Continuum: The Dark Is Rising 50th Anniversary Interview with Susan Cooper

This interview has been over 11 years in the making.

When I first began The Dark is Rising Sequence Worldwide Readathon in 2013, I had always had a small secret hope that I would maybe someday be able to ask Susan a few of the burning questions that I (and I assumed many of her other readers had) about the settings and characters in her award-winning series. After on-and-off again email communication with Susan and her daughter, Kate, over the years, I got up the nerve late 2023 to ask about the possibility for an interview. Both Susan and Kate were very gracious and agreed and thus the process began. I curated questions from our TDIRReadathon members and added my own. Susan answered every question and I am so thankful. Without further ado, I am so pleased to be able to share this interview with you, Susan’s fans from around the globe.

Please note: The first section of this interview has general questions and is spoiler-free. The latter section more specifically deals with The Dark Is Rising and contains spoilers. But the series has been around for 50 years, so… enjoy!

Continuum: The Dark Is Rising 50th Anniversary Interview with Susan Cooper 

Photo © Tsar Fedorsky 2013

Susan Cooper is one of this generation’s premier storytellers of both the real and the fantastic. From her World War II childhood, to attending lectures by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien at Oxford, to writing for the London Sunday Times, to her award-winning publishing career in books, plays, and film, literature has always been a part of her life. Best known for her classic fantasy five-book series, The Dark is Rising Sequence, Susan received the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement in 2013.

First of all, I would like to offer congratulations for yet another honor bestowed upon you. In February 2024, you were named the 40th Damon Knight Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for a “lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy” and you made a short speech during the annual SFWA Nebula Conference and the 59th Nebula Awards on June 6, 2024. How was that experience for you? 

Susan Cooper: I was of course immensely grateful to the SFWA for the honor of being made a Grand Master. I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to get to their conference, so that my thankyou speech had to be virtual. It would have been great to meet them all.                             

You went from a writer fairly naive about the children's book community when you earned the Newbery Honor Medal for The Dark is Rising in 1974 to defining what differs fantasy from other genres in your 1981 article Escaping Into Ourselves to referring to the SFF writing community as "family" at the 2024 Nebula Awards. Can you take us through that process and who has been the most helpful in your discovery of this vast community? What has the literary community - and the SFF community in particular - meant to you and your career? 

SC: Literary prizes have a wonderful side-effect: you're invited to conferences where you become friends with all manner of writers, readers, teachers, librarians whom you'd never meet as a solitary author. And you become part of communities; one of these for which I had particular affection was Children's Literature New England, whose annual one-week meetings were a lovely re-charging of everyone's batteries.

Many of your contemporaries have also been chosen to be Grand Masters, among them Peter S. Beagle, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jane Yolen and Robin McKinley. Have you met all of these writers at some point and how would you describe your relationships (past or present) with each of them?

SC: I know none of them personally, but have great admiration for their work.

I found watching the British Library’s livestream of your conversation with Natalie Haynes in October 2023 as part of their “Fantasy: Realms of Imagination” exhibition to be an ethereal experience as a fan. How was the experience of the livestream with Natalie, Simon McBurney and Robert MacFarlane for you and how was the exhibition?              

SC: The exhibition was fascinating, and I loved the conversation. Natalie led it perfectly and I'd go anywhere to be with my friends Robert and Simon. They did a splendid adaptation of The Dark is Rising for BBC Radio.

You've been involved with various media of the writing/publishing industry from journalism, novels, and most recently the BBC radio play. As the industry has evolved over your career, what is the most positive change that has been made and what is a negative change that has occurred?

SC: I am primarily a writer of books, and as any teacher or librarian will tell you, the greatest peril to the existence of the printed page is the screen of the computer or, worse, the cellphone.

In your bio on your website, thelostland.com, you mention that Shakespeare is your greatest hero. Which of his works are your favorite(s)?

SC: I know large chunks of several Shakespeare plays by heart, but it's impossible to have favorites; so many of them are wonderful.

Now, I’d like to pass along some general questions from your fans:

RC from Massachusetts asks:

As someone who is also an expat living in America for many years and who often feels homesick for the "Old World" and its deep history, legends, etc., I found the nostalgia and love of British landscapes pervading your books resonating with me on a deeply personal level. What are your favourite places in the Greater Boston area that remind you of home the most? When you feel the most homesick for your childhood in Buckinghamshire, your family trips to Wales, your time at Oxford, etc., what places in New England do you go to in order to feel more connected to home? What is your advice for someone like me who doesn't have the money/time/resources to make frequent trips home, but who terribly misses the rich history and timeless magic of the homeland, which America cannot match?

