Hilary McKay @hilary_mckay Twitter profile

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Hilary McKay

4 days

Ages ago, I wrote books about the Casson family, & as a bit of extra publicity, Rose Casson wrote a blog on my website. R's Blog was published as a free ebook. It vanished. For ages I've told kind readers who ask for it that it no longer exists. However:

Rose's Blog - Hilary McKay

Rose's Blog - Hilary Read more about kiran, indigo, sats, buttercup, arctic and mummy.

www.yumpu.com

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 months

We have had to say goodbye to our sweet girl Meg.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

The House Martins who live on our burglar alarm. All 3 babies at once.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

Flew into a window. Male goldcrest.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

@AineMarieMahon Wait till the sun comes out and you accidentally step on their shadow.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Looking through my treasured @ShirleyHughes_ collection, I found this. It's labelled 'A piece of bread by the roadside. France 1940'. Make me pause

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Friday tomorrow. The only day our village post office is open so also the day I pack up parcels for all the schools and individuals that send me wistful letters about lack of books. Of the 27 I have sent this year, I have had 1 acknowledgement. So I won't be doing it anymore.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Look at the birch tree. I grew it from a seed.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

There was a little boy, in 2002 who began writing to me, & continued through school, uni, tough times & happy & now he has sent me his 1st book. Thank you Joseff.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

I have made mittens.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

Have not done this for years, printed it out. But everything feels so unreal this year that I thought I would have it in honest ink and paper. Skylarks 2.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

7 years

The answer is they won't become readers for pleasure. They will miss out for years, maybe for life. Also they won't have a safe,free,warm, home-from-home, where they can make sense of their day in peace.I am a writer, but my library meant more to me than books.

Cressida Cowell

@CressidaCowell

7 years

Public libraries and libraries in primary schools are closing. How are children from low income families to become readers for pleasure?

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

I have moved to Narnia. Who is with me?

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

Thank you @Waterstones , so very, very much.

Waterstones

@Waterstones

5 years

Our Children's Book of the Month is a heartwarming, poignant story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the backdrop of WWI, from the award-winning @hilary_mckay . Discover The Skylarks' War here:

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 months

There is no such thing as a children's writer any more, I think. The role has changed to performer and communicator charismatic and able enough to deliver to (usually) private schools a meaningful experience based on a book they have had published. The book is the smallest part.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

When a Bookish Girl’s Imagination (Truly!) Takes Flight This never happened before. In all my 30 years of writing. So I am showing off...

When a Bookish Girl’s Imagination (Truly!) Takes Flight (Published 2020)

With nods to Narnia, Hogwarts, E. Nesbit and Frances Hodgson Burnett, Hilary McKay’s “The Time of Green Magic” is a love letter to the literary canon.

www.nytimes.com

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

This is our new hedgehog house. We put it out on Monday. Today we looked inside.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Tomorrow I'll pay the plumber because I have his invoice.That's why he sent it,to be paid.Even though he quite likes plumbing & our dog & we had started the spare Christmas cake. Also I will send out my own invoices, some for the 3rd time.Even though I quite like kids & books..

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

6 years

@frankcottrell_b A farmer has 38 sheep which he tells his collie dog to collect into a pen. When they are all inside the farmer counts them. 'There's 40 sheep here,' he says to the collie who replies, 'I know, I rounded them up.'

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

@cea_forster I knew a little boy year's ago whose Christmas began and ended with school Christmas dinner. He was the dearest boy. Dressed entirely from the school lost property box. He loved being read a story at the end of the day. I often wondered what happened to him.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

One of the best ever.

