Peter Dickinson – författare

Long-awaited new editions of Peter Dickinson’s cult classicsEngland in the future – but an England that is less rather than more civilised. This is the time of The Changes – a time when people, especially adults, have grown to hate machines and returned to a more primitive lifestyle. It is a time of hardship and fear…When 16-year-old Geoffrey, a “weathermonger” starts to repair his uncle’s motorboat, he and his sister Sally are condemned as witches. Fleeing for their lives, they travel to France – where they discover that everything is normal. Returning to England, they set out to discover why the country is under this mysterious spell. Only discovering the origin of the deadly magic will allow them to set the people free of its destructive influence.Peter Dickinson began writing the books after he'd had a nightmare. The trilogy is not sequential; rather, each book explores a different aspect of England during the time that simply became known as The Changes.

In the past decade, Vancouver dance has received tremendous acclaim nationally and internationally, as witnessed by the success of choreographer Crystal Pite and a rejuvenated Ballet BC. But this is only part of a vibrant and diverse story of contemporary movement practices in the city. In My Vancouver Dance History Peter Dickinson crafts an embodied narrative that focuses on his critical and creative collaborations with nine Vancouver-based dance artists and companies. Mixing interview excerpts with fieldwork descriptions of studio research and performance analysis, Dickinson draws on ten years of close observation to delve into the individual histories of select members of this community, while also relating the cumulative story of Vancouver dance production and performance as it has unfolded in the past decade. The voices of other invested participants interpolate this rich history, and chapters are interspersed with a series of "movement intervals" that reflect key moments in Dickinson's history as a spectator, scholar, and collaborator. In innovative ways, Dickinson suggests that when we pay attention to the larger social topography of dance practice - the sites that give rise to it, the labour that goes into it, and the professional friendships it engenders - we can properly understand dance's contributions to civic life.

In the past decade, Vancouver dance has received tremendous acclaim nationally and internationally, as witnessed by the success of choreographer Crystal Pite and a rejuvenated Ballet BC. But this is only part of a vibrant and diverse story of contemporary movement practices in the city. In My Vancouver Dance History Peter Dickinson crafts an embodied narrative that focuses on his critical and creative collaborations with nine Vancouver-based dance artists and companies. Mixing interview excerpts with fieldwork descriptions of studio research and performance analysis, Dickinson draws on ten years of close observation to delve into the individual histories of select members of this community, while also relating the cumulative story of Vancouver dance production and performance as it has unfolded in the past decade. The voices of other invested participants interpolate this rich history, and chapters are interspersed with a series of "movement intervals" that reflect key moments in Dickinson''s history as a spectator, scholar, and collaborator. In innovative ways, Dickinson suggests that when we pay attention to the larger social topography of dance practice - the sites that give rise to it, the labour that goes into it, and the professional friendships it engenders - we can properly understand dance''s contributions to civic life.

Tilja has grown up in the peaceful Valley, which is protected from the fearsome Empire by an enchanted forest. But the forest’s power has begun to fade and the Valley is in danger. Tilja is the youngest of four brave souls who venture into the Empire together to find the mysterious magician who can save the Valley. And much to her amazement, Tilja gradually learns that only she, an ordinary girl with no magical powers, has the ability to protect her group and their quest from the Empire’s sorcerers.From the Hardcover edition.

An unusual and moving story about the magical bond between a boy and his grandfather.Does it just happen that Gavin and Grandad see the seal while they are fishing in the harbor? Just happen that Grandad talks about the selkies, the seal people who can leave the water and take human form? Just happen that Grandad is finishing the beautiful miniature boat he’s making for Gavin’s tenth birthday, and Gavin decides to call her Selkie? And at that moment, Grandad has his stroke. Could the selkies have something to do with all this?Day after day at the hospital, Gavin tries to get through to helpless and speechless Grandad, trying to reach him, explain what’s happened to him. Everyone else has given up. But Gavin will try anything. Even asking the selkies to help. To do that, he must give them something to show them how much it matters. What is the dearest thing he owns?From the Hardcover edition.

