[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-stratford-upon-avon-and-space-suits":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"This weekend, the Reeve & McIntyre Roadshow hit the home of England's greatest playwright at \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/StratLitFest\">Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival\u003C/a>! \u003Ci>(It's also where Shakespeare lived...)\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/reeve_uke1_zpsc1bluoch-44ca52d6b7.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere I am, back in the blue wig and flight cap for \u003Ci>Cakes in Space\u003C/i> shenanigans with the festival's director \u003Cb>Annie Ashworth\u003C/b> and one of our top-level space cadets from Oxford University Press, \u003Cb>Elaine McQuade\u003C/b>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratlitfest_elaine_annie_zpsiq0x743x-fc74607d3c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThese kinds of events are usually pleasant, but working together as a team on books with Reeve makes them loads of fun. We were pleased to see that while we were busy at the festival, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/may/04/perfect-picture-book-blend-writer-illustrator\\r\n\">The Guardian ran an article on co-author teams\u003C/a>, with a good emphasis on illustration and comics:\\r\n\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/may/04/perfect-picture-book-blend-writer-illustrator\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/guardian_coauthors_may15_zpsc2rijuul-4005856674.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nAnd Reeve and I got a mention, hurrah! Thanks, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ImogenRW\">Imogen Russell Williams\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/may/04/perfect-picture-book-blend-writer-illustrator\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/guardian_coauthors2_zpsl3ndxiab-6ad4d19318.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nSpeaking of all things space-themed on May the Fourth (be with you), Philip's just written \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/generation-x-wing.html\">a blog on Star Wars and why it's been such a big influence on his work\u003C/a>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/generation-x-wing.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/reeve_starwars_blog_zps8awfp6wi-6d8aa3bc9b.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\n(And if you're looking for more good Star Wars reading material, check out \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/star-wars-models-made-out-single-sheet-a4-paper?utm_content=buffer5eee2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitterbfi&utm_campaign=buffer\\r\n\">these models cut from single sheets of paper\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\nBut back to \u003Cb>Stratford Lit Fest\u003C/b>! One of the best things about a festival is when we hear afterward how people in the audience have been inspired to go away and make their own drawings and stories. Philip and I led them in drawing Pilbeam the robot and a killer cake, and a girl named \u003Cb>Erin\u003C/b> went away and started her own Pilbeam-inspired comic! Yay! I hope she keeps going with it. (Thanks to \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/KathrynEMarsh\">@KathrynEMarsh\u003C/a> for tweeting it.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/erin_pilbeam_comic_zpsepjn0up5-99c85882e0.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWhile we were in town, Philip could feel the bard looking down over not one, but both of his shoulders: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/reeve_shakespeare_zpsftntgnv7-b26b9cf889.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd he signed copies of the Uncorrected Proof edition of his new book, \u003Ci>RAILHEAD\u003C/i>, which is coming out about the same time this September as our \u003Ci>Pugs of the Frozen North\u003C/i> book. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_proofs_zps9w5ecuyh-d4edee6a71.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the fun things about a festival is getting to meet other authors. (In fact, it's how I met Philip, at the Edinburgh book fest.) Here's Philip getting served his asparagus starter on a plank, with a bit of fake grass, next to Elaine and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidcrystal.com/\">Professor David Crystal\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sillyplank_zpsqsdax9ca-8737ef585b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe got to meet David, his wife/manager \u003Cb>Hilary\u003C/b> and their actor/writer son \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bencrystal.com/\">Ben Crystal\u003C/a>, who worked with his dad to create an \u003Ca href=\"http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/display_product_info.jsp?isbn=9780192737502\">Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary\u003C/a> for young teenagers. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/shakesdict_zps5byn5klu-4c4f9dd4d7.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOther fab people we saw at the festival: \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Butterworth\">Nick Butterworth\u003C/a>! I love Nick's work and studied it quite a lot when I first started out. And funnily enough, he looks so much like his characters, including Percy the Park Keeper:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nick_butterworth_zpstewuopmh-a098d360fe.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere are \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/afharrold\">Ashley Harrold\u003C/a> and Philip swapping books in the Green Room: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/afharrold_zpskiodokzu-c0dd7a887c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAshley, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/2dscrumptious\">Steven Lenton\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TraceyCorderoy\">Tracey Corderoy\u003C/a> all came to our Cakes in Space event (thanks so much!) but I didn't manage to snap a picture of Steve before he had to run and catch his train. But here's his fab co-author Tracey, with some of their charaters:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/tracy_coderoy_zpssfxdrhh6-ae06be16c2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nA quick hello with \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/chrisriddell50\">Chris Riddell\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/chris_riddell_zpsjvjdnub5-1b831a4969.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd somehow I entirely missed seeing the marvelous \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/neillcameron\">Neill Cameron\u003C/a>, but here's a photo tweeted by the festival. (Hope to catch you next time, Neill!!) He's come straight from taking part in the Phoenix Fest in Oxford, which sounded amazing. (Check out some of the \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PHOENIXFEST15?src=hash\">tweets from that festival here\u003C/a>!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/neill_stratlitfest_zps2leq4ibr-c85cf3a015.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBig thanks to Annie and her team which made the festival run so smoothly! I hope lots of people went away inspired. \\r\n\\r\nAnd I went back home to Stuart, and we spent a day in Kent visiting the bluebells and eating wild garlic. (Whiffy!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stuart_hike1_zpskehyrlur-bb28648ece.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI promise no bluebells were harmed in the making of this photo. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_bluebells_zpsjuob1y0l-455ab3de19.jpg\">","2015-05-06T06:06:00.000Z","stratford-upon-avon-and-space-suits",[],"stratford-upon-avon and space suits",1776628727593]