I have no idea who Nigel was, but he was a real knight who lived in Chalgrave during the 13th Century.
I bet he was a bit of a dude.
News
Pop-up Festival 9-10th July
Last week I took part in the fabulous Pop-up Children’s Book Festival, which is running loads of school events plus a festival weekend in London on the 9-10th July. Just have a look at that line-up!
I was lucky enough to get to run my event at the British Library. I don’t spend enough time there, and for anyone who’s never been, you’ll be blown away by things such as Jane Austen’s writing desk, the Magna Carta and Captain Scott’s notebook (I was almost in tears reading the “I may be some time” entry).
There’s also a smart Sci-fi literature exhibition running at the minute, which my event was twinned with. It’s mostly made up of a selection of books and covers and, annoyingly, everything is behind glass. It’s like being led into a sweet shop and not being allowed to touch the sweets, let alone eat them! But that’s by the by. It’s simply great to have a timeline of sci-fi in book form.
If there’s one thing that makes it imperative that you visit, it’s the typed first page of the Day of the Triffids. I love seeing the workings of a writer, and this is brilliantly revealing, as it’s missing its most amazing first line:
When a day you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.
I’m not sure if that line can ever be beaten.
And so, without further ado here’s a picture of Harold the Hamster. This time he’s dressed as Miss Marple.
Julia Donaldson: the new Children’s Laureate
It’s quite exciting to find someone such as Julia Donaldson being picked as the new Children’s Laureate. Obviously she’s massive in the book publishing world, and her name alone will get column inches, but more importantly for me is that she makes a big deal of events.
Events form such an important part of being a children’s author. Not only do they help us authors pay for the weekly shop, but they really are the key to getting children excited about books. Give a child a book, and they may read it. Give a child a book of an author they’ve just met at a great event, and they’ll love it and probably read it three times. It’s a surefire way to unlock the reader in a child.
So it’s exciting news! Yes.
The end of a busy year
2010 has been a huge year for me. It’ll take a while to fully comprehend what’s happened, but to summarise – and blow my own trumpet a little – here are a few of the highlights:
1) I now have a baby. She’s cute, she shouts at me, but I think she likes me.
2) In January, the final part of the Mousehunter trilogy, Mousebeard’s Revenge, hit the shops. I was really excited to see it through to the end. I always hoped to write a trilogy of books, and I have, so there. I still can’t quite believe I finished it.
3) In June, the first yeti book, Operation Robot Storm was published. The Mythical 9th Division were set free into the world!
4) In October, the second Crystal Palace Children’s Book Festival took place. We visited local schools, saw well over 500 children, and even made our very own Monster Book. It was a real success.
5) At the start of this month the second yeti book was released into the wild. Terror of the Deep is my favourite book to date, featuring all manner of sea creatures, and a yeti wrestling a sea monster on the cover.
6) And best of all I’ve made some new, really brilliant friends, and many of them have seen terrific success in the past few months.
These are exciting times and I’m thoroughly worn out. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so tired. But to celebrate the snowy weather and the end of the year, here’s a pink penguin.
The yeti mouse at Beckenham Library
I’ve done a couple of events at local libraries of late. We still don’t know how they’ll be affected by budget cuts, but both Penge and Beckenham library were so welcoming, and clearly playing a great role in the local community. The children were really kind to me, and some had even read the Mousehunter! Who’d have thought?
Any way, If you live near me and aren’t members at Upper Norwood, Penge or Beckenham libraries, please go join and support them – they’ve got great teams of staff and deserve all the help they can get.
And this here picture is of a Yeti Mouse. I’ve never seen one of this rare species before, but last Friday, in the middle of the library, I was asked to draw one. This was how I pictured it…