Hooray – Storm Whale has reached the Long List for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2018!
February 15, 2018 at 8:34 pm | Posted in Book Awards, Storm Whale | Leave a commentTags: Allen & Unwin, CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2018, Jane Tanner, Long List, Old Barn Books, Storm Whale
I’m so excited! Storm Whale is one of 20 illustrated children’s books in the UK which has reached the Long List for the prestigious CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for 2018 see here! This medal is awarded for excellence in illustration, and Jane Tanner, the wonderful artist who illustrated my story Storm Whale, well and truly deserves this recognition, as I’m sure you’ll agree! It is such an honour for me to be associated with such exceptional work and such a famous award. Thank you Jane, and everyone at Allen and Unwin in Australia (primary publisher) and Old Barn Books (UK publisher) for your faith in this book! Now we just have to wait until 15 March to find out if Storm Whale reaches the Short List – cross your fingers!
And if you don’t have a copy of Storm Whale yet, remember you can purchase it exclusively in Hong Kong on this sales site!
A fabulous family of fans send this photo!
February 14, 2018 at 8:13 am | Posted in children's literacy, Fantastic fans! | 3 CommentsTags: Books about Chinese Zodiac, Reading With Your Kids, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
I was very honoured today to receive this lovely photo of one of my young fans, Osman Pasha, with last year’s book The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster! Osman’s mum Janana tells me that Pasha and his older brothers have grown up reading my Chinese Calendar Tales and they love them! She tells me that, being of Russian speaking background educated on Pushkin and Lermintov, she really appreciates the rhythm and rhyme in my poetry – thank you so much Janana for your lovely message and for allowing me to post this photo! I’m delighted to meet you and Pasha and please do send my warmest wishes to your boys!
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!
A touching gift from an old(ish) fan!
February 11, 2018 at 5:56 pm | Posted in Book launches, Canadian International School Hong Kong, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese Zodiac, Books about pandas, Books2Eat contest, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
I was so very touched yesterday when the Fox family attended my launch yesterday, and Jess, who is now a very glam teenager (pictured above right some 6 years ago and below left) presented me with the lovely thank you note on the left! Jess and her sisters Liliana and Emerson had made a Pin Yin Panda cake from The Tale of Pin Yin Panda for the Books2Eat contest at Canadian International School way back in 2012, and their mum sent me their cute photo. All three (plus mum) were out in force to support the launch yesterday – the sisters are here below! We all teared up when Jess gave me her gorgeous note! Thanks Jess! Fans like you make my life very happy!
A Wonderful Woofy Book Launch in Hong Kong!
February 11, 2018 at 5:31 pm | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Princes Building, Chinese New Year | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine Princes Building, Ganymede P/L, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
On Saturday afternoon Harry Harrison and I launched our latest Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Desmond Dog, at Bookazine in Princes Building – our 14th annual book launch together since 2004! Huge thanks to the brave parents and kids who came along notwithstanding the primary school closures on Thursday due to the flu epidemic! And thanks also to Mr KK Mok, our excellent printer from Zhongtian Colour Printing (HK) P/L, who kindly sent me this great photo.
After I gave a fun story reading, Harry entertained us all with his usual quiz for one and all from 3 years old and up. Then as the crowd enjoyed snacks and delicious drinks generously supplied by Heidi Walsh at Ganymede Ltd, Harry and I signed books purchased by our lovely fans! Many thanks to Bookazine for hosting another fun event for us! Many more photos to come!
My interview with Noreen Mir, RTHK3!
February 9, 2018 at 8:02 pm | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Princes Building, Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Chinese New Year, Radio interviews | Leave a commentTags: 1 2 3 Show, Chinese history, Chinese New Year, Ching Shih, Hong Kong, RTHK3, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
This afternoon I had a wonderful chat with Noreen Mir at RTHK Radio 3 on the 1 2 3 Show all about my new book The Tale of Desmond Dog, the amazing history of Hong Kong and notorious pirate queen Ching Shih behind it, and, of course, the official launch of Harry Harrison’s and my book at Bookazine, 3rd floor, Princes Building, tomorrow at 2pm! You can listen to it here !
And don’t forget to come along! There’ll be a fabulous story reading, a fun quiz with some great prizes, laissee with yummy coins, bookmarks, snacks and drinks for everyone! Be there, or the Red Flags will come and get you – aha me hearties!!!
Aha me Japanese International School hearties!
February 8, 2018 at 8:52 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Japanese International School, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, Stories about pirates, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
On Monday this week, Desmond, I and all the other Chinese Calendar Tales beasties braved the cold snap to visit Japanese International School, here in Hong Kong! We had four funny and fabulous story reading sessions, with the kids in fine form as dogs (woof!), pirates (aha, me hearties!) and the wicked pirate queen Ching Shih (hissss!). Many thanks to my lovely librarian friend Cath Wan for hosting me, and to the kids and staff for their warm welcome once more! I hope to see lots of JIS entries in my Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition! Here I am with the Grade 6s (above) and, below, some great listeners, and young Ema Poposka – who you may recall was joint-winner of my March Madness Minibus Photo Competition in 2017!
Woof! Just 5 days to go till Desmond Dog’s Launch in Hong Kong!
February 6, 2018 at 9:39 am | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Princes Building | Leave a commentTags: The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, remember to let Bookazine know you’ll be there! Harry, Desmond Dog and I can’t wait to see you!
Yum! Learning how to make Jiaozi with ISB!
February 2, 2018 at 1:31 pm | Posted in Beijing Schools, International School of Beijing, Video | Leave a commentTags: Jiaozi
This week Rebecca Taylor, Upper Elementary School librarian and my lovely host at ISB, invited me home with Upper Elementary School librarian Paul Wong, her husband Douglas and children, and her friend Li Ping, to make the delicious Beijing treats called Jiaozi (you say “djow-tzi”)! Here is a fun video of our evening – it was such fun! Thanks Rebecca and Doug!
Some scrumptious ISB kids!
February 1, 2018 at 9:50 am | Posted in Beijing Schools, International School of Beijing, Week in Residence | Leave a commentTags: Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
My week with ISB has been continuing apace, with such a lot of fun with so many scrumptious kiddies! Here I am with the gorgeous Grade 1s and my lovely ES librarian friend Rebecca Talyor (to my left) and Grade 1SD teacher Stephanie Dracz!
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