[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-pop-up-festival-scheming-a-new-comics-festival-for-kids":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pop_up_logo-359b485e60.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nOn Wednesday, I went to a very exciting meeting! I'm one of the creators chosen to curate this year's \u003Ca href=\"http://pop-up.org.uk/\">Pop-Up Festival\u003C/a> in London on \u003Cb>30 June & 1 July\u003C/b>. A bunch of us met up with the Pop-Up team and the bookseller at The Guardian headquarters, just a stone's throw away from the festival site, near Kings Cross and St Pancras rail stations and Central St Martins art college. At the meeting, I made surreptitious little sketches of the assembled crew: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pop_up_crew-94a91bd296.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's the line-up with links: curators are writer & illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://james-mayhew-author-illustrator.blogspot.com/\">James Mayhew\u003C/a>, writer (and occasional cartoonist) \u003Ca href=\"http://www.candygourlay.com/\">Candy Gourlay\u003C/a>, writer & illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.lauradockrill.co.uk/\">Laura Dockrill\u003C/a>, writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.marcussedgwick.com\">Marcus Sedgwick\u003C/a>, writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.niiparkes.com/\">Nii Parkes\u003C/a>, me, and not present, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.gruffalo.com/\">Axel Scheffler\u003C/a>, Baroness \u003Ca href=\"http://www.floellabenjamin.com\">Floella Benjamin\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.francescasimon.com/\">Francesca Simon\u003C/a>. And the team we met with were director \u003Ca href=\"http://pop-up.org.uk/people/team/9731361\">Dylan Calder\u003C/a>, administrator \u003Cb>Abi Palmer\u003C/b>, storyteller \u003Ca href=\"http://www.snailtales.org/aboutus/chip-colquhoun.html\">Chip Colquhoun\u003C/a>, trustee and writer/editor/translator \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hahn\">Daniel Hahn\u003C/a> and The Guardian bookshop's \u003Cb>Joanna Lord\u003C/b>. \\r\n\\r\nSo here's the deal! We'll each get a HUGE TENT and we get to do anything we like with it inside for a day! My idea is to turn mine into a big \u003Cb>comic festival for kids\u003C/b>, like the kind we have as grown-ups, such as \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/441341.html\">Comiket\u003C/a>, but with an emphasis on kids making and self-publishing their own comics. And I'm hoping to line up a few top-notch comics creators to lead workshops, help kids with their comics and generally make it a storming day. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/kid_comics-098c88fc14.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd we'll even get set builders from the art college; I'm thinking this could be something on the scale of the monster village that Neal Layton, Ed Vere and I designed for the wildly successful \u003Ca href=\"http://www.discover.org.uk/whatson/event/welcome_to_monsterville/\">Monsterville\u003C/a>. Exciting! Here's Dylan showing us the Kings Cross new development.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dylan_map-cc399dbcb0.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nAnd here's the actual space we'll be turning into a big, wild, colourful funfair of everything books and story related. It's right next to the art college and outdoors, but covered, so we'll be safe if it rains on the weekend.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popup_mtg24jan_3-6ed7486b25.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAt our meeting in The Guardian building, we all discussed our ideas and helped each other brainstorm even more. Here I am, plotting, with Marcus Sedgwick and James Mayhew. (James was going on to the opera after the meeting, and had dressed up in a fab Rupert Bear style waistcoat.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popup_mtg24jan_1-41c3def806.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSo you'll be hearing more about the Pop-Up Festival! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popup_mtg24jan_4-65a79160e0.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIn fact, events are already happening; James is doing an Pop-Up event with Andy Stanton (of \u003Ci>Mr Gum\u003C/i> fame) at the Jewish Museum on Sun, 5 Feb, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/whats-on?item=362\">click here for details\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/whats-on?item=362\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mayhew_jewish_museum-5d58d776a9.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nAfter our rocking meeting, Candy Gourlay and I celebrated with tasty treats from the amazing Gelato Mio at King's Cross station. Yum! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/popup_mtg24jan_candy-ea134ae62f.jpg\">","2012-01-27T17:49:00.000Z","pop-up-festival-scheming-a-new-comics-festival-for-kids",[],"pop-up festival scheming... a new comics festival for kids?",1776628721421]