Book Riot

@BookRiot

5 years

Though she was 50 before she published her first book, in her 35-year career Eva Ibbotson wrote some 17 children’s books, as well as six romances and a collection of short stories. Here's your guide to her work:

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

6 years

It is wonderful to be on the Costa Shortlist, but the support of fellow writers, who have just as good a case to be on it as me, is beyond wonderful. So generous and kind. Proud to be one of such people. Thank you.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

I knitted a woodpecker because the hoopoe looked lonely.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

My friend sent me this last week, having kept it for me for 30 yrs. @guardian 1992. I'm always grateful for the chance I had that day (that's me, looking gormless in the middle) it started me off as a writer. But look at the rest of the coverage.A whole page of children's books.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

For the Eva Ibbotson people. When love flourished in M for medical textbooks

When love flourished in M for medical textbooks

Two weeks ago, Rachel Cooke sparked a nationwide debate by standing up for libraries under threat of closure by penny-pinching bureaucrats. Now, we publish a personal account of how libraries have...

www.theguardian.com

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

This is not the moment to with hold the wild applause.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Can't believe it's 60 years since the peerless Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. Here's to the next 60. It's a classic, a keeper & the start of the most superb series of alternative-histories ever written. Thanks to @PuffinBooks (+ Meg, nearest I could find to a wolf.)

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

This time of year people usually take long detours to avoid being hauled into the garden to forcibly admire the peonies. Scented. Took 4 years to bloom. Etc. I go on and on till their eyes glaze over. This is the 1st this year.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

I am on a train to Venice, soon we will pass through Verona. So it was a good idea to write children's books after all.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

6 years

#FridayFeeling #giveaway Straw Into Gold! The best book of fairy tales I've ever written (hush). Retweet and Follow to enter next Friday draw. Nb. This book comes with FREE LEAVES!!!

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

Found! Thank you all so much.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

Teachers, librarians, if any of you would like to use my books to read & share with your students online, please do so with my blessing, & that of Macmillan & Hachette. It would be nice if you had time to let me know. As I read it, this permission extends to Sept 30th.atm❤️🖋️

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Just retweeting because I love this, and it won't happen again in a billion years.

Brooklyn Public Library

@BKLYNlibrary

3 years

Brooklyn, we knew you read a lot but you just proved it: We’ve identified our one-billionth loan! Congratulations to @hilary_mckay for The Time of Green Magic, the one-billionth item checked out from the library. @SimonSchuster @SimonKids @SSEdLib

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Yes, we really are. And so are you lot. Please consider for everyone' sake, splitting the Carnegie into MG and YA. It's not the prize money (which didn't even exist in the beginning) it's the visibility we need.

Nicholas Poole OBE Hon. FCLIP

@NickPoole1

2 years

I bloody love children's and YA authors - message after message offering support and encouragement to the push by @frankcottrell_b @katyabalen @MichaelRosenYes @whatSFSaid and others to secure greater recognition of and visibility for more diverse books. You are all magnificent!

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 months

*Possibly the most gorgeous cover on the planet. Thank you so much Keith @RobinsonKH & my lovely friends at @MacmillanKidsUK *Definitely, actually. (I was just trying not to show off.)

Macmillan Children's Books

@MacmillanKidsUK

4 months

We are delighted to share the cover of Costa-Award winning author @Hilary_McKay 's forthcoming novella Rosa by Starlight. This magical story is illustrated throughout by @RobinsonKH . Available to pre-order now from @Waterstones

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

I am in a very long and cheerful queue for vaccination. Feel very lucky.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

I was putting together a PP for a school tomorrow and thinking about the inevitable Many Books Have You Written question. So I started stacking the things up on the table. This is the answer: Piles of books, children. Piles and Piles.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Oh Brooklyn Library, I love that I wrote the 1 billionth book that you loaned out. Thank you for including Green Magic in your celebrations, and thank you for being that wholly good and civilised thing, a library for everyone. Happy 125th Birthday! @mollykh @neeshed @hardacre_jo

Brooklyn Public Library

@BKLYNlibrary

3 years

Brooklyn, we knew you read a lot but you just proved it: We’ve identified our one-billionth loan! Congratulations to @hilary_mckay for The Time of Green Magic, the one-billionth item checked out from the library. @SimonSchuster @SimonKids @SSEdLib

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

@Waterstones And don't forget to pay your staff. It's gutting otherwise. I know. 2 jobs gone in this family in one week.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

