New Black Beauty book edition and animation launch
By: Communications
A new edition of Black Beauty was officially launched in a collaboration between Redwings Horse Sanctuary and UEA at an event on Friday 24 November, alongside a new animation feature voiced by Dame Joanna Lumley.
This special edition of Black Beauty – which is now on general sale - includes an original foreword by children’s author Dame Jacqueline Wilson and an afterword by UEA’s Prof Thomas Ruys Smith, Professor of American Literature and Culture. Produced by the UEA Publishing Project and Redwings, its launch arrives at the anniversary of Black Beauty’s original publication date, with half of all proceeds from book sales going directly to the care of Redwings’ horses and ponies.
Redwings is the custodian of Anna Sewell House, the birthplace of the author, and uses it to showcase Anna's animal welfare legacy, in addition to their own work. The historic building, which was opened to the public in 2022, recently received a visit from Her Majesty the Queen.
Alongside the event’s book launch, attendees were also invited to witness the unveiling of the new Redwings-UEA animation film, She Learned All Their Secrets: The Story of Anna Sewell and Black Beauty, which celebrates the life and legacy of Black Beauty author Anna Sewell and is voiced by Dame Joanna Lumley. The film was produced by Meantime Media and created with funding from Redwings and the Arts and Humanities Council.
Thomas Ruys Smith said: “The launch was a wonderful opportunity to bring together all the different parts of this amazing collaboration - UEA academics and representatives from the University's Publishing Project, the team from Meantime who created our beautiful animation voiced by Joanna Lumley, and our fabulous partners at Redwings.
“It was thrilling and humbling to launch our new edition of Black Beauty just metres away from Anna's birthplace. I hope she'd approve of the way these books, for the first time, will honour her vision by directly helping horses with each copy sold. I also hope it will increase Anna's visibility in the region that gave birth to her, and to her world-famous book!"
Image: Thomas Ruys Smith holding the new Black Beauty edition
The animation film has recently entered into the 2024 Charity Film Awards, which celebrate the success of film in fundraising, to increase exposure of charity films and to encourage donations for good causes. The first round of voting is now open and closes on 12 January 2024.
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