Royal Scottish Geographical Society Honours Horrible Geography Author

Aug. 17, 2011 - PRLog -- Where can you meet the man that has been struck by lightening seven times? See frozen turtles fall out of the sky? Come face to face with a peckish piranha? Or Meet scuba-diving spiders? Focusing on the unusual, gory, or unpleasant, Anita Ganeri’s Horrible Geography series of books for kids covers it all.
This award-winning series of books has sold almost 2 million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages. The series has won both praise and fans all over the world, receiving awards and nominations for the whole series, as well as significant praise on individual books including a Geographical Association Silver Award for Horrible Geography: Odious Oceans, Violent Volcanoes and Stormy Weather.
Today, adding to her long list of accolades Anita is visiting Perth to accept the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Joy Tivy Education Medal, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to geographical education.
RSGS Chief Executive, Mike Robinson said singling out Anita for the award wasn’t hard, “Anita has been aptly praised across the board for her brilliant Horrible Geography series of books. These fact-filled books for kids are not only highly entertaining but great for providing quality explanations for geographical phenomena. This medal is really our way of saying thank you for the fantastic work she has done in making geography fun and accessible for all ages.”
On Wednesday, August 17th Anita visited RSGS HQ and received a tour of the newly renovated Fair Maids House before being presented her medal by budding geographers, Jamie Robinson (10), Kate Macleod (11) and Allie Macleod (9), in front of a small crowd of geographers, teachers and RSGS board members.
Discussing the inspiration behind the series Anita has said, “Well, geography is about the world around you so I spend a lot of time staring out of my window! In between staring, I get information from books, TV programmes, magazines and the internet. The trouble is, finding out about deserts or poles etc is so fascinating, I tend to get carried away and do far more research than I can cram into the book.”

Anita was born in India but grew up and was educated in England, graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in French/German and Indian Studies. After university, she worked in publishing in London before going freelance and moving north. Not just a children’s author, she has written more than 400 titles, specialising in geography, natural history, religion and mythology.


ENDS
Notes to Editors:

1.   The Royal Scottish Geographical Society is an educational charity that promotes an understanding of natural environments and human societies and how they interact. For further information about RSGS please call 01738 455050 or visit www.rsgs.org
2.   The Joy Tivy Education medal has been named after an educationalist and long standing contributor to the society, Joy Tivy.   Born in Ireland in 1924, she was a fellow of the society, a visiting professor of several European universities and part of Glasgow University’s Department of Geography for 45 years up to 1999.   She is best remembered for the quality of her teaching, her enthusiasm for sharing and explaining geography, and in particular biogeography, and her long service to its promotion
3.   For further information about Anita Ganeri please visit: www.anitaganeri.co.uk