Latest news with #JacquelineWilson
CTV News
12 hours ago
- Climate
- CTV News
CTV National News: Moment of fatal rockslide in Banff caught on camera
Watch A rockslide at Bow Glacier Falls in Banff National Park has killed at least one person and seriously injured several hikers. Jacqueline Wilson has the latest.
Edinburgh Reporter
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
The Edinburgh International Book Festival – small changes this year
The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) 2025 will be held at the Edinburgh Futures Institute on Lauriston Place where the festival has now made its home. Jenny Niven Director and CEO said they are comfortable in the still relatively new space but are making a couple of changes to improve the event even more. The entrance will this year be placed on the corner of the site nearest to Middle Meadow Walk rather than opposite the back door. This will allow full use of the space at the back of the Institute where there will be tents and more catering outlets along with the Spiegeltent where all sorts of magical events take place. A new box office will be positioned outside the site on Middle Meadow Walk to open the festival up even more to everyone. The site is free to access but tickets will be needed for most events – with a range of offers including some £5 tickets. A great deal of the programme is as usual wide and varied and designed to stimulate conversation in the tents and the gardens. But there are a few new elements. There is a new strand for Young Adults (meaning 30 and under) with romantasy, sci-fi, horror, health, food and wellness all given room in the programme. There will be a new Kids Zone on Lauriston Place in a safe hub between two of the former hospital wards and there will be more than 100 events for children – with a retrospective featuring author Jacqueline Wilson who gave her name to the girls magazine Jackie all those years ago. Cressida Cowell of How to Train Your Dragon fame is sure to be a popular event. In the Spiegeltent there will be a wide variety of poetry, spoken word and music events all performed live. The popular Table Talk series which began last year will return with more chefs and food writers to the fore – but also events involving eating – a supper with Rosie Kellett, Have Lunch with Spaniard José Pizarro, Brazilian cuisine with Ixta Belfrage and Palestinian food writer Sami Tamimi. And if none of that grabs you, there will be a fermenting workshop… Paul French will be in Edinburgh to talk about his book on Wallis Simpson who had an 'amazingly riotous' couple of years in China in the 1920s. The programme will be online here for you to peruse before tickets go on sale- and copies will be available at many outlets in the city from 10 June. We will bring you more details when we get our hands on an actual copy rather than the pdf. © 2024 Martin McAdam Repair The theme this year is Repair with a list of international writers and performers that we have come to expect at the book festival with 700 events from 9 to 24 August. This idea will encourage audiences to explore the many things in the world which feel broken and how they might be fixed. There will be a wide range of active opportunities to rebalance and 'restore a sense of calm in the face of a world in chaos' through listening to talks and being encouraged to read the works of some of the many authors. Jenny Niven said: 'At a time when important conversations can feel impossible to have without igniting conflict and anger, we want the Edinburgh International Book Festival to provide a safe place for challenging but considered discussions. This year our programme features over 600 writers and artists from 35 countries who have a wide range of perspectives on topics of personal, social and global importance. We invite you to come and learn something new, feed your curiosity and to broaden your horizons.' She continued: 'We're hoping that we can present new writers and thinkers who are offering solutions and new ideas and great analysis that moves the conversation forward. And Repair is a very expansive idea. It's really fun when you talk to creative people about this idea, because everybody comes at it from all these different angles. So we're repairing in lots of ways. 