Mad Cap on her way

See what I mean?

Not to miss: Read for the world at the Irish Writers Centre

I'll miss it as it's tomorrow and I'll be busy tucking in more Parisian delicacies, but it sounds deadly!

The Irish Writers' Centre are attempting to break the world record for "most authors reading consecutively from their own books"! From Friday 15th June at 10am right through to Bloomsday 16th June at 2pm, 111 writers (including children's favourites Sarah Webb, John Boyne, Carlo Gébler, Conor Kostick, Alan Nolan, Jane Mitchell, Marita Conlon-McKenna, Sarah Rees Brennan, 2012 CBI Awards shortlistee Roddy Doyle and winner of the CBI Book of the Year Award Celine Kiernan) will read for 15 minutes each, for 28 hours straight! Phew! The event will be broadcast LIVE online at www.writerscentre.ie.

Chop-Chop, Mad Cap!

And so, here it is, the fantasmegaglorious cover of my very first novel and actual book in English: Chop-Chop, Mad Cap!
It's all there: the psycho cat, the spuds of doom, the chocolate stains, the mystery, the crazy hair and er... Mad Cap herself!
The art is by Sadie Cramer, the design by Paul Woods and the publishing by Little Island.
While the printers are busy running their press, I'm taking a MOSTLY DESERVED break in lovely Paris, where I am thinking about school and library visits, reading great books, eating intriguing ice-cream and devising ways to achieve world domination. The usual.

Chop-Chop, Mad Cap! will be available from the bestest bookshops (real and virtual) from July 6th. Can't wait!

The Greenhouse literary agency funny prize

It sounds a bit like the title for one of those romantic novels, but this is a very real prize and a very exciting opportunity for unagented writers of funny stuff for kids. Whether you write picturebooks, junior fiction or prose for teens, this is one for you.

The Greenhouse Funny prize is open to un-agented writers who are currently resident in the UK and Ireland. Entries will be judged by me and guest judge Leah Thaxton, Publishing Director of Egmont Children’s Books (and discoverer of Andy Stanton).

The winner will get an offer of representation from the Greenhouse and a full weekend ticket to the wonderful Festival of Writing that runs 7-9 September ’12 (worth £525). The winner will also be presented with a bottle of champagne at the Festival’s gala dinner on the Saturday night.

Everything you need to know is here. The deadline is Monday 30 July.
On that note, I'm off to see what funny manuscripts I may have sitting in my drawers...