SC: Oh, RC, I wish I had some advice - I'm pretty sure that it was precisely the deep nostalgia you describe that drove my imagination to create the last four books of The Dark ls Rising Sequence.  For the six years of writing them, I lived both in New England and in the memory of my parts of Britain. People as homesick as us are driven to live in two worlds, one actual and one remembered. I've never consciously found anywhere in the US as a comforting echo - though when I wondered why on earth I had built my final American house on an estuary saltmarsh, all flat horizons and wide open sky, I realized that this was just what I used to see from my childhood home in the wide, flat Thames Valley.

Sandy in New York asks:

Do you have any special memories of MIT, since you used to be married to an MIT professor? Did MIT feel like a less interesting place compared to Oxford, where you yourself were a student? Did you ever want your own children / grandchildren to go to university in England?

SC: Not really, because I never spent any time at MIT; it was simply the place where my husband went to work.  And as for university education, though I'm all for internationaI exchange as part of a degree course, or for postgrads, I wouldn't have wanted my children or grandchildren to have to cope full-time, at 18, with a different national educational system and the width of the Atlantic. Mind you, I'm sure I can be really obnoxious when talking about the inimitable merits of Oxford.....

M.Z. in the U.S. asks: 

Are you a dual citizen of the UK and US, or still only a UK citizen? If the latter, what made you decide not to get US citizenship even though you have lived most of your life here? Did you feel like getting US citizenship would amount to a betrayal of your British roots, which you beautifully pay homage to in your writing? 

SC: I'm a dual citizen. My children and grandchildren are Americans, and I'm happy to be a US taxpayer, but somehow I'm as ineradicably British as my voice…

Caroline in Florida asks:

Having raised children in America while having spent your own childhood in Britain, do you feel that American kids are less fortunate than their British counterparts because they are not exposed to as much ancient folklore and history from an early age? British kids grow up hearing about King Arthur, druids and pagan customs, impressive battles, etc. and can visit Roman/Anglo-Saxon sites easily in their own country. But Native American folklore/history is not widely taught to kids in America, so the stories and history they get are much more "modern" and "mundane" and "un-magical" (e.g. George Washington and the cherry tree, Paul Bunyan, Revolutionary War), and they don't grow up seeing the landscape as a place of ancient magic and mystery. The article "Why the British Tell Better Children’s Stories" (published in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/01/why-the-british-tell-better-childrens-stories/422859/) argues that Britain provides much richer fodder for a child's imagination than America -- do you agree?

SC: Yes - this is why the fantasy written by those of us raised in Britain is more often rooted in the real world, while American fantasy writers tend to make up a world of their own, like Ursula le Guin's Earthsea. I do agree that most American children are raised without enough knowledge of their continent's Native American past, and I once tried to help fill the gap by writing a book about it called Ghost Hawk - but this was attacked by one vocal critic because I wasn't Native American.

Anne S. in Canada asks:

Did you read / were you influenced by the historical fiction novels of Rosemary Sutcliff, such as The Eagle of the Ninth and her other Roman Britain novels? The brilliant Roman amphitheatre scene you wrote in Silver on the Tree, where the ancient Roman soldier's nostalgia for home seamlessly blends with the modern American researcher's homesickness, reminded me strongly of Sutcliff's writing, where similar themes of homesickness, combined with love of the land where one works, etc. perpetuate through generations of Romano-British families. The idea of different characters belonging to different historical eras, but connected to the same physical locations in Britain, and the reader re-visiting those locations through the eyes of characters many generations apart, is something that your writing and Rosemary Sutcliff's books capture in a splendidly haunting way. Sutcliff's books are wonderful but unfortunately not well-known in North America, so if you do happen to be a fan of them, would you mind giving them a "shout-out" when you do talks or interviews? Thank you Ms. Cooper!

SC: I know Rosemary Sutcliff is a renowned author of historical fiction, but I haven't read her books - so I will, and if I become a fan I promise to deliver some shout-outs!

Thomas in the UK asks:

Will you please write a memoir about your experience of moving to America as a young woman and ending up as a lifelong resident of America? I love reading your brief biography on your website and really want to know more. Did you ever become an American citizen? Did you ever consider moving back to England? There must be so many interesting stories from your experience that you could share with the world, told in your gentle, insightful, and entertaining style!

