The Guardian‘s Alison Flood reports: Alongside other prominent children’s authors, Philip Pullman has condemned new rules that will require guest writers to register themselves with the Independent Safeguarding Authority in order to visit schools. The author compared the vetting scheme with the notorious legislation which banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools throughout the 1990s. “It seems to be fueled by the same combination of prurience, sexual fear and cold political calculation.” In protest, Pullman will no longer be making school visits, also acknowledging that other authors dependent on income generated from schools visits would be unable to make such a statement. “It’d be a great shame for me but I’m not going to under these circumstances.” Read more. Thanks to BlackSatinDancer for the news tip.
Pullman refuses to be vetted
July 13, 2009
Posted in Philip Pullman
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Author volunteering at Oxfam Bookfest
June 29, 2009
Andrew Ffrench reports: Local author Philip Pullman will be participating in Oxfam’s book collection drive this coming Saturday, 4 July at Oxford’s St. Giles store. Manager Nihal Alahendra revealed his delight that Pullman would volunteer: “It’s very exciting because he’s actually one of the world’s best-selling authors. The fact that he wants to get his hands dirty in a second-hand book shop is a tribute to the work Oxfam does.” The author will meet fellow volunteers at help to price books, stack shelves, work at the til, and is also happy to sign fans’ books. “If someone approaches me with a hopeful expression holding one of my books then I will do the usual thing and sign it for them.” Read more. Thanks to Kinders for lettings us know.
Posted in Oxford, Philip Pullman
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TBT director Phil Hawkins laments consequences of illegal downloading
June 11, 2009
Phil Hawkins, director last year’s film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Butterfly Tattoo, has recently posted on the surge in online popularity of the award-winning film in the wake of its DVD release. However, although the film is currently IMDb’s 75th most researched title, it has met neither proportionate financial return for the investors, nor better prospects for theatre distribution.
Though TBT can now claim online distribution upward of 200 000 copies (a conservative estimate), cast and crew are left with mixed feelings. “Great for my career, terrible for my wallet,” commented lead actress Jessica Blake, who plays Jenny. “[…] we are a little indie film which has only had a small release in the US. How do the tens of thousands of people know it exists?” While Hawkins recognises the publicity power of illegal downloading, he also points out, “For our film, however, it is hurting us financially. […] we haven’t recouped the budget yet.” Producer Rik Visser described the situation as, “two years of work downloaded in six minutes.”
As an early supporter of The Butterfly Tattoo project, the community at BridgetotheStars.net strongly recommends that you to buy a legal copy of the film and support independent film making. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Netflix are currently stocking. While you wait for your DVD delivery, join the discussion on the director’s philmblog or at our forum, the Republic of Heaven.
Posted in The Butterfly Tattoo
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“I must create a System…”
June 11, 2009
Philip Pullman’s official site now includes the text of a lecture the author gave to the Blake Society in October 2005 at St James’s Church, Piccadilly.
“The word narrative suggests another meaning that system might have, and that’s mythology, with a set of stories about characters like Yahweh, or Zeus, or the giant Albion, or Jesus Christ. Mythologies deal with the creation of things, and the appearance of human beings in a world we did not create. I’m not aware of any mythology that says the universe was created by human beings; we always turn up afterwards, and the relation we have with the place we find ourselves in is part of what gives the system its emotional tone: determines whether it’s tragic, or optimistic, or dramatic, or whatever. Sometimes we are the rebellious children of the great creator; sometimes we are the children made by a sub-creator who rebelled against the first creator, like the creatures of Prometheus; but our presence here is accounted for in the story. We are part of everything that’s going on; even if we don’t fully understand it, we have the sense of coherence somewhere.”
Read the full text here (pdf).
Posted in Pullman's gospels
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Pullman thinks Archbishop has been seeing things
June 1, 2009
Philip Pullman has responded to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent comments about the His Dark Materials trilogy, saying he must have “very good eyesight” to see traces of God in his work. “I am an atheist because I do not believe there is a God – but I am also a religious person, because I am interested in the questions religions deal with, such as why are we here, where do we come from, and what is good and what is evil. But that does not mean that we have to believe in God.”
Posted in Philip Pullman, Religion
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Images from The Golden Compass movie are © New Line Cinema.