Swallows and Amazons E-books Now Available

Arthur Ransome’s twelve Swallows and Amazons novels were released in e-pub format by Random House Children’s Books on 30 June.

The novels should now be available from a wide range of e-book retailers, as well as via Random House’s e-book website.

Christina Hardyment Delivers Inaugural Lecture

Christina Hardyment delivered the Trust’s first Camp Fires public talk at Brantwood this evening.

Almost 50 people gathered in the studio at Brantwood to hear Christina talk aboout The Lake in the North. As one of Arthur Ransome’s Literary Executors, and the author of Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint’s Trunk, Christina was highly-qualified to talk about the places and people who helped to inspire Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons novels.

Grab a Chance at Our Summer Talks and Events

Grab the chance when our inaugural Camp Fires series of public talks and events begins next Wednesday evening, at Brantwood. Christina Hardyment will be talking about “The Lake in the North“. Refreshments (included in the £5.00 ticket) will be available from 7.00pm, with the talk itself beginning at 7.30.

80th Anniversary Livery

Random House are celebrating the 80th Anniversary of Swallows and Amazons by releasing a new commemorative Red Fox edition. The new paperback cover reflects the distinctive jacket designs used by Jonathan Cape’s hardback editions.

The new edition is due for release on 28 October, 2010.

Happy Birthday, Nancy Blackett

On Sunday 12 September 2010, the Nancy Blackett Trust will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of Arthur Ransome’s purchase of his second yacht, the seven ton Hillyard cutter Electron. Ransome renamed  her Nancy Blackett in recognition of his best-known fictional character, the leader of the Amazon Pirates.

Ransome kept Nancy Blackett at Pin Mill, on the River Orwell, where she soon inspired the plot for his seventh Swallows and Amazons novel, We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea, published in 1937. He later described her as “the best little ship I ever had.”