SC: THANKYOU, Thomas, for a comment that's cheered me up enormously - I've spent the last three years writing an adult book that includes exactly what you're suggesting. It hasn't found a publisher yet, but we'll keep trying!

SJ in Australia asks:

In King of Shadows, how do you see Arby/Richard Burbage? Is he an Old One, or something like an Old One? How does he have the power to swap the boys?              

SC: Those are hard questions, SJ. No, Arby's not an Old One; I've never thought about Old Ones outside The Dark Is Rising books.  But this book too is a fantasy, like most of my stories, and Arby is not real. He belongs to the power that moves those two boys through time, but that power is not his, and it can't be explained.  So I can't give your questions a factual answer; I can only ask for what the English poet Coleridge called "suspension of disbelief."

Now I would like to ask you about The Dark is Rising Sequence: mainly its places, characters, plot, etc., areas of the book that our readers have been wondering about. But first, a few peripheral questions:

Are you currently working on any books or are you fully retired (as much as a writer can be)?

SC:  I'm writing a kind of memoir, currently called CATCHING THE LIGHT.

During the British Library event in October, you stated that "I would rather write about fear than about violence". Could you expand on that statement and how that integrates with writing for children? Did your experiences with the war help mold that view?

SC: I don't enjoy writing about killing and/or inflicting pain, and it seems highly likely that this is related to the wartime childhood. See a lecture called Swords and Ploughshares in my book DREAMS AND WISHES.

 

Mary Ann from Colorado and North Yorkshire asks:

Did your intended trajectory for The Dark Is Rising Sequence change or accumulate as you wrote further into it, with that third novel perhaps as a turning point?

SC: Oh goodness yes, the sequence was in development all the time as I wrote it - I knew only very roughly where I was going.
 

Mariella from Hamburg, Germany asks: 

If you had not written the end of Silver on the Tree beforehand, would you perhaps have chosen a different ending?

SC: You mean, might the children not have forgotten, which readers sometimes mourn?  I generally remind people how hard it would have been for the Drews to lead a normal life afterwards, if they remembered.  That's really what influenced me in choosing that ending.

Janette in Nelson, BC, Canada asks:

Are you aware that so many people make it a tradition to read The Dark is Rising at Christmas time?

SC:  It gives me such pleasure that people re-read it.

As a follow up to that question, how surprised are you at The Dark is Rising’s staying power? How do you feel your relationship with TDIR’s fans has evolved over the years?

SC: I'm an extremely fortunate author. And it's lovely to have lived long enough to hear often from people who read the books when young and are now reading them with their own children.

There were a couple of reader questions about other potential The Dark is Rising projects:

Andrea and Peter McIntosh in Lucton, Herefordshire ask:

Would you like [to see] a graphic novel of The Dark Is Rising [produced]?

SC: I'm about to write one, in collaboration with an excellent artist - whose name I'll tell you when we actually get started.

K.C. in the United States asks:

Has there been any interest from producers in developing a new TV series faithfully based on The Dark is Rising Sequence? If you could choose the actors, whom would you cast as Will, Bran, and Merriman?

SC: I had such a bad experience with the film made from [The Dark is Rising] that I haven't encouraged TV adaptations - though the BBC radio version done by Robert Macfarlane, Simon McBurney and Complicite was wonderful. Maybe the same team might be able to make a TV series work. I don't watch enough TV to know which actors to suggest.

Now, moving on to questions about places described in the books, I believe you touched on this at the British Library but two UK readers, Beryl in Norwich and LJ in Dorset, were wondering if the surnames of the two main families were inspired by or chosen because of the Stanton Drew stone circles in Somerset?

SC:  Drew certainly wasn't, and I don't have any memory of choosing Stanton for that reason, but if I didn't, it sure is an amazing coincidence!

Keeping with the theme of places from your past that found their way into the books…

Diane VD in Cross City, Florida asks:

I loved your The Dark Is Rising series. I pictured in my head the places you described like lady of the lake and Cornwall, etc., and was surprised as an adult when I joined the Facebook chat group that what I pictured in my head based on your description was 100% accurate. My question is did you visit all those places? How did you so accurately describe them?

SC:  They're all places from my own life - every inch of The Dark is Rising is the area of Bucks where I grew up, and we spent holidays in the Welsh and Cornish places. I'm a quarter Welsh - my mother's mother came from Aberdyfi and we still have family there.  I played a little bit with geography in The Grey King, but mostly it too is set in parts of Wales I've loved since childhood.

