It’s the International Day of the Girl!
October 20, 2019 at 5:10 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Bookazine Princes Building, Bookshop event, girls' education | Leave a commentTags: Agatha Christie, Amelia Earhart, Bookazine Princes Building, Frida Kahlo, Marie Curie
Today is such a special day, because we celebrate all the girls in the world! Especially the girls who dream about doing something great with their lives!
And today I took part in a truly wonderful event at Bookazine Princes Building, organised by sisters Arti and Shonee Mirchandani, owners and directors of Bookazine and Far East Media Limited, and their lovely events organiser Clemence Robine, who are themselves great women who have done great things for booklovers in Hong Kong! Not to mention for local authors such as myself!
Three inspiring Hong Kong ladies and I spoke to a lovely crowd of girls (and their brothers, mums and dads!) all about some great women of the past! You can see me above, dressed up as Agatha Christie, the most successful crime writer in the world! Did you know that her books are the best selling books in history, except for the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare? I was very proud to tell the audience a bit about her life and how she became a writer.
The lady above is Janice Lao, an environmental scientist and economist who is working to save our beautiful planet by making sure that bad chemicals are kept out of our water and our air. She talked all about the great scientist and Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie, who discovered radium which led to the creation of X-ray machines and other life-saving medical devices, amongst many other useful modern day tools.
And we also heard wonderful Hong Kong artist and author of a very special new children’s book called Koki’s Voice, Riya Chandiramani, talking about life and works of the extraordinary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and airline pilot Ruth Murrell who flew in specially to talk about Amelia Earhart, the first woman aviator to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a plane!
We all learned so much, and we all had such fun! Thanks to Bookazine for a brilliant event, and for sharing these photos with me!
How I ended up in publishing!
February 26, 2019 at 10:54 am | Posted in Being a publisher, Being an Author, media articles | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine Magazine, The Chinese Calendar Tales
Here’s an interesting article from Bookazine which was published in their Spring magazine yesterday, where 7 people involved in publishing in Hong Kong (including Harry Harrison and me!) tell the story of how it all happened! Take a look and see if maybe one day you also might like to join this wonderful, frustrating, fascinating, difficult but very rewarding industry! Thank you to Clemence Robine, marketing manager at Bookazine, for including me! And don’t you just love Harry’s fun illustration?
Sunday: Event at Petrarch’s Bookshop, Launceston!
May 30, 2018 at 10:49 am | Posted in Being an Author, Bookshop event, Launceston | Leave a commentTags: Petrarch's Bookshop, Storm Whale, The Chinese Calendar Tales
On Sunday I jumped in my car and drove for two and half hours up to Launceston, Tasmania’s northern “capital”. It was the most glorious drive, and brought back so many memories of childhood drives with my parents and siblings so many years ago! In Launceston, I spent a wonderful afternoon at the famous Petrarch’s Bookshop, doing readings of Storm Whale and signing books! Above is the lovely Murphy family, who bought a whole stack of my Chinese Calendar Tales and who fell in love with Storm Whale! Below you can see me (top left) with friendly and helpful staff Kristine Hudson and Holly Cooper to my right and left, and me with Ros Sydes, a Launceston writer to the right! Thank you Marcus and Karen, owners of Petrarch’s, for inviting me!
More fab photos from Desmond Dog’s Woofy Launch Party on Saturday!
February 12, 2018 at 12:56 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Book launches, Bookazine Princes Building, Bookshop event, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese Zodiac, Chinese New Year, Harry Harrison, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Year of the Dog
Many thanks to Bookazine Events Organizer Manon for these lovely photos!
Here’s Harry Harrison and me before the launch!
Here’s our fun book reading with some avid fans!
My gorgeous daughters Bea (left) and Annabel (right) have been holding up the pictures for the last 14 years now! Thanks Bea and Annabel!!
A busy book-signing!
Harry and the Quiz, me and Harry – and the man himself with his fabulous book covers!
My wacky daughter Annabel continuing her annual ritual of a finger-signing by Harry and me!
Small is Beautiful at BIBS in Beijing!
January 25, 2018 at 7:43 pm | Posted in Beanstalk International Bilingual School, Beijing Schools, Being an Author, Clever Competitions | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Chinese Calendar Tales, Ching Shih, The Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Desmond Dog, Writing Competitions for Kids
What a happy day I had at Beanstalk International Bilingual School Shunyi Campus today! Although it was FREEZING outside, the welcome inside was warm and very friendly from everybody, from the gorgeous kids to their lovely parents to the dedicated staff! The Grade 1s met my hungry, lonely dragon in The Tale of Chester Choi; the Grade 2s screamed like spoiled princesses and roared like tigers very convincingly as I read them The Tale of Temujin; the Grade 3s and 4s learned about the world’s most successful pirate Ching Shih and about Hong Kong too when they heard The Tale of Desmond Dog, and the Grade 5s asked some fabulous questions after I told them all about my journey to becoming an author, why I wrote The Chinese Calendar Tales and that very important question – what is my writing process? I was delighted to find out that, like me, they were all firm fans of making story plans before they wrote their first draft of a story! So I’m really looking forward to some great entries from the BIBS Grade 5s in my current Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition (details on the Clever Competition page here).
Warm thanks to wonderful librarian Heather Wright (with me above) who expertly hosted me today, and thank you to the mums and dads and kids who bought over 100 books! I hope to see you all again soon!
