The Big Draw

If October wasn't busy enough with our own Children's Books Festival, it's also the month of the Big Draw, a worldwide campaign and series of events which "aims to use drawing to connect visitors with museum and gallery collections, urban and rural spaces – and the wider community – in new and enjoyable ways." Check out the website for events listings, there could be something down your neck of the woods or your Internet alley...

TV star (ahem!)

It would appear that while I was away doing serious research into the Scottish children's books market, a strange woman with stranger feet was spotted on the French TV channel TF1. It's in French and lasts for a whole glorious minute and nine seconds. It's all about, you know, books, how they're made, you've seen it all before...

Back at the ranch | CBF 2010

Meanwhile, some people have been busy. The Children's Books Festival (aka CBF) has been kicked off with gusto up and down the country. For plenty of worshops, talks, readings, etc. wherever you might be, check out the CBI website. They have an events calendar and a festival blog.
If, however, you're desperate to go but are stuck at home with a bad case of flu, pesky attention-seeking babies or a heavy wardrobe accidentally resting on your chest (stuff happens), you can also enjoy some action from home on Tuesday 12 October at 11.30. Read on:

To celebrate Children's Books Festival, Laureate na nÓg Siobhán Parkinson will participate in a special webcast. Siobhan will be in conversation with Bisto Award winning author and illustrator Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick and school and library groups all over the country are encouraged to tune in from their own classroom or library via South Dublin Libraries live stream.This event will be live streamed from County Library, Tallaght. You can tune in live on October 12th or you can view the interview at a later date by visiting www.southdublinlibraries.ie/videos
Young readers can submit their questions to Laureate Siobhan Parkinson in advance
of the broadcast by emailing info@childrensbooksireland.ie. A selection of questions will be answered during the event and any questions that don’t get answered on the day will be answered afterwards by Siobhán on the Laureate’s special website - http://www.childrenslaureate.ie/.

So off you go now!

Dublin Culture Night

I couldn't attend this year's edition of Culture Night (what with being in Scotland and all), but it seems I still managed to take part in it by proxy and unbeknownst to myself. The lads and lassies at CBI took a liking to the sight of these Awfuls (the baddies in my French Tirligok series) and put them up in the reading area for an event at the National Library! Thanks guys!

A wee tour

As you can see, I've been busy sorting out my shelves, which is why it's been quiet in these parts lately...
That, and the fact that we've been taking a litterary tour of Scotland, which included :

• Leaky's (a second-hand bookshop in Inverness, above);

• A visit to the McManus Gallery in Dundee where we discovered the fascinating story of the first world tour by two female reporters (sent by publisher DC Thomson, of The Beano fame, in the 1890s to 'obtain full and accurate information as to woman's position in the world', more here);

• A quick stop at Waterstone's in Edinburgh (where you can find Scots versions of The Twits, dubbed The Eejits! and The Hoose at Pooh's Neuk): 'I'm Pooh,' said Pooh. 'I'm Teeger,' said Teeger. 'Oh!' said Pooh, for he hadna ever seen a craitur like this afore. 'Does Christopher Robin ken aboot ye?' 'Of coorse he does,' said Teeger. 'Weel,' said Pooh, 'it's the howe-dumb-deid o the nicht, which is a braw time for gaun tae sleep. And the morn's morn we'll hae some hinny for oor breakfast. Dae Teegers like hinny?' 'They like awthin,' said Teeger cheerily. 'Weel, if they like gaun tae sleep on the flair, I'll awa back tae ma bed,' said Pooh, 'and we'll dae things in the mornin.'
• No Loch Ness monster, but this... I've been wondering ever since what the Irish equivalent would be... Simon the Selfish Sausage Roll? Colm the Cool Colcannon? Patrick the Proud Potato (looks like it's there in the background already!);

• And last but certainly not least, our favourite, good old William Topaze McGonagall, the world's worst poet, who left us these incomparable lines:

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!

Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers' hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
"I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay."
(...)
 
So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,

Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.
(...)
 
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.

(see here for the rest and plenty more, you now you want to!)

A bit flummoxed

Here I am, in my attic-cum-study, hoping the roof will hold and the bucket won't overflow, and finding myself not quite mistress in my own home, what with the water sneaking in through loose tiles and my new story showing me who's boss (not me).
I had this silly idea for a picturebook about a nasty kid who ends up (or thinks he is going to end up) in a 'boy sandwich' at the hands of his two aunts who may or may not be witches.
It seemed pretty straightforward so I picked that idea out of the project box and started working on it, i.e I opened a brand new Word document, saved it as 'Boy Sandwich' and started typing. And then stopped. And started again, with a different opening. After I did that three or four times, I declared to my typing self: ''There's something wrong''.
I thought about it for a while and realised it wasn't the writing that was causing trouble; it wasn't finding the right words to launch the story that was proving tricky. It wasn't even the story itself. It was a) the main character (evil boy) and b) the format (picturebook).
I've written a few nasty-character stories in the past and imposed some terrible fate on them or given them a glorious ending. But for some reason, last week, I found that the boy in the Boy Sandwich project refused to be treated as a nuisance. That he demanded to be painted as a human being with light and shade, good points and bad points. The works.
As a result, the size and shape of a picturebook didn't work anymore, as my Boy needed more space to plead his case and develop. I'm now 1700 words into the story and Boy has yet to meet the Aunts, and I can already see places where I'll have to go back and add bits so that it all makes sense and isn't rushed.
I've no idea where this is going (as my original ending worked really well for a picturebook but might look a bit slim and 'babyish' in the new order of things) or how long it'll take us (me and the boy) (or rather the boy and me) to get there. Even the whole sandwich business may have to go out the window... and perhaps be recycled in some later project!
Exciting times...

(The flummoxed rooster, wondering in actual fact how he can get rid of his hiccups, is from La véritable histoire du coooq Figaro, written by yours truly and illustrated by Dorothée Jost)

Books and bookmakers

Just read this quite amazing piece on thebookseller.com. It seems up to £500k are spent every year on literary bets in the UK and Ireland. The bets concern the winners of literary prizes, but also the sales figures of such and such a title.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power... expects a total stake of about £100,000 on all book-related bets, such as unit sales of Peter Andre's biography versus Katie Price's, or sales of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, with £50,000 of the total gambled on literary awards, and £25,000 of this on the Man Booker alone. Spokesperson Ken Robertson recalls that Paddy Power's largest literary loss so far was at the 2005 Man Booker, when the bookie offered unfavourable odds of 8/1 on eventual winner John Banville's The Sea—losing £17,000 in the process.

Wonder if the Bisto's in there...

(pic (c) Vincent Gerard)