Mike in Chicago asks:

Your books take place in or are modelled on very some wonderfully specific settings: Mevagissey, Dorney, and the Dysynni Valley (for TDIR).  For the sake of those of us who desire to make literary pilgrimages to these sites, would you consider revealing the exact spots--if they exist in the real world--of the Grey House, the Stanton House and Dawson's Farm, and the Clwyd Farm in Bryn-Crug?

SC:  I'll send you descriptions via Danny, or post them at my website.

Cheryl in Cumbria, UK asks:

You said at the British Library event last autumn that The Dark is Rising series came about in response to home sickness after moving to America. Which of the series epitomises ‘home’ best for you and why?

SC:  All the last four books equally, I think. Well, maybe The Dark is Rising in particular.

KJI from Cornwall and Sheffield asks:

My family roots are in Pentewan, just round the coast from 'Trewissick', and your stories set there have a special place in my heart owing to their deeply realised sense of place, community and history. I loved the interweaving of the wild magic with local traditions - how would you see that relationship evolving into the modern age?

SC:  The Dark is Rising Sequence exists today in a kind of time-warp, having been written decades ago - but I hope there are young writers today who are managing that interweaving in the context of the modern age.

And now some questions regarding the characters and plot of the sequence.

Julie in Dartmoor asks:

So proud to be part of the readathon each year! Did you base the characters on anyone you know, or even on yourself?

SC: No, I didn't - not consciously, at any rate. Who knows what goes on in a writer's unconscious mind...?

You’ve said previously that when you were writing Over Sea, Under Stone you didn’t realize it was the beginning of The Dark is Rising Sequence. When did you know you needed help from the sea for the Light to re-acquire the lead case containing the code for the Grail and why did you decide to create Greenwitch? What/who was the inspiration for Greenwitch? What other entities did you consider?

SC: Alas, I don't know. I'll look for my working notes on Greenwitch but I suspect they're in the collection of my papers in the Lillian H. Smith Collection at the Toronto Public Library.

Robert in the United States asks:

The lack of romance in The Dark is Rising Sequence is honestly a breath of fresh air compared to other series with teenage protagonists. There are hints that Bran fancies Jane, and expects Will to do the same, but when Will replies obliviously to Bran's question about whether he thinks Jane pretty, Bran calls Will "uncomplicated" in a good way. In your imagination, do you think Will and Bran will remain romance-free their entire lives? Or do you imagine one of them marrying Jane or another girl one day? I love Will's deep bonds with his family, especially his brothers James and Stephen, and just cannot imagine him being interested in dating and romance, given his delightfully "uncomplicated" nature combined with his very special eternal watchman status.

SC: Your guess is as good as mine - I try to write about children of pre-puberty age, because once we become aware of the opposite sex it becomes such a preoccupation.

Andrew McCulloch in Scotland asks:

Hi Susan. I corresponded with you during lockdown about the six signs and a design competition. This time my question is about The Grey King. The golden harp that Bran plays and Caradog Pritchard identifies, like the one Bran’s mother had - you call it a small welsh harp. Did you have a particular harp in mind for the design? I ask because there are some historical folk harps, like the curved pillar Trinity College harp, or were you using the straight high fronted welsh folk harp only imagined smaller for carrying convenience? Or were you thinking a more classic cherubic lyre? I play folk harp, (badly) probably in part due to Bran and Will and the silver eyes that see the wind, so I am semi-desperate to know.
P.S. did you ever learn anything more about the bracelet of signs I sent you the picture of?
Cheers 

SC: Hi Andrew - no, I know nothing about harps (except that I love the sound of them) and I left it to my readers to envisage this small one. So it's up to you! When I wrote, I was crossing my fingers that there could be a harp small enough for all the carrying that the story demanded.

Will you re-send me the picture you mention? I'm having trouble finding it in my 2021 emails.

Not only are the landscapes in the books almost characters themselves, but the animals in those settings also have parts to play in the story. Why do animals seem to be more susceptible to doing the Dark’s bidding than the Light’s? There are the rooks in The Dark is Rising, the foxes in The Grey King, the mink in Silver on the Tree that do tasks for the Dark. Would animals not fall under the Wild Magic?

SC: But there's also Cafall, and Rufus.  Perhaps animals and birds, like people, make their own choices between the Dark and the Light.

Why did you choose mistletoe as the branch/plant that had the power to stop the Dark (the silver on the tree)?

