Over The Hills and Far Away

Hi all (I say optimistically). Here's a newly completed illustration for a book called Over The Hills and Far Away, a collection of nursery rhymes compiled by the Seven Stories National Centre for Children's Books in the UK. 70 illustrators from around the world are contributing artwork to nursery rhymes and Ann James, Shaun Tan and I have been asked to contribute an Australian flavoured spread. My rhyme is Algy saw the Bear.

Some of the other illustrators include; Michael Foreman, Bob Graham, Eric Carle, Mo Willems, Emma Chichester Clark, Nick Sharatt, Robert Ingpen, John Lawrence, Pamela Allen, Shirley Hughes, Jane Ray, Axel Scheffler, Jessica Ahlberg, Emily Gravett, Mini Grey, Yasmeen Ismail, Joel Stewart, Kevin Waldron, Pat Hutchins, Anthony Browne, Jerry Pinkney, Ashley Bryan, Oliver Jeffers, Lucy Cousins, Pamela Zagarenenski, Sara Ogilvie and Yasmeen Ismail.

The book will be released by publisher Frances Lincoln in September, 2014. My illustration was a lot of fun!

Algy saw the bear

The bear saw Algy

   The bear grew bulgy

The bulge was Algy

It's a Festival year

The thing about writing a book is you really only have a small window (like one of those little castle windows) of opportunity to talk about ('promote' in publishing speak) your book before it gets old and you really ought to move on.* That or, it's time to start writing a new book. There are plenty of writers who loath getting out and talking about themselves and I understand where they're coming from but generally, especially these days with publishers' smaller advertising/promotional budgets and with the competition for shelf space, it pays to put on your salesman garb (waist coat, fedora, pipe etc) and speak to people. Besides people like hearing about books and how you put your book together. I enjoy listening to creative people speak about their processes - everyone seems to work differently. Whether I'm visiting schools, speaking at book festivals, talking to librarians or aspiring writers and illustrators, it's a great way to not only promote your books but also promote a love of reading books. It's pretty simple. Plus I get to catch up with fellow book folk that I haven't seen for some time. And drink wine.

This year is a particularly busy speaking year for me. So far I am speaking at these festivals and events:

Perth Writer's Festival, West Australia 20 - 24th February

Write in the Great Southern festival, Albany, West Australia 24 - 26th February

Somerset Celebration of Literature festival, Gold Coast, Queensland 13 - 15th March

Newington College Literary Festival, Sydney, 22nd March

Writer's Victoria, Book Writers & Illustrators Professional Development Day, 23rd March

Wheeler Centre Children's Book Festival, Melbourne, 24th March

Voices on The Coast Youth Literature Festival, Sunshine Coast, Qld, 3 - 4th June

Brisbane Writer's Festival, Queensland 4 - 8th September (program to come)

Ipswich Festival of Children's Literature, 13 - 15th September

Aside from those festivals I have speaking tours lined up for schools during Book Week in Melbourne (19 - 23rd August, contact Booked Out for details), Brisbane (26 - 30th August, contact Speaker's Ink for details) and Sydney (contact Lateral Learning).

Lastly I am travelling to the US in October for the release of Herman and Rosie on the 15th. Will let you guys know the details when they come. Anyway, maybe I'll see you out and about! We can talk about books.

* Just quietly, some people never move on.

Back in the studio...

My first completed illustration of 2013. For some reason a Badger feels like the right sort of animal to begin the year with.

This illustration is loosely based on a photo my wife took years ago (back when we used to travel to adventurous destinations) of a small boy in a remote impoverished Ecuadorian village in the Andes called Zumbahua. The boy was happily flying his plastic bag on a string, up and down the street. Probably didn't know kites existed and wouldn't have cared anyway. One of those images that stays with you.

Oh hi, 2013

Happy New Year good people! 2013 has arrived way too early but it's here so I guess we just have to deal with it. It's going to be a huge year and it's important we approach it with utmost caution. So, to counter the the shock of another year gone and in the spirit of tradition (this is a lie), I am proud to present to you your annual chilled out, ease into the year at just the right pace, track by none other than Sonny and The Sunsets featuring a big dose of laid back vocals, cruisy guitar and some crazy drug-hazed flute. You're welcome!

See you soon with some actual news.

I won an award!

At my Sydney Herman and Rosie book launch on the weekend, Markus Zusak presented me with a rather unexpected honour. Can't believe I'd never heard of this award! Amazing!

Here it sits next to a beautiful potted plant that Laura Harris, my publisher at Penguin, presented me. What a nice day I had.

Here's a closer look.

Can't imagine anything topping that! The launch was a lot of fun. Good crowd (85 I'm told) and signed a bunch of books for a ton of good people. Will post up some photos soon.