Launched!

There were heroes and monsters, cats and rabbits, zombies and sellotape, and sure it was great!
Madness was had by all at the Little Island launch last Saturday in Smock Alley Theatre, including yours truly...

More can be seen at Sadie's too, including the aforementioned zombies.

Inchicore, Ilac Centre and other places beginning with I

The furthest I've had to travel so far...

;)

Shop local! There may be an author near you...

Let's hear it for Kettle Horse Boy and Super Girls!

More brilliant characters, created this time by the ladies and gentlemen from the Oblate School and Our Lady of Lourdes. Thanks for the hugs!

And now for this week's excitement: the Dublin Book Festival!

A conspiracy of writers.

It's a secret!

Some serious hair action with the girls from George's Hill Presentation School.

Captain Poop Monkey, Black Cat Crazy Hair: you rock!

And, look, a special guest snuck into our session in the Central Library for the Dublin Book Festival.

Siobhán Parkinson, publisher and writer extraordinaire.

Best question of the week (to Sadie): 'How do you feel when you draw?'

Launch!

Are ye ready for this? Monsters VS Superheroes madness at the Dublin Book Festival next week.

Do come and celebrate Jean Flitcroft's Pacific Giants, Annie Grave's new Nightmare Club titles and, yes, our Mad Cap in Smock Alley Theatre on Saturday 17 November at 1pm.
The more, the crazier!

Scary Sapphire

Told you she was a psycho cat!
This is Sadie's handiwork and the setting is Imaginosity during their Festival of Stories where we met more superheroes such as Pumpkin Girl and Mister Amazing...

Fan mail

This fan is looking into new and interesting ways to read Mad Cap...
(The hair, I'm told, is not an imitation of Madgie's. Some say it's the other way round.)

That's what I like to see!

Indeed it is!

Mad Cap is on loan in lots of Dublin City libraries and, mysteriously, in Charleville Mall, one must apparently 'reserve [one]self' before reading it. Quite the experience, I know!

Festival of Stories 2012 at Imaginosity

Will you be there? Because I will. And Sadie, and Mad Cap and Norbert and Manic Mudrick and and Scrum the cat.... The works!

We will be doing a Hero DIY workshop on Sunday 28 (yes, THIS Sunday) at 4pm. You have been warned!
All the details are here.

In full swing

And so, the 2012 Children's Books Festival is entering its second week and going strong. This is my first year taking part from the author side of the fence and it's been quite something so far!
After 7 events in as many days, my brain has started getting into high-spin mode, but I still have plenty of adrenaline left in my system to buoy me up through the exhaustion, the rain and the lack of chocolate around the house. (I hope).
Last week saw my partner in workshop Sadie Cramer and myself visit the sun-flooded library in Stillorgan where we met two bunches of very keen and very alert ladies. Both were 5th class, the first lot came from Mount Anville, the second from Saint Raphaela's (whom the book is partly dedicated to) (yes, it was a bit of a shock to them) (long story). We saw some very cool heroic logos created there and some terrific cliffhangers written (I for one want to know what became of Juliette Froggy Girl please!).

On the Friday I ventured all on my lonesome to meet this strange species called... boys, in Willow Park School in Blackrock. Like the girls before them, two groups of third class tried their hand at writing about a superhero of their making: how he/she/it got superpowers, what happened when he/she/it first met Santa/monkeys from outer space/another hero, that sort of thing. To spice it up though they had to include a random word (given by me) in their story, in any shape and guise they wanted. Which is how we ended up with Kettle Man. (And also Super Hot Dog Man but that had nothing to do with me or the approaching lunch time).

