[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-dinosaur-police-hay-festival-2015":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I had my first \u003Cb>\u003Ci>Dinosaur Police\u003C/i>\u003C/b> event yesterday, at the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.hayfestival.com/wales/hayfever/homepage.aspx?skinid=2&currencysetting=GBP&localesetting=en-GB&resetfilters=true\">Hay Festival\u003C/a> in Wales! And I got to wear my brand-new dinosaur-inspired hat! My sculptor friend, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/EddieSmith3D\">Eddie Smith\u003C/a> created it (the same guy who helped me build the \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/575735.html\">giant Seawig\u003C/a> and talking \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/649723.html\">cake hat\u003C/a>), and my local tailor, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/EstherBlessedUK\">Esther Marfo\u003C/a>, made the dress. (Oh, and I made the book!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/11620966/Hay-Festival-2015-in-pictures.html?frame=3321248\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/Hay15_Telegraph_JayWilliams_zpsitf0cirz-282b84ec89.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nThis photo's by \u003Cb>Jay Williams for Telegraph Books\u003C/b>, and I was awfully excited to be included in \u003Ca href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/11620966/Hay-Festival-2015-in-pictures.html?frame=3321248\">the gallery\u003C/a> between \u003Cb>Pam Ayres\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Virginia McKenna\u003C/b>, both of whom I got to meet in the Green Room. Here's a doodle of my awesome Scholastic UK publicist, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/davesanger09\">Dave Sanger\u003C/a>, bravely helping me on stage to lead the audience in a very rousing rendition of the Dinosaur Police SONG. It might not have been the most tuneful number on the day, but we all sang it with great gusto. (Thanks, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/philipreeve1\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a>, for writing the lyrics, and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahReeve3\">Sarah Reeve\u003C/a>, for teaching me some ace uke chords to play with it!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_sarah_dave_zpsl1ybtgfp-c0548850cf.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Dave, sheltering from the rain under the umbrella of my enormous hat. Oh... and I have some exciting news about David! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_hatdavesanger_zps2rviubbq-39a5bb307c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nNot only is he a fab publicist, but he's signed a book deal with Quercus for a book for adults, \u003Ci>All Their Minds in Tandem\u003C/i>, coming out next spring. Yay, Dave! I can't wait to read it.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.thebookseller.com/news/quercus-signs-debut-scholastics-sanger\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/david_sanger_bookseller_zpsmjgn31wq-aadb92a516.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nSo for our event, we did some drawing, and some roaring, comics, and general mucking about.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_dinostage_zps3a6ssjsj-76d835018e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI showed everyone my way of drawing Trevor the T-Rex, and here's one of the drawings from a girl in the audience named \u003Cb>Grace\u003C/b>. We discussed various possible dinosaur professions, and this one's a dinosaur astronaut. (Here are some \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/dinosaur-police/\">guides on my website to drawing dinosaurs\u003C/a>, if you want to have a try.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_trexdrawing_zps66fjdspy-32ed1d3fa4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd it wasn't just people in Wales drawing dinosaurs; here's a picture tweeted in from South America of Inspector Sarah Tops at the same time by \u003Cb>Mercedes Ortiz\u003C/b>!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://literati101.blogspot.com.br/2015/05/day-116-sarahthon-day-6-drawing.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mercedes_pic__zpsxabnrkrz-e2a05113c7.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nAnd then I got to sign and draw in lots of books. Thanks so much, everyone who came along! (Photo tweeted by \u003Cb>Steph Roundsmith\u003C/b> at \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/kidsrwreview\">@kidsrwreview\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_signing_zpsdh5fbzy4-c1951b8f04.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBig thanks to the other \u003Cb>Sarah\u003C/b>, who managed our event, and \u003Cb>Glyn Morgan\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/GR_Morgan\">@GR_Morgan\u003C/a>), who was working another event but made me feel very famous by pulling me aside for a photo to tweet. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_helpers_zpsgk9mz5u8-9737a8c971.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nActually, a lot of us had fun with the hat. Here are authors \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ed_vere\">Ed Vere\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/HolSmale\">Holly Smale\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Puttypaw\">Tom Moorhouse\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_holly_ed_tom_zpsolvpms8f-a16a63b1c0.