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!
Meet some me and some Famous Big Girls this Sunday at Bookazine Princes Building!
October 16, 2019 at 6:48 am | Posted in Bookshop event, girls' education, Hong Kong events, Room to Read | Leave a commentTags: Agatha Christie, Amelia Earhart, Bookazine Princes Building, Frida Kahlo, International Day of the Girl, Marie Curie, Room to Read
For everyone who loves GIRLS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE – and that means all of us, everywhere, young and old, girl or boy, mum or dad, family or friend – this Sunday is a very special day!
Yes, it’s the International Day of the Girl and fabulous Hong Kong bookstore Bookazine is celebrating with a fantastic FREE event from 10am to 12noon at their Princes Building Store!
And there will be some very famous ladies represented there! No less than Amelia Earhart, Agatha Christie, Marie Curie and Frida Kahlo, each of whom have made huge contributions to the worlds of aviation, writing, science and the arts respectively!
And yes, you’ll see me all dressed up as Agatha Christie, one of my favourite mystery authors of all time, as I tell you a little about her life and work! (You’ll also see three other real life inspirational Hong Kong women colleagues, all leaders in their fields!)
I can’t wait to see you there! But remember to email the link here to RSVP to reserve your place!
And if you want to support girls’ education and literacy to give them the very best start in life, just click on this link to find out more about international charity Room to Read, for whom I am a very proud Writer Ambassador!
Thank you Fullers Bookshop!
March 16, 2019 at 9:58 am | Posted in Bookshop event, Events, Fuller's Bookshop, Hobart, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Books about the Chinese Zodiac, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, Yongle Emperor
Many thanks to Tim Jarvis and Anne Fagan of Fullers Bookshop for hosting a story reading at their fabulous Collins Street store in Hobart on Saturday morning, 9th March! We had a small but quality audience of kids who expertly danced the Dance of the Seven Veils alongside Ping Pong Pig as she charmed the mighty Yongle Emperor in The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, and they left with some fun colouring-in sheets of characters from the book drawn by Harry Harrison! I look forward to seeing you all again soon!
Oh what a lovely Launch!!
January 31, 2019 at 9:53 am | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Exchange Square, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Bookshop event, Boxed Set, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Fabulous fans!, Hong Kong events, RoomtoRead, Writer Ambassador | Leave a commentTags: A Dirty Story, Bookazine Exchange Square, Harry Harrison, Room To Read Writer Ambassador, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig
Phew is it busy at the moment!!! I’m so busy with lots of lovely school visits and book orders that I’m very late with my blog-posts! So, my lovely followers, you are going to receive quite a number today!
First and foremost, I want to tell you about last Saturday, and the wonderful launch of The Tale of Ping Pong Pig and our beautiful new Boxed Set of Chinese Calendar Tales at Bookazine Exchange Square! We had a fabulous crowd of fans there, old and new, including many old friends who had come to our launches at the very beginning of the series!
First we had speeches from Shonee Mirchandani of Bookazine, who with her sister Arti has hosted ALL my book launches ever since A Dirty Story back in 2004; then from my dear friend Jennie Orchard, who spoke about RoomtoRead, the wonderful children’s literacy charity for whom I am a very proud Writer Ambassador. 20% of the proceeds of sale at the launch is being donated by me and Bookazine to the RoomtoRead library in India that Bookazine is generously funding! You can find out more about RoomtoRead’s fantastic work in India here.
Then I was very pleased to talk about the series and all the wonderful people who have contributed so much to its success. First and foremost, that had to be Harry Harrison, our fabulous illustrator!
Then our designers e5 and printer KK Mok at Zhongtian Colour Printing HK Ltd, who sadly could not be with us.
Then Arti and Shonee of Bookazine of course!
Then my beautiful family – my daughters Bea and Annabel (who surprised me with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers so I cried :))
And my darling husband Philippe who has supported me in every way, through thick and thin, during the 13 years of writing and publishing the series. Here he is on the right with me, Jennie Orchard and Harry!
And last but never least, my fantastic fans, including kids, mums and dads, teachers and librarians, all over Hong Kong!
