50 years of The Dark is Rising

Thank you for all of you who submitted questions for Susan and thank you to Susan for agreeing to this interview and providing such wonderful answers. I'm proud to share with you: Continuum: The Dark Is Rising 50th Anniversary Interview with Susan Cooper tdirreadathon.blogspot.com/2025/04/contin…

@boetia_norico I find new discoveries every time I read it!

@TDiRReadathon How far is everyone? I am in the last third of the last book. It's the one I liked least of all, but rereading has given me a new appreciation of it - it's so dense with myth, and the language is beautiful - both precise and poetic.

Welcome to the 2025 Readathon! Some of you are well into Midwinter's Eve depending on your time zone. I hope everyone enjoys the decades-old tradition of reading The Dark Is Rising. Post your thoughts! #ReadTDIR #TheDarkisRising #TheDarkisReading

@MeirionPRoberts Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for joining us!

@TDiRReadathon Finished the book for the 1st time. A bit behind schedule due to some unexpected book-appropriate bad weather! A really good read and I will be checking out the rest of the sequence and joining the readathon again Xmas 2026 👍

Tune In at 18.00CET for the #BBC Xmas Drama: Susan Cooper's 'The Dark is Rising'

Merry Christmas, everyone! I appreciate all of you and I hope and pray you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year and if you don't celebrate, may the light of the season still provide some happiness and hope!

This makes me think of Susan Cooper's "the Dark is Rising" series.

Just a reminder that we're also on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/1431144…. Join us for more discussion!

@boetia_norico Yes, she does! Her prose is incredible.

@TDiRReadathon but also squabbling and the feeling of unfairness. Very nuanced, and Cooper excels at nuance, mixed feelings, and ambiguity.

@TimRideout1 Fantastic find!

MY BOOK ‘HOLY GRAIL’ ❤️ With enormous thanks to Les Ashton of Ashton Rare Books, after many years of searching I have finally secured a first edition/first printing of Susan Cooper’s extraordinary landmark novel THE DARK IS RISING (1973). Even better, it’s a signed presentation/association copy, given by the author to fellow children’s author Jill Paton-Walsh. I am overjoyed! 😊

Midwinter's Eve and the start of another reading of The Dark Is Rising is fast approaching! In my northern clime, we have the snow, just missing the rooks. I hope your Christmas/holiday preparations are going well and you are staying healthy! Happy Reading!

Could be an Old Way...

It would be remiss not to mention that 2025 was the 50th anniversary of award-winning The Grey King. Not only did it win the Newbery Medal but also the inaugural English-language Tir na n-Og Award for children's literature with an authentic Welsh background. #ReadTDIR

@emellghostlight @ChrisKindaReads Just to clarify, the story starts on Midwinter's Eve (Dec 20th)

@ChrisKindaReads If you haven't read it, an amazing book for December is Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising, tho it would take you back into your fantasy genre. It's extra special if you start, as the book does, on Midwinter Day (Dec 21)! A great good vs evil tale based in Arthurian & Celtic myth.

november literally changed my life.. thank you so much for everything

@boetia_norico Possibly, although I would think Harry Potter is darker thematically than Dark Is Rising.

@TDiRReadathon She's 10 and she stopped reading after the 2nd Harry Potter book because it was too scary. I'm guessing that the Walker/The Rider + Mary/Cafall incidents would be a bit too much at this point... 🙄

When are we starting?

@boetia_norico How old is your daughter? They're not really scary unless she's quite young.

@TDiRReadathon Thanks! I put a note in my calender! I would love to read the books to my daughter, but she reacts very badly to any scary book. I'm afraid at this point this would spoil the sequence for her. Alas...will sadly, sadly have to snuggle up with the book all by myself. 😃

@officialnhaynes Wear a scarf?

The first rule of Historians’ Club is…

Hello friends, old and new! It's getting close to that time of year - Readathon time! (You thought I was going to say Christmas, didn't you?) Speaking of Christmas, support authors this Black Friday weekend and get that book lover on your list something great!

@theopenbook2 @ljlittleson We will start reading The Dark Is Rising next month (Midwinter's Eve)!

@ljlittleson Speaking of children's books that work well as a adult books, have you ever read "The Dark is Rising" Sequence by Susan Cooper? "Over Sea Under Stone", "The Dark is Rising", "Greenwitch", "The Grey King", "Silver on the Tree". Start Over Sea early so you can join @TDiRReadathon.

I’ve posted this before, but the empathy part seems absolutely crucial right now! My parenting/teaching advice is read stories to your children.Don’t stop when they can read. It will develop empathy, build confidence, increase vocabulary, spark their imaginations, help them fly.