'We're starting off with our Repair Gala, which is on Saturday the 10th, our opening day, and we've commissioned five different writers to think about the idea of Repair from whatever perspective they want. It's an amazing lineup, and as you can see, we're going for the really international sweep.' The organisers hope to provide a memorable and engaging experience for everyone and the focus will be on making the festival accessible, inclusive, and relevant to a diverse audience. The festival claims that literacy is decreasing in the UK and the Communities programme will stream more than 100 events to libraries in 12 Scottish local authority areas this year as one way of expanding the festival's reach. Big Names Irvine Welsh, Val McDermid, Nicola Sturgeon, Diane Abbott, Maggie O'Farrell, R F Kuang, Asako Yuzuki, Ash Sarkar, actor Brian Cox, Ruth Jones, Adam Buxton, Viggo Mortensen and Vanessa Redgrave are all in the programme. Joe Boyd credited with producing Dylan and who 'electrified' him at the Newport Folk Festival will tell some tales of the people he has worked with. Local names Music from Edinburgh's own Hamish Hawk will reinterpret the work of Ivor Cutler. Devi Sridhar from the University of Edinburgh who became such a well-known voice during the pandemic will talk about Health for All and explain the key to a longer, healthier life based on her book How Not To Die (Too Soon). Rock the Boat is the monthly stand up night from Push the Boat Out Festival and Loud Poets, the nationwide programme bringing together younger poets competing in poetry slams are also listed. Credit Thomas Heatherwick The Front List and tickets The Festival Front List has been on sale for some time with all events taking place at the nearby McEwan Hall in a collaboration with Underbelly. Tickets for those events have sold well and now the main events will go on sale to members of the public on 21 June. If you become a Friend of the Festival then there are advance booking privileges and a Festival coffee gathering as well as a Christmas event. Details here. There are specially priced tickets for the Under 30s and other events priced at £5 for those on low-income benefits. FUNDING The question of funding the book festival still looms large even a year after the EIBF ended their 20 year partnership with Bailie Gifford which funded much of the programme and particularly the schools events. In 2024 Ms Niven said that the goal of the board and management was to deliver an event which was safe and successful for audiences, authors and staff. Some authors had threatened to withdraw if the relationship with the Edinburgh based investment fund did not end. Despite the fact that Bailie Gifford explained their investment in large companies such as Amazon, NVIDIA and Meta, fossil fuels or The Occupied Palestinian Territories had been misrepresented. Nick Thomas, partner, Baillie Gifford, said in May 2024: 'Our collaboration with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, spanning decades, was rooted in our shared interest in making Edinburgh a thriving and culturally vibrant place to live and work. In recent years we have been proud to support the Schools' and Children's programmes, providing free books and creating opportunities for young readers to meet authors. 'The activists' anonymous campaign of coercion and misinformation has put intolerable pressure on authors and the festival community. We step back with the hope that the festival will thrive this year and into the future. We hold the activists squarely responsible for the inhibiting effect their action will have on funding for the arts in this country. This year the festival is dependent on many different sources including the sponsorship from the People's Postcode Lottery which has an HQ in Charlotte Square. Tickets go on sale to the general public on 21 June. © 2024 Martin McAdam Like this: Like Related
The Sun
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Dani Harmer shares shocking insight into perimenopausal hair loss as she admits she's got bald patches & severe thinning
SHE'S been open about battling perimenopause at the age of 36, in the hope of helping others. And one of the main symptoms former child star Dani Harmer has been struggling with is the amount of hair she's been losing. 4 4 4 Dani is most famous for playing Tracy Beaker in the TV adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's beloved books - with her dark curls one of the character's most identifiable features. So when her locks started falling out in huge clumps, Dani panicked that she was losing her "identity". During an interview on ITV's This Morning, Dani said of the hair loss: "I think this is what I'm struggling with the most because for me, my hair's my identity - it's kind of what I'm known for. "So to be losing it is... I'm not a vain person at all. "But it's thinning and I'm having bald patches and yeah, it's starting to affect my self-esteem. "I come across very confident but behind closed doors, it's definitely taking its toll, for sure." Dani shared a picture of the amount of hair that had come out during her last wash the day before, as she said that "this is it improved". "Gosh look at the clumps that are coming out!" host Ben Shephard commented. "It was almost double the amount a month ago," she added. In a bid to halt the hair loss, Dani