SC: For the powerful beneficent myths attached to it over the centuries, and for its colour.

 

Regarding Bran, you say in one of your essays in Dreams and Wishes that, “Perhaps to the very last minute I shan't be sure whether he stays or goes." When were you sure of Bran's decision to not go with Arthur? Did you weigh the consequences of both options or was it clear to you immediately?

SC: No, I wasn't clear about that until I was about halfway through the book.  Not uncommon for me - I usually know the beginning and end of a book and discover the rest as I go along.

I’m sure you’ve been asked many times over the years as to the lives of the characters after the final events of Silver on the Tree. We are no different as our inquisitive members would love more details (as would I!). You’ve mentioned that there was extra material taken out of Silver on the Tree. Have you ever considered publishing (even just to your website) those and other notes or do you think it would take away from the story? I'm sure fans would love any extra info you may have stashed away!

SC: The reader is free to guess at what might happen to a book's characters after the book ends, but the author (this author, anyway) has said goodbye to them. Which was why I shed tears after I wrote the ending of Silver on the Tree.

And alas no, I don't share the bits that I've cut!

Sarah in Ohio asks:

What do you think happened to Will, as he grew up? Did he have a career? How old did he live to before he left to join the Old Ones?

And similarly, Virginia Moffatt from Shaftesbury, Dorset asks:     

I've always wondered, what happens to Will after the TDIR ends? Does he live for centuries alone, or does he one day return to Merriman and the other Old Ones?

JB in India asks:

Do you imagine that Will, Bran, and the Drews remain good friends and continue to see each other over the holidays, even after all but Will have lost their memories? Wouldn't it be wonderful if Will invited Bran to the Stantons' home for Christmas and Bran got to experience being part of a huge, loving family? Would you consider writing a very short "epilogue" sketch showing us a glimpse of Will and Bran as older teenagers or adults, still maintaining their very special friendship?

Carl from Kansas asks:   

Have you ever considered a follow-up story?

SC: An answer to Sarah and to Virginia, JB and Carl's questions - The Dark is Rising Sequence isn't a series, that can go on and on till the author gets tired of it; it's a sequence, with a finite shape, like a symphony.  So when it ends, it ends - rather like a human life - and I've never wanted to write a sequel.  I'm delighted that you want to know what happens next to my people, but I can't tell you, because I don't know!

A few of the essential characters in The Dark is Rising have unknown pasts. In a poll of our Readathon members, the question that remains overwhelmingly the most mysterious of the sequence is the identity of The Lady. Yet I feel you have laid out some clues to keep us guessing. A couple of readers had some theories:

Roberta H. in Fowler, Illinois asks:

I gather the Lady is the persona of the Goddess, but was she an Arthurian character as well?

One reader on X (Twitter) posted that they assumed The Lady was Brigid, the Irish Goddess of Spring, fertility, healing, smithcraft, divination, and poetry.

Another reader pointed out the passage from Silver on the Tree, in the Lady’s last message to Jane:

“For you and I are much the same Jane, Jana, Juno, Jane, in clear ways that separate us from all others …”. 

So I did some digging.

While the Roman goddess Juno could have numerous connections, there is a clear one to Jana, a Roman moon goddess. A couple of sentences later, you write, “…her robe shone clear white now, bright as a moon…”. Are we on the right track?

To quickly segue to another aspect of the Lady’s background, at the end of Silver on the Tree, you hint at a familial connection with the Lady and Arthur:

“The Lady came forward to the boat, with a beckoning touch on Arthur’s arm in the casual closeness of those who belong to the same family.”

Also, you describe Bran’s tawny eyes to be like Herne the Hunter’s a couple of times:

“…Will saw again the tawny eyes of Herne the Hunter in Bran’s face, and yet a look of Arthur too, as if all three were one and the same.”

And so, my final questions are: Would you be willing to enlighten us on who The Lady is and the connections, if any, with Bran, Arthur, and Herne? 

SC: So here's an answer to all the above questions hunting for precise identities. The Lady is not modelled on anyone, inside or outside Arthurian legend; she is The Lady, a character of power and mystery in The Dark is Rising Sequence. And my King Arthur is not a copy of the Arthur you find in Malory, or T.H. White; he too belongs to the sequence. Myth-haunted authors like me offer you figures who are not classifiable; they are rooted in myth but they are part of a mystery. We draw you into that mystery, we suspend your disbelief, we don't offer you the rational explanations you would expect from a realistic novel.  Our magic has rules of its own, but they belong to the story. So yes, you're right, the hints that you quote are there as descriptions of mystery, not as factual explanations, and you are free to guess at their significance.

