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The Children's Hour, Ed. Richard Zimler & Rasa Sekulovic
Friday 09 January 2009
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Charity anthologies, like charity gigs, can turn out to be poisoned chalices. A lacklustre bill, or below-par outings, leave well-meaning punters feeling bilked. These "stories of childhood", produced to support Save The Children, deliver a masterclass in how get it right.
Both children's authors and those not usually so viewed appear – from Nadine Gordimer to Ali Smith; Junot Diaz to David Almond; Nicholas Shakespeare to Meg Rosoff. The great bulk of the pieces, inspired by the experience of children in all its shades of joy and pain, are original contributions.
So enjoy a moving, disturbing but pretty often funny spectrum of young lives and dreams, from Shakespeare's Tasmanian youngster learning about his rackety ancestry to Ali Smith's splendid conversation with her 14-year-old self.
- 1 BANNED: The most controversial films
- 2 Spotify: 1 million plays, £108 return
- 3 Trending: Multiple award winners
- 4 Picture preview: Lucian Freud drawings
- 5 Mona Lisa's 'twin sister' is discovered – 500 years late
- 6 Last night's viewing - America's Serial Killer: True Stories, Channel 4; Protecting Our Children, BBC2
- 7 OK Go: How video saved the radio stars
- 1 Spotify: 1 million plays, £108 return
- 2 Apple admits it has a human rights problem
- 3 Kate Allen: It's time for America to put an end to this shameful scandal
- 4 Lightning kills an entire football team
- 5 I was born to be a killer. Every night I see the Devil in my dreams
- 6 Now The Sun tries to call in its favours from Downing Street
- 7 BBC to issue global apology for documentaries that broke rules
- 8 Mona Lisa's 'twin sister' is discovered – 500 years late
- 9 Rhodri Marsden: What we like and what we don't like are often closer than you'd think
- 10 Modern lovers: The 'sexual body warriors' and pioneers transforming 21st-century relationships
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