[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-sardinias-festival-tuttestorie-2018":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"My co-author \u003Ca href=\"http://philip-reeve.com/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> and I got an invitation from our Italian publisher, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.castoro-on-line.it/sarah-mcintyre/\">Il Castoro\u003C/a>, and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.tuttestorie.it/\">Tuttestorie Festival of Children's Literature\u003C/a> to come out to Sardinia to meet lots of children who'd read our books! We were terribly excited and drew this picture on the airplane: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/552654_original-7010009ffc.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here they are, enthusiastic readers at the festival ground in \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cagliari\">Cagliari\u003C/a>, where 5,000 children arrived every day for three days to attend book events. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/541509_original-116af2d2ce.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nPhilip and I had been doing lots of events for our new book \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.co.uk/the-legend-of-kevin/\">The Legend of Kevin\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, so on the way back, we made a little comic about what it would be like for a roly-poly flying pony to visit the festival.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/539005_original-ff6a958e83.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/539300_original-673670dce5.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nBut it wasn't only Kevin who came along...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/552707_original-dc06a38299.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThis was the view of the Via Garibaldi from my window! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/539465_original-437114580c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more photos under the cut!-->\\r\nAnd here's the independent bookshop, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.tuttestorie.it/libreria/\">Libreria Tuttestorie\u003C/a>, who organised the festival. We didn't get to go inside because whenever we were off-duty, it was closed for the daily \u003Ci>riposo\u003C/i> (Italian for \u003Ci>siesta\u003C/i>). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/539874_original-1bf1b5e1c9.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nBut that was not a problem because there was a whole other outdoor bookshop they were running on the festival grounds at the EXMA arts centre. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/540105_original-fa6b593cee.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's a festival photo (tweeted by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/FTuttestorie\">@FTuttestorie\u003C/a>) of us being interviewed by Italy's RIA station. It's one of the few times I've later walked down a street and someone's recognised me from TV. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/540272_original-6f1394681f.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's our excellent Il Castoro editor, \u003Cb>Lori Baldinucci\u003C/b>, who met us in Cagliari. She edited \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/pugs-of-the-frozen-north/\">Pugs of the Frozen North\u003C/a>\u003C/i> - \u003Cb>\u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.castoro-on-line.it/libri/la-grande-corsa-al-polo-nord/\">La Grande Corsa al Polo Nord\u003C/a> \u003C/i>\u003C/b>- and \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/oliver-and-the-seawigs/\">Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/a>\u003C/i> - \u003Cb>\u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.castoro-on-line.it/libri/oliver-e-le-isole-vagabonde/\">Oliver e le Isole Vagabonde\u003C/a> \u003C/i>\u003C/b>- and had them translated by \u003Ca href=\"https://it.linkedin.com/in/laura-bortoluzzi-42375915\">Laura Bortoluzzi\u003C/a>.  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/540627_original-76030c3cd5.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI loved these children's fan art they brought along: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/540872_original-060669a277.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/541004_original-2b82426eb9.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe did five assemblies for schools and one public all-ages event, and signed books in the big EXMA festival courtyard: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/541794_original-b681197caf.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/542003_original-74c440a051.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nSea monkey! (You can learn how to draw a Sea Monkey step by step \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/oliver-and-the-seawigs/\">here on my website\u003C/a>.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/542590_original-fd4db861aa.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/542310_original-53ab4f47cc.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd pug!! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/542790_original-4fb88dc934.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nA pug is a 'carlino' in Italian, named after Carlo 'Carlino' Bertinazzi, a Harlequin actor who achieved fame in both Italy and France in the 1700s. The dog’s snout looked like the \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin\">mask\u003C/a> he wore on stage.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/543675_original-828e6911ca.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nYou can learn how to draw a pug \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/pugs-of-the-frozen-north/\">here\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/545851_original-c24ba4967e.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nLori took some photos of us in action: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/543211_original-06352f3e6d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nBut we couldn't have done any of it without our excellent translator, Samantha Cipollina; it was really a three-person show. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/543442_original-6ab9f2fa53.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Samantha, to the right of Philip: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/543878_original-da2246d279.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAfter one of our events, we did a radio interview and Samantha did simultaneous translation for that, which is even trickier than translating sentences after we'd finished speaking them. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/544251_original-db502268e8.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nIt was great to see British writer-illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.benjidavies.com/blog/\">Benji Davies\u003C/a>! He also has a book published with Il Castoro, and we got to have dinner with him one evening. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/544630_original-b4c7f2aee4.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Benji with his partner, Nina. (They'd brought along their toddler, so we didn't get to see a lot of them, but it was great to see them at least briefly.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/544416_original-9dc2fd5370.