New from John Marsden

Posted on August 26, 2016August 26, 2016 by Param Berg

(JM is author of Tomorrow When the War Began, and very much more) “Leila’s `Risinghill’ is a seminal work on education which I have been pushing at people for years. Leila’s brilliant analysis of the death of the school, interwoven with the personal stories that made Risinghill such a wonderful community, was a testament to how education should work — and how and why it sometimes fails. Every teacher and student-teacher should read it — as should every politician. It influenced me tremendously in setting up Read more about New from John Marsden[…]

From Leila’s daughter Jenny

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Param Berg

…my mum has always written ‘auto-biographically’ – every book is a ‘re-living’ in her head, and then on paper, of an event that she has been a part of or a witness to. Her earliest books were always based on my brother and myself as young children in the 1940’s and 50’s, along with our Read more about From Leila’s daughter Jenny[…]

Leila Berg - New People at Twenty Four cover

Rejecting Racism

Posted on July 3, 2016July 6, 2016 by Param Berg

‘The past week has seen a depressing rise in racially- and ethnically-based incidents of hatred in Britain. Perhaps emboldened by the Brexit vote, perhaps fueled by fear, many British people have found it acceptable to shout at those who appear different in the streets, telling them to “go back where you came from”’. This post-Brexit blog Read more about Rejecting Racism[…]

Seven Stories

Posted on June 27, 2016July 6, 2016 by Param Berg

Massive thanks to Seven Stories: The (UK) National Centre for Children’s Books which has the only known almost-complete collection of Leila’s books for children, and also the archive of her surviving papers. Their Visitor Centre is a must-visit for any kids, parents, teachers, publishers with a real interest in British children’s literature since the 1930’s. There’s Read more about Seven Stories[…]

John Walmsley Exhibition

Posted on June 27, 2016October 6, 2022 by Param Berg

John Walmsley worked with Leila on the Snaps and Chatterbooks series, and she wrote the text for his book of photos of Summerhill and the kids there. Photos by John have since been shown at the National Portrait Gallery and in the British Life Photography Awards touring exhibition among many other places. Also he’s just published Read more about John Walmsley Exhibition[…]

Kevin and the Squeaky Wheel

Posted on May 23, 2016July 6, 2016 by Param Berg

As a child my son’s favourite bedtime stories were ‘The Little Pete Stories’. One in particular which had to be read to him every night (for three months!) was ‘Pete and the Wonderful Tap’. It could have been that he felt a special sympathy for Pete as he too had had to endure a helpful adult’s meddling. Read more about Kevin and the Squeaky Wheel[…]

Three books to be republished in Russian!

Posted on May 2, 2016July 6, 2016 by Param Berg

A Russian publisher of children’s books found us (Param and Jenny) through Leila’s ex-agent Lisa Eveleigh who still had an email address and made contact. We re-appointed Lisa as agent and are now (early May, 2016) close to signing contracts for initial print-runs of 5,000 each of The Little Pete Stories, The Adventures of Chunky, Read more about Three books to be republished in Russian![…]