has been taking supplements and gummies, as well as oiling her locks, which she said has helped improve the situation slightly. I've always had very thin hair but perimenopause made it worse -my little secret from Amazon fills in my bald spots Mum-of-two Dani was joined by Dr Zoe on the This Morning sofa, as she said she's decided to speak out about her perimenopausal experience to try and help others. "I just wanted to be open about it because obviously I am on the younger side of it and, even though I think it's rare, I don't think it's that uncommon - especially looking through my comments," she said. "And so I just wanted to be quite open about it, because actually I had quite a good experience with my GP. "So I just wanted to make people aware that you know going to the GP can really, really help, because I was just having such awful symptoms and I needed help with it." And in the comments of a TikTok video This Morning shared of the interview, people quickly praised Dani for speaking out. "Perimenopause is not spoken about enough. My body has literally just shut down, it's not easy," one sighed. The 13 symptoms of perimenopause to look out for DURING perimenopause, oestrogen and progesterone levels begin to fluctuate. This is when it's common to experience difficult symptoms like mood changes, irregular periods and hot flushes. It can also lead to hair thinning and loss as hormone levels affect the hair growth cycle. The condition usually affects women in their 40s but can sometimes begin in the 30s - it's less common but not unusual. Here are some of the most commonly experienced symptoms of perimenopause to look out for: Incontinence and bladder problems Changes in your menstrual cycle Hot flushes and night sweats Headaches Dizziness Vaginal dryness Weight gain Joint and muscle pain Difficulty sleeping Feeling depressed Experiencing mood swings Brain fog A loss of interest in sex "There needs to be more awareness of perimenopause," another added. "I went to my GP at 38 having done extensive research before going," a third said. "I went with a list of over 20 peri symptoms, yet she wasn't convinced. "I asked her to take my age out of the equation and asked her if it sounded like perimenopause. She said yes. She gave me HRT. "Ladies, please fight your corner!" "I feel exactly the same about my hair," someone else admitted. "So glad she has spoken about this and raised awareness," another said. "Perimenopause can start in mid 30s or even early 30s. I was diagnosed with early peri at 34, after two years of awful symptoms that came out of nowhere. "Hopefully, in the future, HRT and treatments will become more easily available for anyone who needs them, regardless of age." 4
BBC News
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Jacqueline Wilson: 'I don't want to return to Tracy Beaker as an adult because we'd learn about her sex life'
Celebrated children's author Jacqueline Wilson has said she "would feel very wary" of writing about her beloved character Tracy Beaker in an adult book because "it would seem inappropriate [as] we would learn about Tracy's sex life".Dame Jacqueline has touched on Beaker as an adult through the eyes of the character's daughter Jess in her children's books My Mum Tracy Beaker and The Beaker Girls. But having recently announced Picture Imperfect, an adult sequel to her 1999 children's book, The Illustrated Mum, it doesn't look like an adult book based on Beaker will follow suit."I don't want to go there. That's my girl [Tracy] who I made everything happen for," Dame Jacqueline told an audience at the Hay Festival. She added that she had said "no, I would never do that" before, when planning future writing projects, but noted she had sometimes changed her mind, "so who knows?"Dame Jaqueline's Tracy Beaker books were made into a popular TV series for the BBC. Beaker was a young girl who was placed in a children's home due to neglect and domestic violence. The author said that she did generally enjoy returning to some of her characters once they had grown up: "I've been thinking about it over the years, because I've invented so many different girls, and it's interesting to think what happens to them when you finish writing about them."Dame Jacqueline recently brought back Ellie, Magda and Nadine in her adult fiction book Think Again, a continuation of her Girls in Love novels. The much-loved author, who was made a dame in 2008, is known for writing about difficult and dark issues in accessible of her books, some of which explore topics such as suicide, mental health and divorce, are aimed at children aged between seven and foray into adult books has brought a new kind of satisfaction, she explained."I'm an obsessive writer but worry people think I'm churning that [same] stuff out again, so it's lovely to challenge