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.tuttestorie.it/festival/team/davide-madeddu/\">Davide Madeddu\u003C/a>, the mastermind of our trip and our main contact. He's usually a nursery school teacher, but he takes a week off work to run around making everything in the festival run efficiently, and he warned us that at the end of the festival, we'd need a couple days to recover. We hope he gets at least a week to sleep! He was so helpful and cheerful the whole time, it was wonderful working with him. And we got to have dinner at the amazing \u003Ca href=\"http://www.anticocaffe1855.it/\">Antico Caffè\u003C/a> on the first night with at least seven courses of absolute gourmet food, including this seafood stew with traditional Sardinian \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fregula\">Fregula\u003C/a> pasta. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/544850_original-0df80d082e.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's the festival ground lit up at night, and we were able to catch glimpses of some of the performances in the courtyard, including a performer who uses an old-fashioned overhead projector, music, shadow puppets, inks and water. (I took a photo of that but it didn't turn out.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/545680_original-f069531ed7.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nEveryone was so friendly, and having the children's festival all in one big arts centre like that gave the whole place a wonderful atmosphere, with costumes, music and street performers. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/545230_original-e1f5c20e70.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere we are across the street from the festival, at \u003Ca href=\"http://www.moodcagliari.com/\">Mood Restaurant\u003C/a>, our designated lunch place. We got to try another Sardinian pasta specialty, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.the-pasta-project.com/malloreddus-sardinian-gnocchi/\">Malloreddus\u003C/a>, and another day, a simple buffalo mozzerella salad, which turned out to be absolutely amazing. (I didn't know mozzerella could be that good! Davide told us that kind of mozzerella only lasts a couple days, so they can't really export it.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/546147_original-8e25d0e02c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nMassive thanks to Davide, and to the huge team of staff and volunteers for looking after us and making everything so much fun. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/546517_original-3cc18c0a06.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nOn our last night we had dinner all together at the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/SalsamenteriaCagliari/?hc_ref=ARQayoTpAgZKGLgYoaQF47ar_2-q8QgMtxv7ECMaTJz5zZF-lf7kPK_yIN954Zycx9M\">Salsamenteria\u003C/a> on Via Sidney Sonnino for the last time and said our goodbyes. I was very sad to leave Sardinia, I would have loved to have spent at least another month there, touring around the island and walking in the hills.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/546597_original-45e8b52df4.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe'll miss you all! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/546887_original-9a6c8377e6.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThanks for making us feel so welcome! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/551257_original-ed361f9fa0.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd now, a few more photos of Cagliari. We didn't have huge amounts of time off, but we usually had a couple hours in the afternoon to race around looking at things, and on Saturday, we only had an evening event, so we were able to go on a particularly long walk, starting here from the Via Garibaldi: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/547190_original-0ffa53d4ad.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe passed this building every day on the way to breakfast at the Antico Caffé:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/548630_original-f02fced938.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThe light there is so beautiful, and we got to see quite a few variations on it, as it as a bit stormy when we arrived. (Fortunately it only rained at night, never during the day (which would have soaked the outdoor elements of the festival), although we learned the rain was a good thing because it keeps mosquitos at bay, and they came out during our last couple days. If you're going to Sardinia, be sure to pack insect repellent! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/547415_original-21b9fa17a7.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nGate in the old town: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/547662_original-d909f81981.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/547957_original-2938470326.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/548165_original-bd26761e0a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/548355_original-fbf3f44f25.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/549091_original-5e21525f7d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/549197_original-0ea7872c84.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/549391_original-14b08ff39d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/549796_original-0f492a937c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe walked from the harbour around the penninula to the beach, and realised we really should have got a bus or taxi. But the walk was still interesting, and we popped into this nondescipt cafe-tabac which turned out to have a lot of charm and look like something in a film:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/549925_original-d165b25443.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/550258_original-75f5652d8c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/550510_original-4e1c042b61.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAt least we reached the beach! And a beautiful one it is, too. Neither of us had brought swim wear, but I think I would have blinded all these lovely bronzed people with my whiteness, so that was okay. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/552170_original-46b8e50bb0.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe found a \u003Ca href=\"http://www.findchaffy.com/\">Chaffy\u003C/a> di Mare! (Or some sort of dried-up sea urchin - there were a lot of these washed up on the shoreline.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/552330_original-211ee631a8.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe're not quite sure what they said about us in the local media, but it was nice to see, nonetheless! The hats and big frocks went down well, they are very not local fashion.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/550663_original-9d1a27e5cf.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/551137_original-ecd64b715e.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nI did succumb to one piece of local fashion at Milan airport, but it turns out Philip looks much better in it. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/551474_original-d7cacf4c14.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd a final thought for Philip, who kindly packed the pack of Fregula I'd bought in a supermarket in Cagliari to take home. Readers, it burst. Philip will be finding pasta balls in unexpected places for months. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/551701_original-a234df5a73.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">","2018-10-09T07:30:00.000Z","sardinias-festival-tuttestorie-2018",[],"sardinia's festival tuttestorie 2018!",1776628729812]