Alfredo, a choir boy in 18th-century Italy, loses his family in a fire, and his mysterious Uncle Giorgio spirits him away to their ancestral home below a volcano. There he learns that Uncle Giorgio is the Master of the Mountain; he can control the volcano. He is also an alchemist, able to make gold from the tears of the fiery salamander he captured from the heart of the mountain. Alfredo is his heir, the next Master; and as Alfredo learns the history of his family and its power, he begins to suspect that his uncle is actually a fearsome sorcerer.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The magic in the Valley is dying.In the forest, the cedar trees whisper the news. The age-old spell can no longer protect the land from its enemies.Four companions must find the sorcerer who conjured the ancient power. He has not been seen for centuries, hidden in the dark heart of an evil Empire. Their journey is desperately dangerous, and the travellers are shadowed by a mysterious figure. Is the shape-changing Ropemaker their ally? Or a deadly enemey? And does he command the deepest magic of all? That weaves and unweaves the great rope that is time itself....

‘They are terrible. They are like the demons of old . . . They must be stopped, and you are here to bring that about, where everyone else has failed. You must find the Ropemaker.’ Despite his immense powers, the Ropemaker alone could not control the chaos raging through the Empire, so he chose twenty-four magicians to aid him in his task – the Watchers. They pledged to use their magic only to protect the people but the promise that bound them has now corrupted them. They have become a single, terrible entity with a limitless desire for domination. The Ropemaker may be able to stop them, but he has not been seen for over two hundred years.Into this dangerous world come Saranja, Maja and Ribek. They are seeking the Ropemaker so that he might restore the ancient magic that protects their Valley. It is the task they were born to, but now it seems there is far more at stake should they fail . . .In Angel Isle, Peter Dickinson takes readers on another spellbinding adventure, further into the enthralling fantasy world first encountered in his Carnegie Medal shortlisted novel, The Ropemaker .

ONCE THE 24 MOST powerful magicians in the Empire pledged to use their magic only to protect the people. But the promise that bound them has now corrupted them. They have become a single terrible entity with a limitless desire for domination. Only the Ropemaker may be able to stop them, but he has not been seen for over 200 years. Into this dangerous world come Saranja, Maja, and Ribek. They seek the Ropemaker so that he might restore the ancient magic that protects their valley. It is the task they were born to, but now it seems there is far more than the valley at stake should they fail. . . .From the Hardcover edition.

World Stages, local audiences argues that the forms of intimacy and identification that come from being part of the public of a local performance, provide a potential model for rethinking our roles as world citizens. Using his own experience of recent theatrical practice in Vancouver as a starting point, Dickinson maps the spaces of connection and contestation, the flows of sentiment and social responsibility, produced by different communities in response to global sports spectacles. He also analyses how such topics are taken up in the work of playwrights, conceptual, installation, and performance artists like Ai Weiwei, and Rebecca Belmore. In so doing, Dickinson makes an original contribution to the emerging discourse on live art and 'livability' by examining not only the geographical and historical affiliations between different sites of performance, but also the – at times – radical new social bonds created by audiences witness to those performances.

Master storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, the team behind Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, collaborate again to create five captivating tales incorporating the element of fire.

In McKinley?s ?First Flight,? a boy and his pet foogit unexpectedly take a dangerous ride on a dragon, and her ?Hellhound? stars a mysterious dog as a key player in an eerie graveyard showdown. Dickinson introduces a young man who must defeat the creature threatening his clan in ?Fireworm,? a slave who saves his village with a fiery magic spell in ?Salamander Man,? and a girl whose new friend, the guardian of a mystical bird, is much older than he appears in ?Phoenix.?

With time periods ranging from prehistoric to present day, and settings as varied as a graveyard, a medieval marketplace and a dragon academy, these stories are sure to intrigue and delight the authors? longtime fans and newcomers alike.

