THE PEARCE MEMORIAL LECTURE

I always associate hens with Philippa Pearce - she loved to keep hens and we did a book together in 1996 - The Little White Hen.

 

Philippa died in 2006 and the Pearce Memorial Lecture was set up in recognition of her great contribution to children's literature. Last year Michael Rosen was the guest speaker at Homerton College, Cambridge and today the steering committee met to plan the 2010 lecture which will be held at the Seven Stories Children's Book Centre in Newcastle with Michael Morpurgo the speaker. Next year the lecture will be back in Cambridge again and Philip Pullman will be the speaker. Follow the link to find out more about the lectures and how to book: http://www.pearcelecture.com/

GRANNY'S CLOCKS

In  Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce there's a grandfather clock that strikes thirteen in the middle of the night. Tom discovers time does strange things at that hour.

Below is Philippa's own grandfather clock decorated by Anthony Maitland with images from her book:

On my kitchen wall there are three clocks. It feels as if time is moving about when I look at them -but in a more mundane way. There will be many grannies with families overseas who have clocks like mine, helping them avoid waking people up in the middle of the night.

Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

T.S. Eliot: Four Quartets, Burnt Norton