Double Carnegie Medal winner Geraldine McCaughrean has launched the Carnegie 100 programme in the world’s first Carnegie Library.
This is a packed programme of events to mark the centenary of the Dunfermline-born philanthropist’s death in August 1919.
It will include the musical Star Spangled Scotchman, which stars Andrew Carnegie’s great-great-great grandson Joe Whiteman, and an exhibition of previously unseen photographs and pictures of the steel magnate’s life.
Barbara Dickson will stage an acoustic performance at the Carnegie Hall with pianist Nick Holland and there will be talks, entertainment and lectures at ON Fife venues across Fife.
Geraldine also unveiled a book-shaped bench, donated by Wild at Heart, which commemorates her latest Carnegie Medal win.
It will be placed in in the grounds of Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries.
For Geraldine, the visit to Dunfermline was a special one, as she recounted how her first medal came for what was only her second novel.
“I was still experimenting at that stage, I was as green as grass” she said.
200 publications later, she is the current holder for her true survival story of Scottish boys marooned on St Kilda, Usborne Publishing’s Where the World Ends.
Geraldine said the Carnegie Medal was the one “everybody wants to win”.
Widely regarded as the greatest of all accolades available to a children’s writer or illustrator, the medals are unique in being judged by children’s librarians.
“When I won the Carnegie 30 years ago, it felt like a licence to go on writing – to call myself an author.
“I am almost ashamed of how much I wanted to win again – just to prove to myself that it wasn’t a fluke.”
Geraldine said the latest award had given a new lease of life to her career.
“I enjoy writing, I have fun writing, and I always hope if I enjoy it, maybe someone out there will also enjoy it, and get lost in the little world I’ve created.”
She petitions against the “dumbing down” of children’s literature, encouraging writers and publishers to challenge young readers and provide them with a vocabulary that allows them to think for themselves.
Sitting in the “fabulous” cultural hub, she spoke of the importance of libraries.
“It is tragic how many libraries we have lost, and also how many school librarians.
“Above all school librarians, who have been dispensed with as an economy.
“A good librarian is the beating heart of any school.”
