Lines in the Sand
New writing on war and peace

Edited by Mary Hoffman and Rhiannon Lassiter
Published by Frances Lincoln   

The Seed
The idea for this book was born out of the white heat of rage and frustration at what has been happening in the Gulf.

The Roots
On March 25th, a mother and daughter, who are both authors, decided to approach other authors and artists to find out if they would add their voices and talents to an anthology. The book was to be aimed at children to make them aware of the human cost of war and think about the benefits of peace.

Rays of Sunshine
The idea rapidly gathered momentum. By 31st March, John Nicoll at Frances Lincoln had agreed to publish the book, Jane Ray had promised to illustrate the front cover and Michael Rosen lent his support by emailing the list of people who had signed a letter to The Guardian (6th February) protesting about the war. A publication date was set for 12th June with all royalties and profits going to UNICEF's emergency appeal for the children of Iraq.

The Deluge
Within an hour of the emails going out the first response had come in from Ben Hodson, a Canadian artist, and then the floodgates opened.

The Flowers
The deadline for submissions was set at 30th April. Within this short period of time, nearly 150 writers and artists responded by donating prose, poems and illustrations. The contributions were international and included submissions from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, Japan, Turkey and the USA as well as the UK. Contributors included some of the children's book industry's most prestigious and talented authors and illustrators from David Almond to Jane Yolen and Ros Asquith to Nick Sharratt.

The Essence

• All the material is new or very recent with much of it written or drawn specially for this anthology.
• The book covers covers a variety of wars including both World Wars, the Falklands, Nigeria, the Gulf wars, Kosovo, the Spanish Civil War, Croatia and Cyprus.
• The material ranges from an allegory for younger readers, Laurence Anholt's Eco-Wolf and the War-Pigs, to some hard-hitting messages like that of Nigel Gray's poem The Butcher inspired by the conflict in Northern Ireland.
• The book is aimed at children aged 8 upwards and will also appeal to adults.
• The book costs £4.99 with all royalties and profits going to UNICEF.

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Find out more about Mary Hoffman

Find out more about Rhiannon Lassiter

Editorial responsibility for the content rests entirely with Mary Hoffman and Rhiannon Lassiter and in no way reflects the views of UNICEF who are the beneficiaries of the project.