My mum said, 'If you put a bluebell on a wood ants' nest it goes pink. ' so I did and it does. #woodlandchemistry

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Look what I just unpacked! Thank you @MacKidsBooks and @drawnbydawn who did the cover art. Perfect timing for the wonderful #BooksForVaccines auction. Adding Swallows' Flight to my other books listed right now.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

@chelseabwrites I once did a bookshop signing so meagre that the bookshop owner telephoned his baby sitter to come in and look interested. (It was quite difficult to pretend I didn't overhear the conversation even though he did kindly duck behind a bookcase to talk.)

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

The thing is, it's changed. Children's books used to be much more highly rated and reviewed. There were several dedicated prizes with national press coverage. There was once, unbelievably, a party for children's authors at Downing St. What happened? When did it change, & why?

Frank Cottrell-Boyce

@frankcottrell_b

2 years

People moan about celebrity authors but the reason publishers turn to big names is that there is ZERO national converation about children's books.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

@frankcottrell_b @malorieblackman I still cringe when I remember my age 12 Where I Went in The Summer Holidays essay being torn apart as lies by a Geography teacher. Which it was. As I had been nowhere. 50 years ago. There is a rich/poor divide in this country that is invisible to 50% .

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Swallows' Flight proofs going out today. Thank you everyone who said they would like to have a copy. Look out for the swallows stamps. Hx

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

For anyone who, like me, reads Gaudy Night and Murder Must Advertise and the rest, in times of weariness and stress, I have found something wonderful (and legal) and here is the link:

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

Look Dawn! @drawnbydawn The Skylarks have won. Thank you so, so, much for your utterly perfect artwork on the cover. Hx

Books Are My Bag

@booksaremybag

5 years

Congratulations to this year's excellent @CostaBookAwards category winners including #BAMBReadersAwards Novel Award winner @stu_turton ! #CostaBookAwards 🎉🥂📚

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

Please help here, writers and readers and civilised people. Derbyshire libraries are being wiped out this year. Derby City Council: Save Pear Tree Library - Sign the Petition! via @UKChange

Sign the Petition

Save Derby's Carnegie Library: Pear Tree Library

www.change.org

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

@MichaelRosenYes But Boris, when you turned up in Matlock after the 2019 floods (late) we had everything mopped up, and if you remember the kind people at SpecSavers had to pour a bucket of water on their nice dry floor for your photo op.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Hop harvesting today, how many years of evolution to give this camouflage?

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

I have written the last line of my new story.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

@PiersTorday @tracyshopkins Can you clarify in the text importance of the weight of the bulb? Otherwise can we delete'light' to read 'How many copyeditors does it take to change a bulb? & specify elsewhere electric bulb used as means of illumination cf. botanical ref. Or do you mean 'lightbulb' all 1 word.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

Can't think of anyone who deserves it more.

The Bookseller

@thebookseller

1 year

. @MichaelRosenYes has been awarded the @englishpen PEN Pinter Prize 2023 for what the judges described as his “rare, invaluable gift: the ability to address the most serious matters of life in a spirit of joy, humour and hope" Read here:

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

@henrymance And a grinning Fiona Bruce said Stanley Johnson only broke his wife's nose once.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

Robin

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

I have accidentally sent my accountant the drafts of my last 2 books, several knitting patterns, some photos of the dog yesterday and heaven knows what else, I dare not look, but the folder labelled Accounts 22-23 was in fact anything but.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

Look at my sister's pretty focaccia @janeell24802626

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

This is so kind and heartening, from Philip and Malorie too. Thank you both so much.