Lastly, did she or Merriman write the prophecy? If not, who did?

SC:  That too remains a mystery. I'm not dodging. Human life itself is a mystery, unless you explain it with religious belief.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. You have brought your readers a lifetime of wonder, mystery, hope and Light and we are forever grateful.

SC:  And I'm most grateful to all of you. Thank you, friends.

10 of 50

A decade. That’s how long our little community, The Dark is Rising Worldwide Readathon, has been in existence. For many of us, our experience with Will Stanton and the Old Ones goes back farther than that. For Susan Cooper, it has been 50 years since The Dark is Rising was published 

For me, I first discovered The Dark is Rising in my small junior high school library. Always an imaginative child, I was instantly captured by Will’s story and continued to read in short order the rest of the series, getting whisked away into the battle of the Light and the Dark with the Drew children, Merriman, Bran and the others. Then in my early 20s, I recalled the series and purchased the exact set I had read in my earlier years. I was taken back and rediscovered the magic over again. Almost another decade passed and I heard about Susan Cooper being honored with the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement award and realized that it coincided with The Dark is Rising’s 40th anniversary.

Light, Dark. Fear, Hope. These are universal and timeless subjects. They are ever relevant and are a part of each of us. Our days are filled and often centered around these themes and they are eternally connected. For it is rare for one to face the Dark and not feel Fear. Conversely, even the smallest ray of Light gives cause to Hope. These are personal reactions and yet also global. They affect everyone regardless of gender, social status, location, or circumstance. The wealthiest in the world still have fears. The most unfortunate, desolate or war-ravaged can still feel hope.

Fortunately, in spite of the darkness of Midwinter, we have the hope of longer days and the light of the Christmas season to help us through. We also have the support of this amazing community of readers and the eternal story that Susan has gifted us with. 

On that note, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you who have clicked “Join” or “Follow” over the last ten years and told friends about our community whether by word of mouth or social media. What started as a group of 100 has steadily grown beyond my wildest dreams. Over the last few weeks, our Facebook group has grown to over 1100 members and our Twitter account has passed over 1200 followers!

And, so, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year! Or, if none of those suit your beliefs, a simple “Thank You” and Happy Reading! May the sentiments in the The Dark is Rising and the warmth of being part of such a special worldwide community give you whatever you need this season. You have all made this journey for me a wonderful, special endeavor.

Take care, stay safe, and blessings to all of you.

Danny

Founder, The Dark is Rising Worldwide Readathon

Welcome to the 2021 TDIR Readathon

It’s that time of year again.

No matter what part of the world you hail from, you’ve undoubtedly been affected by the COVID pandemic somehow over the past two years. Be it work, health, time, loved ones, we’ve all lost something during this period. 

Let us take something back. Let us be lifted by a narrative where good triumphs over evil and where hope is restored to humanity even if it is mere story. Let our spirits find comfort in a fantasy that has its roots in our current reality and let it be a nostalgic balm for our tired souls. 

Whether you prefer the thrilling quest for the grail hidden Over Sea, Under Stone, the chilling atmosphere that permeates The Dark is Rising, the emotional journey of Greenwitch, the brooding suspense of The Grey King, or the wondrous conclusion in Silver on the Tree, each of the five books is a unique thread deftly knitted together to form a vast and rich tapestry that tells a tale of the Light and the Dark. 

As we read together, my wish is that you will find something in the words that will bring you a drop of joy, a thrill of hope, a spark of light. 

Let the 2021 TDIR Readathon begin.

Welcome to the 2020 Readathon!

Welcome to the 2020 iteration of The Dark is Rising Sequence Worldwide Readathon!

Whether this is your first time joining us or first time reading this classic series or whether you’re one of our original patrons from 2013 or you’ve been reading The Dark is Rising around Christmas for 30 years - thank you for joining us! 

Grab your portal be they battered or brand new, dog-eared or bookmarked, hard cover, paperback, digital or audio. Open your copies of The Dark is Rising Sequence as we begin our 6th read-a-thon today, this 6th day of December, to join the Old Ones and their quest for the Light. 

