[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-party-in-the-crows-nest":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I always love a good Christmas party, and since Scholastic and OUP don't do them (fair enough), and Random House Children's Books didn't invite me (ouch! My next book with them is still going through rewrites and doesn't come out for awhile, so the publicist promised I could come \u003Ci>next\u003C/i> year), I pootled along to \u003Ca href=\"http://nosycrow.com/\">Nosy Crow\u003C/a>'s party to catch some of the festive cheer. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_2-09131a1540.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more photos under the cut!-->\\r\nI knew that Nosy Crow had moved from their cosy but cramped railway arch to new digs off Borough High Street. And it really is a proper crow's nest, up three flights of old iron stairs, in the loft of an old brick warehouse sort of building. And inside, it was all a-glitter. Here's my agent, \u003Ca href=\"http://unitedagents.co.uk/jodie-marsh\">Jodie Marsh\u003C/a>, in between illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.sarahhorne.co.uk/\">Sarah Horne\u003C/a> and writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.carylhart.com/\">Caryl Hart\u003C/a>. \\r\n...Oo, there were wild things lurking in the wood!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_6-c6bb405f70.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nA furry hat is always a good start to a party, here are writers \u003Ca href=\"http://reluctant-hypersomniac.blogspot.com/\">Nicole Burstein\u003C/a> (whom you might see working at the front of Piccadilly Waterstone's) and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philipardagh.co.uk/\">Philip Ardagh\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_9-b9e23123b4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd our fabulous hosts, publisher \u003Ca href=\"http://nosycrow.com/about/kate-wilson\">Kate Wilson\u003C/a> (left, who used to work at Scholastic but started up her own company) along with Fiction editor \u003Ca href=\"http://nosycrow.com/about/kirsty-stansfield\">Kirsty Stansfield\u003C/a> (centre) and writer \u003Ca href=\"http://lucycoats.com/\">Lucy Coats\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_3-52515d4127.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAt parties, I find myself hunching over so I can hear people talking, so every once in awhile I need to wander over to this chappie to improve my posture. You can't really see my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.sikadesigns.co.uk/\">Sika\u003C/a> dress, but I was rather excited to be giving it its first outing, even if the petticoat, on the way to and from the party, was slightly unruly in the wind. Philip is \u003Ci>always\u003C/i> hugely pleased to give his beard an outing, it is the \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/PhilipArdagh\">subject of much conversation on Twitter\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_5-588e804562.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWhenever I'm in a picture with illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.gruffalo.com/\">Axel Scheffler\u003C/a>, he always looks a bit freaked out, so we are working on raising the freak-out factor a notch with each photo.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_10-fc134f957b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWriter and illustator \u003Ca href=\"http://nadiashireen.posterous.com/\">Nadia Shireen\u003C/a> was getting a massive crick in her neck, and wasn't at all pleased to be pecked by the big stuffed crow Philip had nicked off someone's desk.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_8-592e9047de.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIt was great meeting loads of new people, and sometimes the talks took the most funny turns. For example, there was this \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bouncemarketing.co.uk/\">Bounce\u003C/a> sales rep named \u003Cb>Steve Fitzgerald\u003C/b>, who looked the straight-laced businessman in his sobre grey jumper, shirt and tie, but whom I found out used to work on a diving team that salvaged wrecked toxic ships off the coast of Kenya. The conversation got more and more fantastical, with tales of Portugese man-o'-war attacks, being torn to pieces over coral reefs, huge green-eyed mango spiders, underwater salvage fatalities, oh my. The guy has promised me he's going to write it all down, I shall take him to task about it if I ever run into him again. I also came away very much wanting to read \u003Ci>The Secret Hen House Theatre\u003C/i> by \u003Ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/farmgirlwriter\">Helen Peters\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\nI didn't get a photo of Steve or Helen, but here's another interesting Steve, \u003Ca href=\"http://2dscrumptious.blogspot.com/\">Steven Lenten\u003C/a>, who promised me a peek at his Soho illustration studio, which is just across the way from Gosh! comics shop (so he'd seen my \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/442996.html\">\u003Ci>Nelson\u003C/i> painting\u003C/a> on the window).\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_7-2bbb56b7a4.jpg\"> \\r\n\\r\nAnd I'll end with a photo of my agent, glamming it up. There were a lot of agents at that party! I spotted \u003Ca href=\"http://evewhite.co.uk/new/\">Eve White\u003C/a> (my writer \u003Ca href=\"http://gillianrogerson.net/\">Gillian Rogerson\u003C/a>'s agent), \u003Ca href=\"http://carolinesheldon.co.uk/\">Caroline Sheldon\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.greenhouseliterary.com/index.php/site/about\">Julie Churchill\u003C/a>, and a few whose names I've forgotten (but mine is the best agent, of course, not just because she looks good in a furry wolf hat). Jodie and I were two of the last people to leave the party because it was all rather splendid. \\r\n\\r\nThanks so much for a lovely evening, Nosy Crow!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrowxmas11_11-354f3a8c62.jpg\">","2011-12-13T11:27:00.000Z","party-in-the-crows-nest",[],"party in the crow's nest",1776628721095]