for Keeps]]'' '''33''', July 1985. Retrieved 31 October 2012. The first item, "Children's Books of the Year" is a notice of the August exhibition and its catalogue "selected by Julia Eccleshare".)
  6. Julia Eccleshare, [http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/170/childrens-books/articles/other-articles/the-branford-boase-award The Branford Boase Award] {{Webarchive. link. (16 March 2012 , ''Books for Keeps'' '''170''', May 2008.)
  7. [https://www.theguardian.com/open-weekend/julia-eccleshare "Julia Eccleshare, children's books editor, the Guardian"]. ''[The Guardian'', 2 February 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  8. [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/juliaeccleshare Julia Eccleshare] at ''The Guardian''.
  9. [http://www.branfordboaseaward.org.uk/bbapress.html Press Release: Branford Boase Award Winner 2010], [[Branford Boase Award]], 14 July 2010. {{webarchive. link. (28 May 2011 .)
  10. {{London Gazette. (14 June 2014)
  11. "Patrons {{!}} Julia Eccleshare – Journalist and Writer". Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
  12. Carpenter, Caroline. (20 November 2015). "Eccleshare appointed children's director of Hay".
  13. Eccleshare, Julia. (July 1993). "Paperback Originals".
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1951-births living-people british-literary-critics british-women-literary-critics british-women-journalists children's-literature-criticism members-of-the-order-of-the-british-empire the-guardian-journalists writers-from-cambridge
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