The wonderful thing about stories is that they never are in the past. Words cannot be diseased. Pages can burn and be torn but the messages and tales they tell live forever in the memories of those who have read them. Every time we peruse the phrases and paragraphs we can be transported back to that world again and again if the author has written well enough for us to suspend our belief yet one more time. And Susan Cooper has done just that - written an adventure that provides us in equal measure the joviality of the Christmas spirit and the atmospheric melancholy of a riotous cloud of rooks, the shifting wariness of a sea breeze and the rising tension of a mountain-top storm. If she had not done her job as a storyteller so wonderfully, there would be no basis for this Readathon.

So, thanks again for reading with us and I hope the story will warm your heart with nostalgia and inspire you with the purpose of the quest.

Be in the Light and read on!

Announcing the 6th Readathon!

I hereby declare that the 6th Worldwide Readathon of The Dark Is Rising Sequence will commence on December 6th, 2020!

We'll start with Over Sea Under Stone and then start reading The Dark is Rising on December 20th. Of course, feel free to read at your own pace. Join us on Facebook or Twitter and follow the proposed schedule.

We now have over 600 Facebook members and over 500 followers on Twitter. Thank you to all for helping to build this wonderful community! 

Why don't you join us? More to come...

Readers of a feather...

As you may be aware by now, we won’t be the only group reading The Dark is Rising this month! Author Robert Macfarlane and poet Julia Bird have announced #TheDarkIsReading Twitter book club which will be reading The Dark is Rising starting on December 20th (Midwinter’s Eve). They have over 1000 readers ready to go and they will be posting questions and prompts from their Twitter accounts as well as they would “love people to share their memories of reading TDIR, as well as photographs, artwork, poems, music and other responses inspired by the novel.”

You can read the full post here:

https://juliabird.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/thedarkisreading-a-midwinter-reading-group

As for TDiR Readathon, like the rooks flying around Will Stanton, we will join along side #TheDarkIsRising readers and read with them but also keep with our plan of reading the whole Sequence. There’s still time to start Over Sea, Under Stone!

If you are on Twitter, participate with #TheDarkIsRising hashtag as well as our #ReadTDiR tag. I will be retweeting as much as possible on the @TDiRReadathon account and bringing the tweeted offerings to our Facebook group.

This may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to join this many readers in reading Susan Cooper’s beloved classic. Bring your sense of wonder and your memories as we close 2017 in a way “beyond all imagining”!

Welcome!

Thanks for dropping by!

We're a bit slow ramping up this year but please, browse the info on this blog and join us on our Facebook or Twitter groups to get to know our wonderful community of fans.
 
We have lots of ideas on the go but it will take a few days to get everything ready. Keep checking back for more great content!

Happy reading!

Welcome to the 2015 TDiR Readathon!

I would like to officially welcome everyone to The 2nd Worldwide The Dark is Rising Readathon!

The readathon has globally kicked off and we are seeing tons of updates, book pics, memories, and stories on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks so much for contributing! It is all of you that have made the Readathon what it is this year (and in 2013) and made it such a pleasure to oversee. Please continue to spread the word, it’s never too late to join us!

I have added more content to the blog as you may have seen. There is now a blogroll on the right hand side and menu tabs with lots of extra information for your enjoyment. 

Here's a break-down:

About TDiR Readathon: A brief history of the Readathon and a glance at the books.

How to Enjoy the TDiR Readathon: I've had some folks ask what the Readathon entails. Here's the answer!

Schedule: The much-anticipated reading schedule! Optional, of course.

Contact Us: Where you can find us.

Links: Links to Susan Cooper and (coming soon) authors and bloggers who have gone out of their way to help promote the Readathon.

Also, we will have some guest bloggers providing some posts about their experiences with The Dark is Rising really soon and I will, in turn, be posting on some of their blogs. I will let you know when all those posts are up.

Thank you again for making this community so enjoyable. I will have some updates on the numbers soon (those of you from 2013 may remember I do love me some stats!).

Happy Reading!

TDiR Readation 2015

Hello TDiR Fans!

Here’s the big news...

The 2nd The Dark is Rising Sequence Readathon will begin on December 1st, 2015!

After considering the survey results, this date was not only the most selected, but it also provides the most flexibility as the busy Christmas season consumes our time.

I am working on some exciting stuff for this Readathon and I will post again when I have more details.

In the meantime, spread the word and sign up if you are planning on joining us - the Sign-Up Form is up!

We had over 140 participants in 2013 - I bet we can beat that number easily!

Also, quite a few readers have mentioned that they want to read the series with their kids and someone even mentioned their class! So, I put a space in the form to include them in the count (just numbers, no private info).

