How to become immortal - Every minute counts

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How to become immortal - Every minute counts (Original title: Ways to Live Forever ) is a youth novel published in 2008 by Sally Nicholls . The German translation was provided by Birgitt Kollmann.

Sally Nicholls wrote her debut novel How to become immortal in a writing seminar at the age of 23 and has already received numerous awards for it in her home country. In 2008 she won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize , in 2008 she received the Glen Dimplex New Writers Award (Irish) and in 2009 the Concorde Children's Book Award in Bristol. In 2009 the book was shortlisted for the Manchester Book Award .

The novel has now been translated into 19 languages. In 2009 he was nominated for the German Youth Book Prize. In 2008 he was awarded the Lynx of the Year 2008 by Zeit and Radio Bremen .

content

The eleven year old Sam Oliver McQueen suffers from leukemia and knows about the seriousness of his current illness. But he is anything but desperate and depressed. He decides to make the best use of his time. He seeks answers to questions that adults are reluctant to deal with and that they avoid when they come up: Why does God make children sick? Where to go when you've died. Whether the world will still be there when it no longer exists. All the answers that Sam finds in his adventurous research about himself, life and the world are recorded in a book that he has started to write. He's also made a list of wishes he still wants to realize: kiss a girl, become a famous researcher , watch a horror movie , run up or down an escalator in the opposite direction, see the world from space , set a world record, or for example ride in an airship .

His best friend Felix Stranger, who is thirteen and also has cancer and whom he met during one of his numerous hospital stays, helps him to implement his wishes . Experiences with his family, the teacher Mrs. Willis and the nurse Annie accompany his everyday life. At the end of the book, Sam and Felix die.

expenditure

The original novel Ways to Live Forever was released on January 7, 2008 by Marion Lloyd Books in the UK. On September 1, 2008, the same publisher published a new edition with an alternative cover (mass market edition). In February 2009 Pearson Longman published a hardcover (Educational Ed edition). In September 2008, the American edition (American) came out in hardcover from Arthur A. Levine Books.

The German translation was published in paperback on July 30, 2008 by Hanser Belletristik . A paperback edition was published on May 1, 2010 by Deutsches Taschenbuch Verlag .

radio play

Infobox microphone icon
How to become immortal - Every minute counts
Radio play from Germany
original language German
Year of production 2009-
Contributors
Machining Karlheinz Koinegg
Director Angeli Backhausen
music Andreas Hornschuh & Matthias Hornschuh
speaker

The book was also implemented as a radio play for the German market . It was produced by WDR under Monika Frederking (dramaturgy and editing) and was released on April 1, 2009. The radio play was a great success. Among other things, it was awarded first place on the hr2 audio book best list , the children's and youth radio play award of the MDR Broadcasting Council, the title CD of the month at the Institute for Applied Children's Media Research / Foundation Listening, the audio book is also on the best list of the award of the German record criticism , followed by the Auditorix Audiobook Seal 2009 and the German Audiobook Prize 2010 and numerous others. The jury of the German Audiobook Prize justified its decision as follows:

"An outstanding radio play has emerged from a special book: Impressive speakers and careful, clever direction create a serious, unpathetic piece of art that exudes lightness and at the same time makes its listeners sad and yet hopeful."

The radio play also received very good reviews from the Institute for Applied Children's Media Research (Ifak):

“This radio play produced by WDR is a congenial implementation of the book. The mix of text and music is successful. The speakers, too, always hit the right note, so that the audience is drawn into the story and cannot escape the emotional impact of the topic. The staging is at no point pathetic or over-staged. This is - also in terms of production - a successful radio play, of which there are unfortunately only a few on the children's audio media market. The combination of intense story and loving implementation creates an emotional listening experience that captivates not only children but also adults and, despite the sadness of the subject, conveys joy of life. "

filming

The Spanish production company El Capitán Pictures filmed the novel, directed by Gustavo Ron, with British actors. Robbie Kay plays the role of the sick Sam . The first excerpts from the film were shown at the Berlinale 2010; the official premiere took place at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival .

The German title of the film adaptation is Ways to Live Forever - The soul never dies .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. "WAYS TO LIVE FOREVER" Winner at the Concorde Children's Book Award held at BSCS . Bradley Stoke Matter. March 25, 2009. Archived from the original on June 5, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 12, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bradleystokematters.co.uk
  2. Waterstone's Children's Book Prize winner ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Waterstones press release, February 12, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.waterstones.com
  3. Manchester Book Award ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.manchesterbookaward.com
  4. http://www.igel-records.de/person/kai-hogenacker
  5. https://itunes.apple.com/de/audiobook/wie-man-unsterblich-wird./id518516677
  6. http://www.ohrenspitzer.de/fileadmin/files/Hoerboegen1/Hoerbogen_Unsterblich.pdf
  7. http://www.audiobooks.at/Wie_man_unsterblich_wird_ist_bestes_Kinderhoerbuch_beim_Deutschen_Hoerbuchpreis_2010.id.30344.htm
  8. Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.igelrecords.de
  9. http://www.waystoliveforever.com/?m=20100312&lang=en  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.waystoliveforever.com  
  10. http://www.filmstarts.de/kritiken/186170.html