Carnegie winner Patrick Ness attacks library cuts (UK)

Author Patrick Ness has criticised Education Secretary Michael Gove over library closures as he accepted a prestigious children's fiction prize. Ness was awarded the Cilip Carnegie Medal for his novel Monsters of Men at a ceremony in London. "We must accept that it is not only libraries that are under threat, but librarians as well," Ness said. The prize is awarded by children's librarians for an outstanding book for young people. Ness's winning novel is the third and final book of the Chaos Walking trilogy about the power struggles on a planet where private thoughts are audible. The US-born author described decisions to partially staff libraries with volunteers as "a one-sentence, Big Society idea whose consequences and ramifications they haven't even remotely considered". Talking about Mr Gove, Ness said: "Here is a man who races to the latest news about what a tragedy it is that three out of every 10 children don't own a book - The BBC