DARTMOOR author Philip Reeve has won a prestigious children's book award for Here Lies Arthur. Philip received the 2008 Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Carnegie Medal from Michael Portillo at a ceremony on June 26 at the British Library in London. Previous winners include CS Lewis, Arthur Ransome and Richard Adams. Philip said: 'I didn't believe it at first, but as I got over the shock and it began to sink in, I felt totally honoured. It is very special to win the CILIP Carnegie Medal. It has such a history and I admire so many past winners' work — it is quite humbling to be ranked alongside them.' Philip, 42, who lives on the moors near Tavistock, was born and raised in Brighton and worked in a bookshop and dabbled in amateur theatre before making his living as a cartoonist and illustrator from 1994. His lively artwork adorns three series of books for school-age children: Murderous Maths, Horrible Histories and Dead Famous. When he was 15 Philip saw John Boorman's film 'Excalibur', which not only strengthened his film-making ambitions, but also sparked a fascination with the story of King Arthur. As a teenager he read everything he could lay his hands on about the man and the myth which in effect turned out to be the initial research for writing the CILIP Carnegie winning book — even though there was a delay of approximately 20 years. Reeve returns the story to its Welsh Celtic roots. His choice of the young orphan girl Gwyna as the narrator gives a fresh perspective on Arthur's world and time and we get to see just how tough it was to survive in the Dark Ages, a violent time dominated by men and the brutality of war. The character Myrddin (Merlin) is no magician, but relies on trickery to set Arthur up as a powerful and credible leader against the Saxon invaders when in reality he is merely a self-interested thug. All Philip's characters, including Myrddin, are complex, ambiguous and totally credible and he has described Myrddin as a metaphor for what has happened to the Arthur story over the centuries. The CILIP Carnegie medal selection process is rooted in the professional expertise of librarians across the country who nominate titles for the long list. A panel of 12 children's librarian judges from the Youth Libraries Group then select the shortlist of up to eight titles and finally the winner.