3 Fabulous Christmas Fairs in 3 Fun-filled days!
December 14, 2017 at 6:31 pm | Posted in AISHK, Being an Author, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Christmas Fairs | Leave a commentTags: AISHK, Prestige Christmas Fairs, Singapore International School, Storm Whale, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Dirty Stories, The Tale of Desmond Dog
Phew! From last Saturday to this Monday, I had a ball meeting my fans and their mums and dads at a trio of fantastic Christmas Fairs! And I hope they’re having a ball reading their latest Chinese Calendar Tales, Dirty Stories, and my beautiful new Storm Whale!
We were even able to sell my fabulous new book for 2018, The Tale of Desmond Dog!
- On Saturday, my oldest daughter Bea and my lovely husband Philippe helped me to sell my books at the always-busy Singapore International School fair – we had enormous fun meeting all the SIS parents and kids, and rubbed shoulders with other friendly stall-holders we met there last year! Here I am above with one of my Summer Writing Course 2016 students Ian Chow and his lovely mum Priscilla Ko.
- On Sunday, I had another busy table at Prestige Fairs at the Conrad Hotel in Admiralty, Hong Kong – I was signing books all day and it was great to meet so many fans from so many different places! My books will now be winging their way to nieces, nephews, godchildren, family friends and even a few grandparents and in-laws in countries right around the world! Huge thanks to my lovely daughter Annabel for all her help!
- And finally, on Monday evening, I had one last table at the Australian International School Jingle and Mingle Fair where I caught up with fellow AISHK mums and dads while signing my books!
And that’s the end of my Christmas Fairs for 2017!!
Judging at the KidsLitQuiz Hong Kong!
December 14, 2017 at 6:01 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Kids Lit Quiz
Last Friday, I had the great honour of being one of a panel of four judges at the Kids Lit Quiz Hong Kong competition held at German Swiss International School! It was great to judge alongside my friend and fellow Hong Kong author, Mio Debnam, and to catch up with my old friend GSIS Librarian Jun Niu, who is National Co-ordinator for Hong Kong.
The Kids’ Lit Quiz is an annual literature quiz for students aged 10 – 13 years. Quizzes are held in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and USA. The winning team from each heat competes in a National Final, then the National champions compete in the World Final. The quiz was founded by New Zealand quizmaster Wayne Mills, who reads enough books to write several thousand questions each year! For more information, click here.
On Friday, over 20 teams from Hong Kong schools competed, answering questions from books as diverse as Humpty Dumpty and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith! The winning team was Hong Kong Home School Team 1 (pictured with me above), with Harrow International School Team 1 placing second and Creative Secondary School placing third. The winning team will be representing Hong Kong in the World Finals in Auckland, New Zealand in July 2018! I wish them all the luck in the world!
Many thanks to Anne Simpson for the wonderful photos!
Meeting the wonderful Jung Chang
November 10, 2017 at 12:41 pm | Posted in Being an Author, children's literacy, Literary Festivals, Room to Read | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong International Literary Festival, Jung Chang, Room to Read
On Wednesday I was lucky enough to meet the wonderful Jung Chang, author of Wild Swans and other extraordinary books about China, at the luncheon in her honour (and in honour of Erin Ganju of Room To Read) hosted jointly by the Hong Kong Literary Festival and Room to Read at the China Club in Hong Kong. Jung spoke with passion about her experiences as a child growing up in China, then later as a best-selling author in London, and the large crowd was simply mesmerised by her eloquence and dignity. And before Jung’s talk, Erin Ganju spoke of the essential work of Room to Read in developing countries in bringing literacy to literally millions of children, especially girls. Read more about their tireless work here. A big thank you to my friend Jennie Orchard of Room To Read for inviting me!
A fabulous 2 day visit to QSI Zhuhai!
September 29, 2017 at 5:48 pm | Posted in Being an Author, School visits, Zhuhai schools | Leave a commentTags: A Dirty Story, Chinese Calendar Tales, How to Create Writers in the Digital Age, QSI Zhuhai, The Tale of a Dark Horse, The Tale of Chester Choi, Writing workshops
Thank you to the lovely Heather Domenico (above left) for hosting me on Wednesday and Thursday at QSI Zhuhai! It was a very busy time, with story readings from the Chinese Calendar Tales and Dirty Stories for everyone from 2 years old to 13 years old, and writing workshops for everyone from 7 years old to graduation! Plus a talk to the parents and staff about How to Create Writers in the Digital Age – and book-signings in between! Not to mention some great chats with British poet and publisher Neil Stevens, a teacher at the school (above right). Then a fun evening with Principal Cliff Geis-Poage and his lovely wife and teacher Becca who treated me to a delicious dinner before I caught the ferry home to Hong Kong! Everyone was so warm and welcoming – the terrific staff, Theresa in administration, not to mention the mums and dads and the gorgeous kids and teens. It was my first visit to Zhuhai in mainland China, and my first visit to QSI – I hope to see you all again soon!
Why I wrote Storm Whale and other questions…
September 12, 2017 at 4:53 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Press interviews | Leave a commentTags: Jane Tanner, Old Barn Books, Storm Whale, The Letterpress Project
Thank you to The Letterpress Project in the UK for publishing two terrific interviews with Jane Tanner and I about our beautiful new book Storm Whale, the UK edition of which was published by Old Barn Books in August! You can read them here and here !
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