Next came my story reading of The Tale of Ping Pong Pig – our very last Tale in the series, out just in time for The Year of the Pig! The kids in the audience were such fun to read to, and they and their mums and dads enthusiastically joined in whenever poor little Ping Pong ran into trouble from her nemesis, the Minister of Most Important Things! Then Harry’s annual quiz for everyone from 2 to 102, with prizes of tiny pandas for the right answers…
And then a real treat! Harry showed everyone how he draws his characters…and then the kiddies joined in!
And finally, our traditional book signing, when it’s such a pleasure to meet our lovely fans!
My daughter Annabel got her annual finger signing from Harry and me of course!
It was such a happy, exciting and colourful event, and I’d like to give my warmest thanks again to Clemence Robine, who organised the event for Bookazine and who generously allowed me to borrow some of the photos on Bookazine’s FaceBook page. You can see more here!
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!
Another wonderful Tassie trip!
May 30, 2018 at 8:29 am | Posted in Australian schools, Bookshop event, Radio interviews, Talks to teachers | Leave a commentTags: ASLA, ASLA Mini-Conference 2018, Tasmania
Hello everyone! I was back in my beautiful childhood home Tasmania last week, to give the keynote speech for the ASLA (Australian School Librarians Association) Mini-Conference 2018, two wonderful school visits, a radio interview and a fabulous bookshop event! See my next posts for all the news and fun!
Grots Rule at the Bookazine Bookfest last Saturday!
May 14, 2018 at 11:52 am | Posted in Bookshop event, Buying my books, Hong Kong events, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: A Dirty Story, An Even Dirtier Story, Bookazine Children's Bookfest, Grots, Mothers Day
Yes, it’s me, channelling my inner Grot at Bookazine’s Mothers’ Day Bookfest at The Repulse Bay on Hong Kong’s Southside on Saturday! My 17 and 20 year old daughters absolutely banned me from appearing in this costume – what more incentive does a mother want? So my Dirty Dog Desmond and I attended in full regalia for a fun story reading to a huge bunch of little Grots and their long-suffering parents! After the reading we had a quiz with very noisy whistles for prizes (the mums and dads LOVED that!) , then a Most Disgusting Face Competition, and then the kids went outside to try to find the magic ball in a bucket of slime – eerugh!! A big THANK YOU to Arti and Shonee Mirchandani for inviting me, and to their fabulous events organiser Manon for creating such a fabulous event! More photos below! And if you don’t have your copy of A Dirty Story or An Even Dirtier Story yet, you can purchase it here!
Yay…eurgh!!! A Grotty Saturday at the Repulse Bay Children’s Bookfest this weekend!
May 10, 2018 at 3:33 pm | Posted in Bookazine Princes Building, Bookshop event, Hong Kong events, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine Children's Bookfest, Mothers Day, Repulse Bay
Are you a kid who just LOVES getting dirty? Are you the parent of a kid who just can’t help being a GROT? Are you a MUM whose idea of a great Mothers’ Day weekend is to send Dad out of the house with the kids for the afternoon?
This Saturday join me and the fabulous team at Bookazine at the Children’s Bookfest at The Repulse Bay for a celebration of everything from Mud to Mozzies and a whole lot of Muck in between, as I give a fun story reading of a fabulous Hong Kong favourite, A Dirty Story!
Then join us for some hilarious fun in some VERY GROTTY GAMES!
I can’t wait to see you there!
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!
Come to the Hong Kong launch of Desmond Dog!
January 29, 2018 at 7:40 pm | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Princes Building, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Bookshop event, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine Princes Building, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese history for kids, Ching Shih, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
If you’re in Hong Kong on Saturday 10th February, then come and join Harry Harrison and me at the Hong Kong launch of our latest Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Desmond Dog! It’s a true Hong Kong story, set in the fishing village of what we now call Aberdeen, with a noble dog, a wicked pirate queen and lots of pirates and treasure! It’s for kids from 4 to 12 years old – and for anyone who loves dogs, Hong Kong, and Chinese history!!! I look forward to seeing you all there! And remember to RSVP to Bookazine at the number/email address on the invitation above!
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