[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-oundle-festival-polly-dunbars-show-new-hamster-book":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Yesterday, the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.oundlelitfest.org.uk/kids-events/\">Oundle Festival of Literature\u003C/a> hosted my \u003Ci>You Can't Eat a Princess!\u003C/i> event in this appropriately palatial hall. They squeezed in exactly 301 children and we had a great time drawing aliens and designing space ships.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oundle_2-4f13be82a1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's \u003Cb>Leigh Giurlando\u003C/b>, who organised my visit, and \u003Cb>Joanna Patterson Gordon\u003C/b>, who runs the beautiful \u003Cb>Oundle Bookshop\u003C/b> in the town's market centre. And a lovely chappie who helped with the setup. Fellow princesses, take note: no ball gown is ever complete without a fetching piece of string tied round the waist.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oundle_1-df32c32d62.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSadly, when \u003Ca href=\"http://www.vivianeschwarz.co.uk\">Viviane Schwarz\u003C/a> met me at Kings Cross station after returning from Peterborough, I was no longer wearing my royal apparel. We went for coffee and I got to see the American edition of her marvelous new hamster book with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.alexisdeacon.com\">Alexis Deacon\u003C/a>, \u003Cb>\u003Ci>A Place to Call Home\u003C/i>\u003C/b>. Which she illustrated while she was moving house, which rather suits the theme.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/viv_hamsters-e7d7e191d2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nViv and I went on to lovely Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street for the launch of an exhibition of beautiful painted illustrations by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.pollydunbar.com\">Polly Dunbar\u003C/a>. Nearly everyone in children's publishing must have been in that room! Here's Polly in her smashing new dress and shoes, with Alexis Deacon and his comely angel halo.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/polly_dunbar-bece7c6270.jpg\">\\r\nThe exhibition, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/events.asp\">\u003Ci>The Picture Book World of Polly Dunbar\u003C/i>\u003C/a> runs until \u003Cb>24 March\u003C/b>, so do go on over and have a look! And Daunt Books has loads of Polly's books for sale, which you can \u003Ca href=\"http://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/events.asp\">have her sign tomorrow\u003C/a>, \u003Cb>19 March\u003C/b>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more More under the cut!-->\\r\nI'd only ever spoken with \u003Ca href=\"booksniffingpug.blogspot.com\">Book Sniffer\u003C/a> by e-mail, who had gone by Mr P, which made me assume Book Sniffer was a man. But no, it's a blue stuffed dog and the lovely Emma. I've promised her a blog entry, so you might see that before too long.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/booksniffer2-12e3501134.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/booksniffer3-0b5dd9f4a9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI see \u003Cb>Philip Reeve\u003C/b> has blogged about his \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2011/03/hello-america.html\">first Skype-based event\u003C/a>, in America. I need to think if I want to do that sort of thing; it would be great for doing low-cost events in other countries.\\r\n\\r\nHere's a \u003Ca href=\"http://eruditebaboon.livejournal.com/26251.html\">brand-new \u003Ci>Ants\u003C/i> comic\u003C/a> from \u003Cb>James Turner\u003C/b> (\u003Ca href=\"http://eruditebaboon.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">eruditebaboon\u003C/a>).\\r\n\\r\nAnd one more thing, a video of the remarkable \u003Ca href=\"http://warwickjohnsoncadwell.blogspot.com/\">Warwick Johnson Cadwell\u003C/a> drawing a gorilla. A great way to end a day's entry.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"674\"/>\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvcGv_7Q51U\">\u003Ci>YouTube link\u003C/a>\u003C/i>","2011-03-18T12:58:00.000Z","oundle-festival-polly-dunbars-show-new-hamster-book",[],"oundle festival, polly dunbar's show, new hamster book",1776628719886]