A Fabulous International Holiday Writing Challenge: The Wonderful Whale Haiku Competition!
June 19, 2017 at 1:09 pm | Posted in Book launches, Buying my books, Clever Competitions, Storm Whale | Leave a commentTags: Allen & Unwin, Books about whales, Clever Competitions, Haikus for kids, Jane Tanner, Storm Whale, Wonderful Whale Poem Competition
Don’t you just love whales? These beautiful giants of the deep are so intelligent and wise, and they’ve lived at peace in their watery world for many thousands of years, in a way that we silly human beings simply cannot seem to manage up here on the earth! And many of you will know that my new book with Australian publishers Allen & Unwin, called Storm Whale, illustrated by the award-winning Australian artist Jane Tanner, has just been launched in Melbourne! So to celebrate these beautiful animals – and Jane’s and my beautiful new book – I thought it was high time that we celebrated these wonderful animals in a Wonderful Whale Haiku Competition!
The competition is open to any kid of Primary School age, anywhere in the world.
You’ve got lots of time for this one: the deadline is Saturday 30th September 2017, so you can have a lovely time over your upcoming holidays thinking about whales and writing your poem!
Go to my Clever Competitions page above for all the rules and requirements!
And if you love the illustration above, and want to purchase your own copy of our new book, just click on the link here: http://www.chinesecalendartales.com!
Storm Whale’s Wonderful Melbourne Launch!
June 4, 2017 at 6:05 am | Posted in Being an Author, Book launches, Melbourne events, Storm Whale | Leave a commentTags: Allen & Unwin, Jane Tanner, Melbourne, Readings Kids, Storm Whale
Our beautiful Storm Whale splashed off to a wonderful start at the launch party at the famous Readings Kids bookshop in Lygon Street in Melbourne on Thursday night 1st June! Here are just some of the photos! Top – an original illustration from the book, by award-winning artist Jane Tanner. Isn’t it just gorgeous?
Readings Kids beautiful store front in Lygon Street.
Before the launch with my dear friend Judy Mackerras who flew in all the way from London via Sydney!
Three very important women – to me, and to Storm Whale! Top left, my wonderful agent and friend Julie Watts, top right, Jane Tanner, the renowned artist who brought Storm Whale to life in her exquisite pictures, and top centre, the lovely Erica Wagner, head of children’s books at Allen & Unwin, our fantastic publisher.
With two dear old friends, Jill (top left) with whom I went to school in Hobart many, many years ago and Stacey who lives in Melbourne; and my new friend Jane Tanner!
With Jane, Julie and my friend Tom Danby of INT Books (left), and the three gorgeous girls who were Jane’s models for the drawings of me and my sisters in the book!
Book signing after the speeches…
The shop window before and after the launch! We sold out completely!!
A big warm thank you to Readings Kids for hosting this wonderful event, and to my friends at Allen & Unwin for putting on such a fabulous party!
In Melbourne…and the Storm Whale countdown begins!
May 30, 2017 at 7:01 pm | Posted in Book launches, Bookshop event, Melbourne events | Leave a commentTags: Allen & Unwin, Readings Kids, Storm Whale
I arrived in Melbourne yesterday to some cold, bleak and windy weather – perfect for the launch on Thursday of my new book Storm Whale, where the weather is exactly the same! I’m SO excited to be meeting up at the launch with the lovely Jane Tanner, who did the exquisite drawings, my Allen & Unwin publisher Erica Wagner and my wonderful agent Julie Watts. If you live in Melbourne, please do come along – it would be fantastic to see you there!
Storm Whale visits the Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2017!
April 8, 2017 at 5:33 pm | Posted in Book Fairs, Book launches, Storm Whale | 2 CommentsTags: Allen and Unwin, Leigh Hobbs, Melbourne, Readings Bookshop, Storm Whale, Tasmania
I’m SO excited to introduce you to my beautiful new book Storm Whale, published by Allen and Unwin in Melbourne, and gloriously illustrated by the remarkable, wonderful, prize-winning Australian artist Jane Tanner! It’s very different to my beloved Chinese Calendar Tales, but I think you’re going to love it too! It’s the story of 3 little girls who find a whale stranded on a beach, and try to save it, and what happens afterwards. I was inspired to write it by memories of my childhood holidays at the beach in Tasmania, where the summers were often wet and windy, and sometimes we be heartbroken to find beached whales on the shore.
