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!
Desmond Dog’s Beijing launch at the Bookworm Cafe was fabulous fun!
January 28, 2018 at 8:16 pm | Posted in Beijing, Book launches, Bookshop event, Bookworm Cafe Beijing | Leave a commentTags: Bookworm Cafe, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese culture, Chinese history, Chinese Zodiac, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
Desmond Dog and I had fabulous fun this afternoon at Beijing’s famous Bookworm Cafe! A lovely bunch of kids, mums and dads came to hear The Tale of Desmond Dog and all the scrumptious Chinese history behind the story! Then we had a fun quiz with questions for everyone from 2 years old to some really ancient ages :), with toy dog prizes, and finally a book signing! It was wonderful to meet such an enthusiastic crowd who love their Chinese history just as much as I do! Huge thanks to Peter Goff, and his lovely assistants Zoe and Nancy, for hosting me today – I look forward to working with the Bookworm Cafe again when I return to Beijing in March for the Literary Festival!
And thank you Zoe for these fabulous photos of the story reading…
and the book-signing…
and last but not least, some new friends!
Peter Goff, owner of the Bookworm Cafe! I wonder if you can guess which animal family in the Chinese Zodiac Peter belongs to, and which one I belong to?
Sima and Nicky Tebbutt and their lovely parents Tatjana and Dan from Ukraine and
Australia (together with “their” animals of the Chinese Zodiac)…
The marvellous creators of the Heckerty series (about that crazy green witch Zanzibar and her adventures), Allan Davidson and Jan Ziff! Here, my dragon Billy Boy is trying to eat Zanzibar, but gives up in the end and lets Zanzibar fly him away! I think they’re going to be firm friends too!
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!
Thanks Fullers for a funny and fabulous event!
May 27, 2017 at 4:01 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Bookshop event, Chinese festivals, Hobart | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Fuller's Bookshop, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
A big thank you to all the friendly efficient staff at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart for hosting a wonderful event this afternoon for me and Rickshaw Rooster! We had a lovely crowd of babies, kids, pre-teens, mums, dads and grandparents, who cockadoodle-dooed beautifully during my story reading, learned lots of Chinese history, and did brilliantly in the post-reading Quiz (for which they won some tasty fortune cookies!) Special thanks to my host for the day, Anne – photographed with me above; to Cat, the fabulous shop manager, and to Peter Igram-Jones who so patiently and efficiently handled all the lovely book sales in the three schools I visited this week (even though we sold out of four of my titles!). I’ll see you again soon!
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