[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-leicester-author-week-2014":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"So I went straight from Gatwick Airport to Leicester and thought I was going to crash from tiredness, but it was fun! These guys helped a lot, I always perk up when I see writers \u003Ca href=\"http://www.visitingauthor.com/Home.html\">John Dougherty\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.balirai.co.uk/\">Bali Rai\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicesterWiT_authors_zps0d23ee1c-e71eeaa5b2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI had two days of working with kids for \u003Cb>Leicester Author Week\u003C/b> - 800 kids in total!! - focusing with half of them on \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i> and the other half on \u003Ci>There's a Shark in the Bath\u003C/i>. Even though \u003Ci>Seawigs\u003C/i> isn't a comic, the session had a comics focus and in the workshop half of the event, I led them in a big Sea Monkey Comics Jam. Here you can see one kid working on the last comics panel. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicesterWiT_comicsjam_zps22b678c0-a9fa63663f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>Take that, you shark guts! ...Take that, you poo poo head!\u003C/i> Ha ha, it's so much fun reading the stuff kids write. I also managed to pop into a shop near the Tigers Rugby Club, where we were meeting, and buy a few fun odds and ends, including a blue hair, a Cleopatra headdress and an inflatable shark. You never know when you might need an inflatable shark.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicesterWiT_shop_zps41d245b5-01d347ce0c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nFor the younger kids (5-7), I led them in drawing a shark. I love seeing all the variations on my drawing; all these sharks have such unique character.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_sharks1_zps1d9b9d52-9540048390.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_sharks2_zps978f6960-b29e043fad.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_sharks3_zpsabbc30cd-02b261996b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\n\\r\nI got to meet writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/'>Anthony Horowitz</a> for the first time, who was live streaming his event to something like 25 schools, and writer <a href=\">Andy Briggs\u003C/a>, whom I'd met once before. I've done Leicester Author Week for the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.whatever-it-takes.org.uk/\">Whatever It Takes\u003C/a> programme for quite a few years, and I always look out for storyteller \u003Cb>Jyoti Shanghavi\u003C/b> (on the right). This time I also got to meet storyteller \u003Cb>Anita Kumari\u003C/b> (left), and found out that, combined, the two women are able to speak \u003Cb>TEN languages\u003C/b>!!!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicesterWiT_team_zps52ae049a-1f74c87013.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nFor my Shark in the Bath workshop, I had kids think of something scary that they could put in a bathtub, but then draw a picture of it looking silly, like the moustachioed shark in my book. Here's a bath full of snakes:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_snakes_zps7f3eff20-5e5d33a32f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI think it's a great way to address a fear of something: draw it so it's obviously totally absurd and have a laugh about it. (And some kids just had fun loading up their bathtubs with cool stuff.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_giantspider1_zpsba595868-c759bb6e81.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI'll post a bunch of their drawings, some of them are very funny and some have surprisingly good design elements about them. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_bikinidragon_zps7e86a2b7-f51469c2f7.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_dragon_zps1369b699-e97d445d12.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_friendly_zps9407a3d6-1f27322e64.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_colours_zps7c6f5eb1-3f2c02ecf3.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_ofweird_zps091c3d15-499db49184.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_ful_zps4a73ff96-be8e6ed96b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_oddbubbles_zps0a05a4ed-7db528593a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_bath_giraffe_dino_zps18ae744f-ab9500280b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAfter two very full days of events, that was it, I was ready to go HOME. Here's fab \u003Cb>Juliet Martin\u003C/b>, who was so good at helping work with the large groups of kids. Thanks for being awesome, \u003Cb>Ellen Lee\u003C/b>, \u003Cb>Katie Little\u003C/b> and the rest of the Leicester Whatever-it-Takes team! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicesterWiT_sarah_juliet_zps39827fc2-437cfa792a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIt was strange waking up to this view after being in Dubai for a week. And I retired my white boots, they don't really last more than 15 wearings or so without being irredeemably shabby.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicesterWiT_boots_zpsa129b618-3cbbf05541.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd there was even time to catch up with friends! John Dougherty came along for a curry with Leicester locals (and comics people) \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SignorFurioso\">Jay Eales\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/selinalock\">Selina Lock\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/rachael_\">Rachael Smith\u003C/a>. I'd only met Rachel once at Thought Bubble comics festival in Leeds, so it was great getting the chance to talk more. Thanks for meeting up, guys!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/leicester_friends_zps245cb014-3d65307839.jpg\">","2014-03-15T18:04:00.000Z","leicester-author-week-2014",[],"leicester author week 2014",1776628726229]