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI only had time to go to one event, so I went to see Holly give a talk with \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Meggyf\">Megan Farr\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ArabellaWeir\">Arabella Weir\u003C/a>. Holly and Arabella have both written stories about teenage girls very much like they were as teenagers, and it was kind of funny because I think it they'd met each other as teenagers, they would have \u003Ci>loathed\u003C/i> each other. Since they're both grown-ups now, they can talk about these things in a friendly sort of way, but I think the audience could still feel the undercurrent of their semi-fictional teenage selves at war. (Which made everything way more interesting than if they'd been very similar.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_hollypanel_zpsdn1bfzzv-205770ffbc.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe most surprising question actually came from a child in the audience, who said: \"You're both obviously very intelligent women. So why are you writing books for children?\" (Cue a big intake of breath from several people up front and in the audience who make books for children.) Holly and Arabella answered it well, saying that it can be even harder to write for children, because children don't let writers hide behind unnecessary literary nonsense: either a story works for them, or it doesn't. In fact, Holly didn't even set out to write for children. She made the \u003Ci>Geek Girl\u003C/i> protagonist 15 years old, and that's what made the editor decide it was a children's book. Both Arabella and Holly said they never dumb down allusions and jokes because they're writing for kids, and Holly pointed to Shakespeare references in her stories. \\r\n\\r\nBoth writers said it's harder to make people laugh than cry, which I very much agree with. It reminded me of a line tweeted recently by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/EwaSR\">Ewa SR\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/ewa_tweet_zpsjyju1dpc-0ec5e926f3.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBeing funny doesn't mean being dizzy or less talented, on the contrary, it takes more skill.  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_hollyhat_zpsrsahi9qr-41a8a6ae19.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnother thing that takes a whole lot of skill is moderating talks. Big cheers to people who moderated MANY talks, including \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/danielhahn02\">Daniel Hahn\u003C/a> (who was compere for 18 talks during the festival!) and the Telegraph Book's \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MartinChilton\">Martin Chilton\u003C/a>, who also had to read a whole lot of books and ask a lot of good questions. Here's Martin, looking lovely in the dino hat. (And yes, he \u003Ci>DID\u003C/i> suddenly sprout a lavish blond fringe.)  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_martinhat_zps8h7ab3pk-af2e390fec.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI was sad to miss illustrator \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jamieillustrate\">Jamie Littler\u003C/a>'s event with Danny Wallace, but I hear it was a storming success. (Here he is, with the newspaper rose we were all given.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_jamielittler_zpstdczskyr-91150f70e9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the hardest things about this year has been not having enough time to catch up with friends. And this festival was wonderful for that. On the first morning, I came out of my bedroom at George House to find my great friend, writer \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/moira_young\">Moira Young\u003C/a>, also coming downstairs to breakfast. Yay! Here's Moira, with wonderful \u003Cb>Shirley Smith\u003C/b>, who lives in the house and turns it into a guesthouse once a year, just for the festival. I stayed with her in 2012 and was thrilled to be back. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_shirley_moira_zpsqypjqnoo-9beedf2316.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd it was great to catch up with Moira and her architect husband \u003Cb>Paul\u003C/b>. Another big treat was getting to have a girly slumber party with Holly Smale, when she found she wouldn't be able to catch the last train home. After dinner, we stayed up WAY too late chatting in the pink bedroom, in our little twin beds, then came back together on the train. Good times. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_moira_paul_zpswdpr2rwb-308b206097.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd the other people who made it a fun visit was the group of Norwegians at the festival - a 'noggin' of Norwegians as I've decided they're called - and they took me out to dinner on the first night: \u003Cb>Helga and John Rullestad\u003C/b> (who \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/670224.html\">hosted me in Norway\u003C/a> for the \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SILKfestivalen\">SILK Festival\u003C/a>) and their good friend \u003Cb>Odd Henning Johannessen\u003C/b>. (Thanks so much, Norwegians!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_norwegians2_zps8mvtdtkg-e4ac677fe3.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks so much to Hay Fever Festival Director \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/marysbookstuff\">Mary Byrne\u003C/a>, and Artists Manager \u003Cb>Heather Salisbury\u003C/b> at Hay Festival for inviting and looking after me, Shirley for putting me up, Dave for being my glamorous dinosaur assistant, the team at the Hay Festival bookshop, Dave and \u003Cb>Harriet Bayly\u003C/b> for the second night's dinner, drivers \u003Cb>Darren\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Mark\u003C/b>, Sarah, the stewards and everyone who made the festival run so smoothly and be so much fun. And big thanks to Eddie and Esther for all the costume help! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/hay15_ed_esther_zpskeoehegf-410cf2e035.jpg\">","2015-05-29T21:00:00.000Z","dinosaur-police-hay-festival-2015",[],"dinosaur police: hay festival 2015",1776628727667]