Media Releases

DOUBLE BOOST FOR LIBRARIES IN WHITBREAD BOOK AWARDS

"Want to visit exotic places? The best ticket is a library ticket," says Sid Smith, who has won a major literary award for a thriller set in China - a place he has never visited. His book, Something Like a House, has won the 2001 Whitbread First Novel Award. Writing in The Times on 23 January, the day after the Whitbread Book of the Year ceremony, Mr Smith said "In libraries and second hand book stalls you can pick up memoirs by people who've spent a lifetime in China: their experiences are yours for the reading."

Internet searching supplied everything from local geography to the names of two major characters, Mr Smith explained. "But books are best," he added. "They not only give you vivid bits you couldn't get elsewhere, but they're compressed in a way which is invaluable if you're writing to a deadline."

Smith, who did much of his research at the British Library, praises libraries for the learning opportunities they offer. "Forget school," he says. "I got my education from public libraries - at Blackburn and Bamber Bridge."

Meanwhile Whitbread Book of the Year winner The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman, was also Highly Commended last year by judges for the Library Association's Carnegie Medal, Britain's oldest children's book award. Expressing his delight at winning the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, Mr Pullman said "I have always believed that children's books belong with the rest, in the general field and general marketplace and general conversation about books."

This year for the first time, The Library Association has become an Official Partner in the Whitbread Book Awards, and is looking forward to exploring opportunities for closer collaboration in the future.

Contacts:

The Library Association
Tim Owen, Head of External Relations
Tel: 020 7255 0652
Email: tim.owen@la-hq.org.uk

The Whitbread Book Awards
Sunita Rappai
Tel: 020 7202 2822
Email: sunita@karen-earl.co.uk

Notes to Editors

• The Library Association is a major professional body for librarians and information managers, with around 24,000 members who work in business and industry, education, local and central government, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries. On 1 April, it will unify with the Institute of Information Scientists to form a new body, CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
• . The Whitbread Book Awards, now in their 31st year, were established in 1971 by Whitbread, the UK's leading leisure and hospitality company. The philosophy behind the Whitbread Book Awards is the enjoyment of reading and of books. Together with its partners - Mencap, the National Reading Campaign, the Booksellers' Association and amazon.co.uk (as well as The Library Association) - the Awards aim to reinforce this message to as many people as possible.

Friday 25 January 2002