[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-brighton-doodlers":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Sometimes I get invited to events in \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton\">Brighton\u003C/a> and I hardly ever go, unless I make elaborate plans to stay the night, because it seems far away. But people in publishing who live in Brighton are ALWAYS making the trek up to London for evening events. I started imagining I was like one of those north Londoners who won't go to events in south London, which is just silly. I felt like a wimp. So I finally went, just for an evening. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pegasus_brighton_zpsch2pj18k-1ebe5c86bd.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's a doodle of the \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/688957.html\">Dartmoor Pegasus\u003C/a> over \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Pavilion\">Brighton Pavilion\u003C/a>. (My \u003Ci>Seawigs\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>Cakes in Space\u003C/i> co-author, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a>, created the original fat Pegasus, is from Brighton and often tells me stories about it.) First stop was \u003Ca href=\"http://lizpichon.com/\">Liz Pichon\u003C/a>'s house, where I got to have a peek in the writing shed where she creates the \u003Ca href=\"http://www8.scholastic.co.uk/tomgatesworld/\">Tom Gates\u003C/a> books! She apologised about it being messy but I said she hadn't seen my desk. Liz's books are leading the way for books for so-called 'middle grade' readers in the way they bring together text and lots and lots of drawings. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/garden_zpsqatnvsxq-e6da34afed.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nTom Gates is right up there with Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants and if you haven't seen the books, definitely check them out. I suspect the success of Tom Gates is one of the reason our publisher was so interested in publishing my highly illustrated books with Philip. So Liz is a bit of a hero, really.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_liz_drinks_zpszfz9xvgn-7e4193a998.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nHere's Liz with her husband Mark, who's a sound engineer and does a lot of work with her on apps and things. It's great seeing such a fab creative partnership. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mark_liz_sarah_zpslhpjnnpz-ff87f87262.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nNext stop was \u003Ca href=\"http://www.chrisriddell.co.uk/\">Chris Riddell\u003C/a>'s house, where Liz had masks so we could dress up in Chris's 'The Doodler' \u003Ca href=\"http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/chris-riddell/\">Children's Laureate\u003C/a> superhero costume. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mark_sarah_zpsqkppgagk-d249192937.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">Photo by Liz Pichon\u003C/font>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nHe and his painter-printmaker wife, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.joriddell.net/\">Jo Riddell\u003C/a>, had a few people around to the garden for drinks to celebrate book number twelve in his \u003Ca href=\"https://www.randomhouse.com/kids/edgechronicles/\">Edge Chronicles\u003C/a> series with writer \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stewart_%28writer%29\">Paul Stewart\u003C/a>. (Also spot \u003Ca href=\"http://www.worldofadam.com/\">Adam Stower\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ZoeTuckerDesign\">Zoe Tucker\u003C/a>.) Chris sometimes tells me he lives his social life vicariously through my blog, so hello, Chris, if you're reading this! I think being Laureate is going to mean Chris is much MUCH more social than me for the next two years. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/chris_paul_zpszhlu222m-c7b9f8bf0e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWriter-illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.worldofsuehendra.com/\">Sue Hendra\u003C/a> and I sneaked back in the woods behind his house to check out his studio. It was locked, but you can see another \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/446651.html\">blog post I made about it here, when Chris gave me a tour\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sue_hendra_zpseffd5y3w-e844d0d5e1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAfter a lovely evening, the train ride back (full of sunburnt beachgoers) was a bit of a jolt. In fact, it was so totally undignified that it was rather hilarious. I coped by tweeting this photo: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/manspreading_zpsjqombd9z-8c15f96c33.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSo it CAN be done, Brighton in an evening. But I'm still tempted next time to pitch a tent on the beach.","2015-07-06T12:06:00.000Z","brighton-doodlers",[],"brighton doodlers",1776628727733]