yourself."She said she enjoyed seeing many of her audiences come along to see her at events "because they read my books as children"."The children are still keen but it's the mums that get really excited! It's like a sort of farewell tour that hopefully will go on." Writing in pyjamas Despite having written more than 100 books, Dame Jacqueline said she still felt anxious when writing."Always about halfway through a book, even now, you think 'I've got the hang of this with all these books that I've written', but I get that terrible doubt and worry about it and and it's just something you learn. Work through it, get to the end."One habit that must help is that she writes in her pyjamas in bed, once she's fed the cat and let the dogs out first thing in the morning. "That's the magic time, and it just works for me. Apparently Michael Morpurgo does exactly the same!"But it wasn't always so easy to pick and choose her times to Jacqueline said: "I was idiotic enough to be married at 19 and had a child at 21."My husband wasn't a terrible man in the slightest but it was an age [the 1960s] when men went out and did, and women did everything else."She said she "adored" her baby daughter but she would only sleep for two hours at a time. When she did doze off, Dame Jacqueline said she wanted to sleep too but used the short window available to write. She got a little more time when her daughter Emma went to nursery in the mornings."It gave me an urgency. I'd write for two hours and then concentrate on her in the afternoon." Now the writing challenges are different, with the threat of AI looming over the writing profession. But Wilson doesn't seem too worried about it."I take comfort from the fact that my partner's brother-in-law... asked some AI thing to write a story for his daughter in the style of Jacqueline Wilson, and then he sent it to us. And either I've been blissfully unaware and I've been writing garbage or.... it was just unbearably awful."
The Guardian
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Jacqueline Wilson ‘very wary' of writing adult Tracy Beaker novel
Jacqueline Wilson has said she would feel 'very wary' about writing an adult novel about Tracy Beaker 'because it would seem inappropriate that we would learn about her sex life'. Last year, the beloved children's author published her first novel for adults since the 1970s. Think Again was a sequel to her Girls series for teenagers, which was published between 1998 and 2002, and revisited its protagonist Ellie, who in the new book is turning 40. It became a bestseller, resonating with fans who grew up with Ellie and her friends. Wilson has since announced a second adult sequel, due out in August, this time revisiting her 1999 children's book The Illustrated Mum. Writing these sequels 'gives me pleasure', Wilson told the audience at the Hay festival in Powys. But though she plans to write more, she said Beaker, her most famous character, is unlikely to be a subject. Beaker, largely thanks to the popular TV series based on Wilson's novels, has become much bigger than just the character she created, the author explained. The feisty, curly haired heroine means a great deal to Wilson personally, too: 'She's my girl that made everything happen for me.' So while she was happy to write about Beaker as an adult from the perspective of her daughter, Jess, writing about a grownup Tracy does not appeal, as it would involve writing about her sex life. 'I don't want to go there,' the 79-year-old author said. However, Wilson did add that over the years she has learned not to say, 'I would never do that.' In two or three years' time – 'if I've got them!' the author joked – 'something or other' might make her think, 'ah, I could do it this way,' she said. 'So who knows?' Wilson said she does know which of her former characters is next to be revisited in an adult book, but she hasn't started writing it yet, and her publishers won't allow her to say who it is. However, she said she hopes the book will be out next year, 'and I hope it will be a good choice'. The writer acknowledged that some people might think she is only taking on these adult projects because she 'can't get any new ideas', but she insisted that is not true. 'But I do like to go back,' she said. 'It's a kind of literary Friends Reunited.' During the Hay event, Wilson also expressed worry that 12 of her novels have apparently been used to train AI models. 'Authors are completely unable to monitor what happens,' and 'certainly don't give permission for that,' she said. However, the author 'takes comfort' from finding that, when her partner's brother-in-law asked AI to write a story for his daughter in the style of Jacqueline Wilson, 'it was just unbearably awful. So I hope anyone who likes my books could not be happy with an AI version.'