Philip Pullman

@PhilipPullman

3 years

Hilary McKay's 'The Swallows' Flight' is a triumph. The beautiful clarity of her storytelling is masterful and she deserves every prize going. I admire it very much.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

These paralysing times to be messing about writing children's books seems the most trivial, reality-avoiding thing in the world. But today this message arrived, so I'm sharing it, for anyone who shares my dark days. The Exiles was the first book I wrote, nearly 30 years ago.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

@caitlinmoran God I hope so. And I hope the next Labour government has the guts to get rid of the private schools.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Redecorated the Christmas tree for the birds.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

Jodie publishes on May 18th. Many thanks to @BarringtonStoke for asking me to write for them again. I had so much help altogether. Keith Robinson's artwork @RobinsonKH lifted Jodie's story to a whole new level, but it started with @BerlieDoherty & this:

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

@lucyfishwife No thank you. Half of the ones I know, including my son, are working for agencies on zero hours contracts with no sick pay. Get lost with the clapping and treat them properly.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

@EliseCedeno @RobGMacfarlane Of course I know now that the entrancing black silken Bagheera who visited our classroom was in fact her excellently named black labrador...

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Meg. Beautiful tonight.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

Really glad we didn't weed out the hawthorne seedling 12 years ago.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

No apology that begins 'I am sorry if' is an apology.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

Lovely enthusiasm from 180 teachers who read to their classes. Thank you. You all went in the hat and 8 came out again. Wish I could send books to you all.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Our lovely postman has just arrived, with the usual smile and dog biscuits. He started his shift in the office at 4am. These are the people who hold the country together.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

Spring

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

My dad worked in a label factory. He read 4 books a week all his life. He had special shoes that he kept nice for the library. We called them his library shoes. He could stop a room, storytelling.

Kerry Wilkinson

@kerrywk

2 years

This is the @TheBookerPrizes shortlist announcement, highlighting the apparent comedic novelty of a book club from Scunthorpe having members who are a steel worker & dinner lady. It's embarrassing, condescending - and exactly how much of the industry sees the working class 🚮

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

For the love of Mike will some big publisher offer B J a children's book contract and get this torment done with.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

Zero air miles for the apples from our little Coxes Orange Pippin. They've been nearly 6 months is storage and still lovely.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

She was the best.

The New Yorker

@NewYorker

5 years

The practical magic of Joan Aiken, the greatest children’s writer you’ve likely never read:

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

If this proof looks a little worn it's because I reached the end, turned back to the start and read it again. #Unraveller Superb story telling. Absolutely mesmerising, absolutely beautiful. Thanks so much @FrancesHardinge @MacmillanKidsUK

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

View from the end of the garden.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

Thanks #RSPB and Linda Shearer for the pattern for the #curlew hat.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

@frankcottrell_b This one:

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

My Moomin free life is over. From now on, it's Moomins and me. Thank you @catlilycooks At last I understand what enchanted so many for so long.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

@RobGMacfarlane Do you remember the Joan Aiken book with this refrain running through the pages? Meet me at Midnight, Among the Queen Anne's Lace. Midnight is not a moment,. Midnight is a place.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

If Joan Aiken(on a skateboard)with E Nesbit chipping in,wrote the story of a young Stephen Hawking, extra heroes & a cat, & Arthur Ransome advised, & Frank Cottrell Boyce put in jokes,you might get a book like this. But it seems @LissaKEvans did it all by herself. So, chapeau...

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

6 years

Look what I found this morning!

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

You know how in Famous Five books they find a spring by a mossy bank and it makes a small stream and winds away down the hill? Just found one.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Don't worry, it's not really heartbreaking. Nobody dies, not even the dog - well, especially not the dog.

Macmillan Children's Books

@MacmillanKidsUK

3 years

Return to the world of The Skylarks' War in this heartbreaking follow up from Costa Award-winner @Hilary_McKay . Out now, The Swallows' Flight is a WWII story that spans generations and crosses the divides of war.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Such an honour. It was a wonderful shortlist, and I am thrilled. Thanks so much to all the readers and @histassoc

Historical Assoc

@histassoc

2 years

We are delighted to announce the winners of the HA Young Quills for Historical Fiction 2022. The winner for the 10-13 yrs category is @hilary_mckay Hilary McKay for The Swallows' Flight. A fascinating tale of war , told from two sides. @MacmillanKidsUK

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Just had a visitor.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

I absolutely love Keith Robinson's superb cover art for Jodie, published by Barrington Stoke, May 17th. Thanks to @RobinsonKH @BarringtonStoke & Berlie Doherty @BerlieDoherty for the instructions in her blog on how to write a ghost story. I followed them. They work.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

I have written with the pen I am using today for 38 years. I lost my wedding ring with equanimity (it was eaten by a small pony) but this pen would be a different matter.

