Soonchild
The Kraken, the news group for fans of Russell Hoban, have let me know that that author of at least three classic books - The Mouse and His Child, Riddley Walker and the Frances books - has a young adult novel in the pipeline. Woot!
The book will be called Soonchild, which Hoban describes as having “some illustrations”, but won’t be a picture book. Not sure who is illustrating at this stage. Soonchild is scheduled for 2011. There’s another adult novel first.
I am pretty excited by the idea of Hoban once again messing around with writing and illustration. Hoban is now aged 84 (he was born in 1925 and served in World War II), and has written a number of highly influential books. Patrick Ness for example, happily acknowledges the impact of Riddley Walker on The Knife of Never Letting Go. Hoban has one previous YA novel, The Trokeville Way, and more than a dozen satisfyingly strange adult novels. His other books include Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas, How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen, and The Sea Thing Child.
