[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-barnes-childrens-literature-festival-2021":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Yesterday \u003Ca href=\"https://philipreeve.com/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> and I had our first live events in... AGES!!! It felt so strange to be dressing up and I spent at least three days trying to find all the event bits and bobs that I usually have packed up and ready to go. I worried I'd forget something, that I wouldn't be able to fit into my event frock, that I'd have forgotten how to keep a hat poised on my head at a good angle, that we'd be horribly out of practice talking to people... Anyway, we arrived in our masks looking like proper Bonnie & Clyde bandits.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1068446_original-05dff59751.jpg\" width=\"550\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Masks by \u003Ca href=\"https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/RosieandGrace1925\">Rosie & Grace\u003C/a>, and \u003Ca href=\"https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EstherBlessed\">Esther Blessed\u003C/a> (who also sewed my dress)\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://www.barneskidslitfest.org/\">Barnes Children's Literature Festival\u003C/a> had all started with the infamous Pet Parade where the combination of Philip's bitey poodle and my stolen cat mysteriously won SECOND PRIZE:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"4870\"/>\\r\n\\r\nSo I stuck with this theme and stole two more puppies when I arrived, because Barnes has a GREAT selection of top dogs. (I did actually give back Saffon and George, but only after I held them hostage for cuddles.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1068767_original-9c1f9896bc.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nEven though our event featured Kevin, the Roly-Poly Flying Pony who is framed for Crimes Against Biscuits, people took away evidence of two other criminal masterminds...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1069316_original-dbfaca79b9.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThese were guinea pig rascals Neville & Beyoncé, our book's copycat criminals who stage a whole heist of their own. (You can find more heist-related activities on the \u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.co.uk/kevin-and-the-biscuit-bandit/\">\u003Ci>Kevin and the Biscuit Bandit\u003C/i> page of my website\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1068892_original-d6d193dc75.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks so much to all the brave souls who came along and drew with us! Here's an excellent picture by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CTD\">Christopher Taylor-Davies\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1069123_original-187f907bcc.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nI also did a picture book event featuring \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.co.uk/grumpycorn/\">Grumpycorn\u003C/a>\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://jabberworks.co.uk/dont-call-me-grumpycorn/\">Don't Call Me Grumpycorn\u003C/a>\u003C/i>. Big thanks to my minder Amy, Nathan on tech and the other festival volunteers and the Waterstones bookshop team for their help!  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1069976_original-8d1c197176.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nEven though it was a Unicorn event, I was reading the room and it morphed into a Dinosaur event, so we ended up drawing some awesome T-Rexes:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1069601_original-7767966a70.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1070286_original-a39af827c3.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the great things about festivals is getting to meet some of your heroes! I was thrilled to see \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Oxenbury\">Helen Oxenbury\u003C/a>, one of the first British writer-illustrators whose work I really studied in detail after I got to the UK, especially her book \u003Ci>Farmer Duck\u003C/i>. I hadn't seen her in ages (well, not surprising since I haven't seen hardly anyone) and it was great to have a chat. (I even heard a reliable rumour that writer-illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.janpienkowski.com/about-jan/about-jan.htm\">Jan Pienkowski\u003C/a> was queuing for her talk!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1070464_original-9364f5cdd4.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHelen has a new book out with Jonathan Cape, \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1119060/air-miles/9780857552198.html\">Air Miles\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, which was started by her late husband John Burningham, and which she finished with their friend Bill Salaman. She said -understandably- that it was a very difficult book to write, and I absolutely must get myself a copy. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1070750_original-eacf8be5fd.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1070864_original-78bf7db6d7.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHey look, it's writer-illustrator \u003Ca href=\"https://www.alexmilway.com\">Alex Milway\u003C/a> in absolutely enormous moose horns! I've read \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://www.alexmilway.com/book/big-sky-mountain/\">Big Sky Mountain\u003C/a>\u003C/i> and it's such a sweet, gentle, funny book about the big outdoors and the characters his city character, Rosa, meets there when she goes to stay with her grandma. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1071211_original-15b17c48ce.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI was so pleased to see writer-illustrator \u003Ca href=\"https://mattylong.com\">Matty Long\u003C/a>, I love his books! ...Which you will know if you see the big quote on the back of his \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://mattylong.com/turbo-bunnies\">Turbo Bunnies\u003C/a>\u003C/i> book! I am so utterly chuffed to have my name on it. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1071774_original-9d110a6543.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nIt was fabulous getting the chance to hang out with one of my all-time favourite people, writer \u003Ca href=\"https://www.smriti.co.uk/rain-before-rainbows\">Smriti Halls\u003C/a>, author of \u003Ci>\u003Cb>Rain Before Rainbows\u003C/b>\u003C/i>. You can see some of the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.davidlitchfieldillustration.com/portfolio/rain-before-rainbows/\">beautiful paintings inside over on the website of its illustrator, David Litchfield\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1071941_original-d4e5572f05.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThe festival team were brilliant and looked after us so well, showing us where to go and making us feel very at home with yummy food and hot drinks. \u003Cb>Judith Dixon\u003C/b> was so incredibly pleased to get assigned to Philip Reeve and me (well, especially Philip!) because she'd written her dissertation on his \u003Ca href=\"https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-railhead-trilogy\">Railhead trilogy\u003C/a> and was a huge fan! She ran home to get her copy so Philip could sign it:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1072195_original-f5cbce082e.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\u003Ca href=\"https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-railhead-trilogy\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1072489_original-4e9692221c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nI really enjoyed reading \u003Ca href=\"https://www.rosswelford.com/\">Ross Welford\u003C/a>'s \u003Ci>Time Travelling with a Hamster\u003C/i> and his new book, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.rosswelford.com/books/when-we-got-lost-in-dreamland/\">When We Got Lost in Dreamland\u003C/a> sounds fascinating.  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1071445_original-a45cfa4521.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nSadly I only got to see writer-illustrator \u003Ca href=\"https://www.steveantony.com/\">Steve Anthony\u003C/a> for about 30 seconds before he got whisked off to do his event, but I borrowed this photo from \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/turnthepagetotn\">Nikki Marsh\u003C/a>'s tweets: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1073069_original-2ca18b5b64.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks so much for hosting us, Barnes Kid Lit Fest! Events are just not the same over Zoom - it was wonderful to see everyone and talk with people in person! You can find out more about the festival \u003Ca href=\"https://www.barneskidslitfest.org/\">on their website\u003C/a>, and follow them on Twitter - \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/kidslitfest\">@kidslitfest\u003C/a> - and Instagram - \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/barneskidslitfest/\">barneskidlitfest\u003C/a>.","2021-06-27T13:01:00.000Z","barnes-childrens-literature-festival-2021",[],"Barnes Children's Literature Festival 2021",1776628731149]