Philip Pullman

@PhilipPullman

5 years

@hilary_mckay Delighted to hear it. I wish someone would find my pen.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

I have started a gallon and a half of elderflower champagne off tonight. I like to start it on the solstice if I can. Already the house smells like a midsummer dream.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

6 years

It is very hard to spot a hibernating hedgehog, I know that first hand. They half burrow into the earth. A good way to check for them is to use a dog (on a lead!) they can generally locate them fairly quickly. Get a friendly dog to check your bonfire site.

Hedgehog Society

@hedgehogsociety

6 years

We want this to go viral! Please retweet, ask friends to retweet, post it on walls of Twitter community groups you are in, tweet it to your MP, Council, Workplace, School, etc, etc. Send it to your favourite Twitter celebrity! Let's get message out there #rememberhedgehogs !

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

Look what just arrived! The US proof of Green Magic with the most gorgeous, shadowy very big cat. Thank you @SimonKIDS @mollykh

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

1 year

Thanks so much, @BarringtonStoke great to be working for you again. And yes, 30 years of cover art just peaked with @RobinsonKH . It's superb, Keith, thank you

Barrington Stoke

@BarringtonStoke

1 year

It's an absolute treat to share that #Jodie by the inimitable @hilary_mckay will publish this May! This is a genuinely chilling, cleverly crafted ghost story that is perfectly pitched for readers of all ages, stunningly illustrated by @RobinsonKH ✨ More:

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Can just imagine the edit that would get today.

Simon Spanton

@SimonGuy64

2 years

Random Book Quote No.84 "The children sat by Malebron on the ridge, clear of the hill. The dolmen arch was drab with lichen, and the stones of the avenue heeled like twisted palings. Clouds still rolled upon the plain, but there was a quickening in the air..."

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

Daily peonies

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

3 years

Thrilled to have the Casson family back into print at last, with delicious new cover art by Helen Crawford-White @studiohelen Thanks so much @MacmillanKidsUK

Macmillan Children's Books

@MacmillanKidsUK

3 years

We're delighted to be reissuing @hilary_mckay 's beloved Casson Family series, out tomorrow with beautiful new covers. Watch Hilary reading the first chapter of Saffy's Angel with @booksfortopics

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

@frankcottrell_b I think it's more basic than this.The average primary age child has access to only a very narrow range of books.The public libraries are not there for them.Nor can they take themselves off to town alone for a weekly free armload of literature. You can't value what you never see.

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

The house sparrows are building nests out of lavender stalks, the robin is using oak leaves, a woodpigeon shook out a breast feather and a dunnock rushed and grabbed it, sparrowhawks displaying when the jackdaws let them, magpies creaking like university hall bedsprings and a bee

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

2 years

Morning apple tree. (Cox orange pippin.)

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

5 years

Well,that was nice.Thank you,twitter team! @candygourlay @by_Matt_Killeen @davidjalmond I guess we all know really that if you make it to the shortlist it' s afterwards potluck. I've looked at all our epics & I think they picked the 1 with most chapters #afterallitspiecework Hx

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Hilary McKay

@hilary_mckay

4 years

Those books were absolutely dire. I used to hide them behind the radiator rather than be forced to read them aloud. Also the trains were very horrible to each other.

The Bookseller

@thebookseller

4 years

Thomas the Tank Engine gets royal treatment for 75th birthday in @EgmontUK 's Thomas and the Royal Engine—where he visits London and the Queen, he meets a Royal engine (Duchess), AND Prince Harry introduces the TV special commemorating Thomas' anniversary!

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