We are delighted to welcome Karon Alderman to the PaperTigers blog: Karon received a Special Mention in this year’s Frances Lincoln Children’s Book Award for her title Story Thief, about asylum seekers in Newcastle upon Tyne, in the Ouseburn Valley, which is also the location of the Award’s co-founder and principle administrator, the wonderful Seven Stories.
Story Thief is about an 11-year-old failed asylum seeker called Arlie. She narrates her story of the days following the arrest and detention of her family as she tries to hide from the authorities. She is supported by her friend Louise and two boys who have their own reasons for staying in hiding. At the announcements of this year’s award, Mary Briggs, one of this year’s judges and the co-founder of Seven Stories, hinted at the twists in the plot that give Story Thief its name. She also described it as “not a happy story” and “distinctly depressing”, and perhaps the lack of hope is what would make this more suitable for older readers than the middle-reader audience the award is aimed at. However, apart from its local setting being close to Seven Stories’ heart, it was felt that it needed a special mention because it explores the horrors of asylum seekers’ situations and presents the reality of the sense of helplessness when dealing with the beaurocratic system.
Here, Karon tells us about her passion for the issues she highlights and why she wrote the story.
Story Thief is about Arlie, an eleven-year-old failed asylum seeker. When her mother and sister are taken in the night, to a detention centre, she is on a sleepover with her friend next door. She tries to run away, helped by her friend, Louise.
I was thrilled that Story Thief was a runner up in the Diverse Voices competition, especially as I’d written it very quickly. However, the ideas had been simmering for some time as I support Common Ground, the East Area Asylum Seekers Support Group, a voluntary organisation that gives friendship and practical help to asylum seekers.
The asylum seekers I’ve met – the woman who’d lost her nine-year-old daughter, the girl who’d been trafficked, the stateless woman – are real people, in desperate situations, yet living in hope. But at the same time, I saw endless press coverage about asylum seekers committing crimes or receiving generous benefits. Actually, asylum seekers in Britain get a £35-a-week card. If their application to be official refugees is rejected, they can be left destitute. They are not allowed to work. They can be moved with little notice, detained, deported.
The story grew from two incidents: reading in the Observer (18 October 2009) about children imprisoned in detention centres, without a fixed timescale or any public outcry; and when a friend was unexpectedly detained for an interview at the immigration office. As I was looking after her baby at the time, I tried to find out what had happened and discovered a secretive system with unhelpful staff.
I felt that I could hear Arlie’s voice in my head. She is bright and brave and loves school; she’d be a great asset to any community. I set it in Newcastle, because this is the city I’ve lived and worked in for twenty years now. I wanted the story to have a real sense of place – the mix of innovative projects and urban decay of the Ouseburn Valley, and the buzz of the Quayside only a mile from areas of social deprivation. I still hope Story Thief may be published in some form, as I feel Arlie’s voice needs to be heard. On the wall of a primary school I visited recently, a world map charts the pupils’ diversity: “Jonno has returned to Zimbabwe,” says a caption. “Voluntarily?” I asked the head teacher. He shook his head and told me another asylum seeker’s story.
There will be children in our cities who have a friend who can disappear, be imprisoned or be forcibly returned to a country they don’t call home. I would like young people to read this story and be absorbed into this world, a world where Arlie is their friend and they want to help her.
Thank you, Karon. We wish you every success for the future and hope that Arlie’s story will find its audience.
This year’s Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award was won by Tom Avery for his soon-to-be published and now-with-cover book Too Much Trouble; he has a great interview with Karon on his blog (and last year’s winner, Cristy Burne, has this interview with Tom on her fantastic blog). This photo shows all the winners and judges from this year’s award – click on it to see everybody’s names – yes, I’ve finally put my photos from the award evening up on Flickr… Better late than never – head on over and take a look.
The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award for 2011 is now open for entries – for further details see here or here.