That’s all for now! Keep up-to-date and join our fantastic TDiR community on Facebook and/or Twitter if you haven’t already (see below for links)!

Thanks for your continued support.

Danny

Blog: tdirreadathon.blogspot.ca 

Facebook Group

Twitter: @TDiRReadathon
Hashtag: #ReadTDiR

Who's up for another TDIR Readathon?

Hello Everyone!

I hope this message finds you and your kin well and I hope you are all enjoying the summer (or winter depending where you are.)!

It's drawing nigh of two years since I launched the first The Dark is Rising Sequence Readathon in 2013 and I'm still amazed and grateful for the passionate response from all of you! The communities on Facebook and Twitter continue to thrive and hopefully new readers continue to discover these fantastic books.

To commemorate Susan Cooper's 80th birthday in May, the continued support in our online communities, and 2015 being the 40th anniversary of The Grey King, I wanted to see how many of you would be interested in a second TDIR Readathon? If you would be interested please let me know!

Also, I would like to know how you found the "sign-up" form the last time and if you have any suggestions for making another readathon better? Was the start date fine (December 7)? I'm open to anything aside from creating a new website (unless someone else does it!). I would be as hands-on as possible, but with family and other responsibilities, I would rely on you amazing people to spread the word as well! The Facebook and Twitter accounts would continue and I will resurrect this blog as time permits and welcome guest bloggers possibly.

Please let me know what you think! Comment below or send a note via Facebook or Twitter. Also, if you'd like to join our mailing list, send me an email request at tdir.readathon (at) gmail (dot) com.

Cheers!

Danny

Blog: tdirreadathon.blogspot.ca 

Facebook Group

Twitter: @TDiRReadathon
Hashtag: #ReadTDiR 

"To break their sleep and bid them read..."

I was hoping to get this post up on the 7th, and then I was trying to post it on Midwinter's Eve but it has been a busy couple of weeks with work, concerts, dinners and all manner of Christmas errands and festivities.  :)

It sounds like everyone is enjoying the reading part of the Readathon so far and it’s been great being involved in the discussions and seeing pictures of the different editions of the Sequence that you are all reading from. We also have photos of TDiR locales that readers have shared with us. Thanks for all your participation in creating a friendly, unique and purely awesome community!

I wasn't able to start reading Over Sea, Under Stone until after the 7th and although I'm still getting through it, I’m loving it!  I will share my thoughts soon (Yes, I am behind!). Meanwhile, many of our readers have posted reviews and I’ve tried to share them with everyone, but if I have missed one or you have a new review to share, let me know and I’ll share it on our social media outlets.

To those who missed it, Susan Cooper endorsed the Readathon earlier in the month on her Facebook page which was a huge boost to our readership numbers. I have since been in contact with Ms. Cooper regarding the Readathon, which she called “an astonishing enterprise”. Ms. Cooper gave me a little something to share with you - a poem that she wrote for a theatrical celebration in the same year that Silver on the Tree was published. I was “scooped” by one of our Facebook members, but for the rest of you, here it is:

THE SHORTEST DAY                                                              
Written by Susan Cooper for the Christmas Revels, 1977

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen,
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing, behind us -- listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight
This shortest day
As promise wakens in the sleeping land.
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year, and every year.
Welcome Yule!

Thank you, Ms. Cooper for that lovely poem!

Now, the (not so) final reader tally!

By December 7th, we had 117 readers signed up in 13 countries!  The sign ups have continued, however, and we are currently at 135!  Thanks again to everyone for spreading the word!

One last thought:  A number of you have mentioned you would be interested in a Readathon t-shirt or other such paraphernalia. I have permission from Susan Cooper to use the title(s) and a small portion of the poems found in the books for something like this. Finding an easy and affordable way to do this is the challenge.  I’d be up for making t-shirts, etc., so let me know of any ideas you have. I have a t-shirt design idea, but I’m open to suggestions. Be aware that due to our global readership, there may be significant shipping costs involved.  Anyway, think on it and let me know if you would be interested.

Last, but definitely not least, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Thank you for making the end of 2013 very exciting and satisfying. I will try to post again before 2014, but I’m not going to guarantee it.

Enjoy your reading!

Danny

Sign Up Form 

Blog: tdirreadathon.blogspot.ca 

Facebook Group

Twitter: @TDiRReadathon
Hashtag: #ReadTDiR 
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