books
Beverley Birch
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Events for young people
About my books, my writing life, creative writing, about reading, or any combination of these.
On writing picture books and creative partnerships
In picture books there is the artist, bringing unknown dimensions and possibilities. The open-endedness of that is marvellous.
The Fight against Microbes: Pasteur’s Story
The true story of a man who helped save millions of lives
Adventures with Electricity: Benjamin Franklin’s story
The true story of one man's curiosity and the discoveries he made about electricity
Greedy Anansi and his Three Cunning Plans
Crafty spider Anansi's cunning doesn’t always get him what he wants.
Suzi, Sam, George and Alice
It's early Sunday morning, but Suzi, Sam, George and Alice have plans ...
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Novel 3
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Rift
In a vast African landscape four teenagers and a journalist vanish without trace from a camp below a steep rock ridge, ‘Chomlaya’.
Ella, the young sister of the journalist, helps Inspector Murothi piece together what’s happened as the search helicopters continue their constant hum over the rock ridge. But Ella and Murothi begin to wonder whether they are already too late …
What inspired RIFT?
Firstly, a memory …
‘It’s night-time; I’m stepping into a dark tent. The only light is the beam from my torch. My feet touch something warm, soft and sticky. Swing the torchbeam down. Something’s squelching over my sandals – wet, glistening. It takes a moment to recognise the innards of a decapitated snake spewed across the groundsheet. …
Secondly …
Fascination with the atmosphere of places. And with the search for human beginnings in Africa,
where I grew up. I thought ‘what if people disappeared in peculiar, unexplained ways? What if it happened in the place we think was the cradle of humankind?
Then there’s the raw wildness of mountains and plains, animals and birds … I imagined being lost there. Coming face to face with an elephant or rhino. Or a leopard …
Photos: © Nick Birch
[RIFT published by Egmont Press, audio by W.F. Howes, Film optioned by Hanthum Films]
