[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-stratford-upon-avon-shenanigans":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I've never been so shocked, when we were in Stratford-upon-Avon, our book's publicist, Alex Richardson, \u003Cb>stole a sheep!\u003C/b> She ran right down the road with it, tucked under her arm. After we spent a night in the Stratford-upon-Avon house of detention, we promised the local constabulary that we'd spend the rest of the weekend leading workshops and generally acting as upstanding role models for the young citizens of Warwickshire at the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/\">Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_6-894004a8b9.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nBut look at that sheep there in the window, standing so complacently. Tell me you wouldn't do the same...\\r\n\u003C!--more Loads more drawings under the cut-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_sheep-f2bce33f71.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe house of detention was very nice, actually, even though it had the same big picture of a queen in every room. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_1-29d8792111.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nSince we were publicising the book \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/new/princess.html\">\u003Ci>You Can't Eat a Princess!\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, we had to bring along our team of aliens, who didn't behave very well at the breakfast table. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_2-215fce754a.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the wonderful festival organisers, Natasha Roderick-Jones, took us out to super-posh Alveston Manor for lunch in between workshops:\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_8-b1349e84b7.jpg\">\\r\nSince we only had a little over an hour, I didn't have a chance to change out of my space princess costume. You should have seen the black looks one elderly lady gave me. It was hard not to giggle.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_4-d579cd1467.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nAs part of the festival, Alex and I got to listen to a talk by illustrious BBC foreign correspondent \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Simpson_%28journalist%29\">John Simpson\u003C/a>. (Don't be too hard on me, I drew if from a fair distance.)\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_7-e0ed6195cb.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nAfter his talk, Alex and I ran to catch the 9pm Ghost Tour, but the guy at the gate wasn't having any of it. No ghost tour for us.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_3-534da5d50a.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nThe school we visited was amazing, they'd made bulletin boards for every guest speaker and really prepped everyone for my visit. So the kids were raring to go, and came up with amazing character designs. What a boost! Thank you, \u003Cb>Bridgetown Primary School\u003C/b>, you guys rock!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_bridgetown-333c4aeb05.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcintyre_bridgest1-b780195f60.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Alex and me visiting Shakespeare's birth house.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_alexsarah-a0bb2d82b9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd my take on the festival logo. \\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/literary-logo-1e3f2d8c0c.gif\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/stratavon_5-407617ba2b.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nThat was an amazing trip, thanks to Alex, Natasha, Steve Blackman, Annie Ashworth and everyone who's been making the festival happen! \\r\n\u003Ci>I promised people in the Cox's Yard workshop on the second day that I'd point them to the free downloads on my website, so \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/new/princess.html\">here they are\u003C/a>. And you can find out about other books I've been working on \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/new/books.html\">here\u003C/a>.\u003C/i>","2010-05-04T14:42:00.000Z","stratford-upon-avon-shenanigans",[],"stratford-upon-avon shenanigans",1776628718049]