Here is a picture of our new book, held by Australia’s Children’s Laureate, Leigh Hobbs, my lovely new friend http://www.leighhobbs.com/. He tracked it down to a special exhibit of Australian books at the famous annual Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which took place this week, and very kindly sent me this photo!
Storm Whale is officially being launched at Readings Bookshop, in Lygon Street, Melbourne on the 1st June! I’ll be there, and Jane Tanner, and my lovely agent Julie Watts, and of course Erica Wagner, Head of Children’s Books at Allen & Unwin and her wonderful team. So if you are going to be in Melbourne too, it would be fantastic to see you there! I’ll be posting the official invitation soon with all the details!
A Cockadoodle Event at the SILF!
March 21, 2017 at 6:12 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Book launches, Literary Festivals, Shanghai International Literary Festival, Story Readings, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
On Sunday, I entertained a big roomful of fabulous Shanghai children and their mums and dads when I introduced them to my new Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster! It was so wonderful to be talking all about Shanghai’s extraordinary history, the international Concessions, Shanghai’s most famous road The Bund, and the Roaring 1920s, when my story was set, in a building that was there in the 1920s, just beside The Bund! I could just feel Rickshaw Rooster fluffing his tail feathers, puffing his chest, and getting ready to do an enormous Cockadoodle-Doo!!! Here I am, above, with a fabulous bookstand made by my terrific distributors at Obido, in M’s famous Glamour Bar. Life as an author doesn’t get more glamorous than that! More photos to come!
If you want to hear some REALLY loud Cock-a-doodle-doos…
February 15, 2017 at 10:46 pm | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Princes Building, Video | Leave a commentTags: The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, The Year of the Rooster
Thank you so much Arti Mirchandani at Bookazine for this fun video taken at the launch on Saturday – Rickshaw Rooster’s crowing was TOTALLY surpassed by some very enthusiastic little chickens!!
Rickshaw Rooster’s Funny and Fabulous Hong Kong Launch!!
February 15, 2017 at 6:18 pm | Posted in Book launches | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, The Year of the Rooster
A big Cockadoodle Doo from Rickshaw Rooster, and huge thanks from me and Harry Harrison, to all our lovely fans who attended the Hong Kong launch of our latest Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, on Saturday! There were over 30 kids, plus their lovely mums and dads, and we all had a lot of fun crowing our heads off, as well as supporting the national teams in that Race along the Bund in the story! Many thanks to Arti and Shonee Mirchandani, Clemence and all the team at Bookazine for another funny and fabulous Book Launch, as well as for these terrific photos!
Thanks Young Post for a timely reminder!
February 8, 2017 at 10:53 am | Posted in Book launches, Press | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine, Books about China for kids, Funny and Fabulous Book Launch, Great children's books about Chinese culture, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, The Year of the Rooster, Young Post
Many thanks to my friends at my favourite Hong Kong young people’s magazine Young Post for this timely reminder to come to Rickshaw Rooster’s funny and fabulous launch party on this Saturday, 2pm, Bookazine, 3rd Floor Princes Building, Central! But remember to RSVP as places are limited! Phone 2522 1785 or email enquiries@bookazine.com.hk.
It’s official! New launch date for The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster!
February 1, 2017 at 3:15 pm | Posted in Book launches, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: English language books for kids, Funny and Fabulous Book Launch, The Year of the Rooster
And here’s your brand new invitation!
It’s going to be Funny and Fabulous and Harry and I can’t wait to see you there! Don’t forget to RSVP to Bookazine on phone number 2522 1785 OR at enquiries@bookazine.com.hk!
New launch date for your diaries!
February 1, 2017 at 1:03 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Book launches, Bookazine Princes Building, Bookshop event | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese Zodiac, English language books for children, The Year of the Rooster
My dear friends will all know that, sadly, my Dad passed away on the 18th of January, and we had to postpone Rickshaw Rooster’s funny and fabulous Hong Kong launch at Bookazine, Princes Building, in Central. But you can’t keep a good rooster down…and I’m delighted to tell you that the Book Launch is on again, on Saturday, 11th February from 2-3pm! I’ll be posting the new invitation on my blog tomorrow, but in the meantime, make sure you put it in your diaries!
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