Six fabulous tales - vividly imagined and powerfully told.The shriek of the wind, calling the waters to rebel - and a silver man from the sea with a voice like the roar of a seashell . . .A long-told story of the sea people and their song - and a golden eye, glittering in a pool at the edge of a desert . . .A ferocious serpent, its body as think as the trunk of a huge tree - and the immense, unknowable Kraken, dark beyond black, cold beyond ice, waking on the ocean floor . . .Immerse yourself in this mesmorising collection of short stories inspired buy the element of Water - and be swept away by the supurb storytelling skills of two major award-winning authors.

Chuck is a whippet. A very nervous whippet, who's scared of absolutely everything: paper bags, pigeons, supermarket trolleys, cats (even the little fluffy ones). Some people say Chuck's a wimpet, not a whippet, and Mum keeps pretending she's going to give Chuck away, but Danielle loves her scaredy-cat whippet and knows that there's more to Chuck than meets the eye...Seven funny, charming and totally whippet-friendly stories from Peter Dickinson, the winner of several major awards for his books for young readers - and the owner of three whippets!

Master storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson share tales of mysterious merfolk and magical humans, all with close ties to the element of water. From Pitiable Nasmith''s miserable existence in a seaside town whose inhabitants are more intertwined with the sea than most people know, to Tamia''s surprising summons to be the apprentice to the Guardian who has the power to hold back the sea, each of the six stories illuminates a captivating world filled with adventure, romance, intrigue, and enchantment. Robin McKinley fans will recognize one of the worlds included-Damar, the setting of Newbery Medal winner The Hero and the Crown and Newbery Honor Book The Blue Sword.

Audiences often measure the success of film adaptations by how faithfully they adhere to their original source material. However, fidelity criticism tells only part of the story of adaptation. For example, the changes made to literary sources in the course of creating their film treatments are often fascinating in terms of what they reveal about the different processes of genre recognition and gender identification in both media, as well as the social, cultural, and historical contexts governing their production and reception.In Screening Gender, Framing Genre, Peter Dickinson examines the history and theory of films adapted from Canadian literature through the lens of gender studies. Unique in its discussion of a range of different adaptations, including films based on novels, plays, poetry, and Native orature, this study offers new and often provocative readings of works by such well-known Canadian authors as Margaret Atwood, Marie-Claire Blais, and Michael Ondaatje, and by such important Canadian filmmakers as Mireille Dansereau, Claude Jutra, Robert LePage, and Bruce McDonald. Drawing with equal facility from film and gender theory, and revealing a thorough knowledge of both literary and cinematic history, Dickinson has written a lively and engaging study that is sure to resonate with readers curious about the intersection of Canadian cultural production and broader issues of gender and national identity formation.

In this mystery from CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson, a landlady discovers a corpse beneath her crowded London boardinghouse A sturdy young woman with a knack for home repair and a practical sense of Marxism, Lydia is renovating her London townhouse while her husband finishes law school. To bring in extra money, she rents her upper floors to the exiled government  of Livonia, a Baltic state that was long ago absorbed into the Soviet Union.   One day, as Lydia is taking up the floorboards, the Livonians carry a coffin through the house. It bears their housekeeper, who is to be honored with vodka toasts and a solemn funeral. After the ceremony, Lydia returns to her floorboards. Beneath the rotted wood is dirt—and in the dirt, she discovers a corpse that never reached the graveyard.   Identifying the body and finding the person who stashed it there draws Lydia into a tangle of spies and counterspies as her quiet little boardinghouse becomes a new front in the global Cold War. 

In the cavernous halls of Buckingham Palace, a series of pranks lead to murder in this mystery by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson Princess Louise and her father, King Victor II of England, agree that life has become painfully dull. When she’s not in school, Louise spends her days roaming the palace and fulfilling her royal duties while her father fusses over budgets and attempts to keep his family out of the tabloids. So when a prankster begins placing frogs on the breakfast trays, Louise delights in the break from routine—as does King Victor. But this innocent mischief soon escalates into bloodshed when a body is found in the palace.   In an attempt to quell his family’s panic, King Victor resolves to catch the killer. At last he has a purpose—but the palace may be in greater danger than either he or Louise suspects.