Finally on Monday 8 October, I joined forces with Sadie again to explore Castletymon Library in South Dublin, where we were awaited by three(separate) groups from St Kevin's GNS, Scoil Aonghusa and Scoil Cholmcille. There was some serious writing and illustrating here too. The last class we met was actually reading Chop-Chop, Mad Cap! so it was a slightly different experience for us. For them too, in fact, as they got a special treat in the shape of an extract from Mad Cap's next adventure and as they made suggestions of titles and plot lines for the third or fourth instalment in the series.
Those guys were very optimistic! Thanks!
Over the week we got lots of brilliant, pointed questions ranging from technique to inspiration via career, money and 'can you speak French to us please?' But I think I should leave you with the best questions of all, asked by one of the lads in Castletymon:
'How big would you say is your love of writing?'
Can anybody trump that? I think not!

For more pics of the week that was, head over to Sadie's blog here.

Mad Cap on the web!

Hear, hear! Mad Cap of the Rent-a-Hero Agency has made herself a wee home on line at http://the-rent-a-hero-agency.blogspot.ie/
Go have a look and find out some secret stuff about herself and Norbert (and me!). (And cool Mad Cap logo or what?!)

Back from Newbridge

And so, Sadie and myself were in Newbridge. Locked up in a room full of super heroes of all shapes and sizes as well as their creators. Electricity Man, Smelly Man, Hello Kitty, the Big-Eyed Bug, Sweet Tooth, Valkyrie Cain, Rat Girl and her best pal Cat Girl, Mega Man, Jonathan Ripples, Caffein Man, Dog Man, Weather Man, Kitten Cat, Tea Man and the rest... not to mention their respective arch enemies and secret weaknesses (including decaf coffee, worms and naan bread)... there was some serious imagining going on.
And thanks to Sadie you can have an idea of what we all got up to.

For more, head over to Sadie's blog and look out for more shennanigans during the Children's Books Festival, starting next week. Stillorgan, Castletymon, Blackrock... here we come!

Reading Away the Days

Megan, blogger extraordinaire at Reading Away the Days, is hosting a fantastic kidlit event for the whole of this month: author interviews, reviews, book excerpts, giveaways, there's something new every day. Today you can find out about our own Mary Murphy (here) and here's the programme for the rest of the week (dedicated to books for 0/5 year-olds):

Wednesday 5th September: A post on Kipper the dog & review of Hide Me, Kipper the 18th Birthday edition book plus giveaway of Animals & bedtime stories mini library

 

Thursday 6th September: A post on memories of our parents reading to us featuring authors answers & reviews of some easy read books also a giveaway of a Winnie the pooh book

 

Friday 7th September: Guest post from children's author & illustrator Rebecca Emberley & A Funny Bones Book Feature

 

Saturday 8th September: A post on the importance of parents reading with or to their children with author answers & Peppa Pig feature plus giveaway of a Jakers & Jay Jay the jet plane book

 

Sunday 9th September: Children's author Judi Curtin spotlight & review of Mother Goose Action Rymes by Axel Schuffler

And I can tell you now what Tuesday 11th September will be about: one Madgie Cappock aka Mad Cap, missing butchers and tap-dancing. I shall reveal no more for the time being...

Fun in class: Mad Cap teacher's notes

Hullo, world! I'm not quite back to school yet, but the folks at Little Island have been busy putting up the teachers notes I did for Mad Cap on their website: there's some classic stuff (questions and food for thought) as well as more... unusual material such as how to make an origami rabbit and a riddle from Norbert's Temple of Codes.
It's free and easily downloadable, so off you go and share it! It's only one click away!

We have a winner...

Never mind the lack of collaboration of some...

The Truly Innocent Hand came to the rescue...

 And we have a winner of the MAD CAP giveaway!

(we also have, you will note, several home-grown artichokes of legend)

What are YOU doing in September?

As for me (and artist Sadie Cramer) I'll be busy running the fantaglorious Hero DIY workshop at the Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge, on sat 22nd.

Madgie Cappock aka Mad Cap and her best friend Norbert Soup of the Rent-a-Hero agency are recruiting new members. Do you have what it takes to join the gang? If you think you can tackle elephant-sized cats, crazy purple-haired old ladies and tap-dancing rabbits, the job could be yours! Author Juliette Saumande and artist Sadie Cramer will help you develop your own superhero identity and brush up your heroic CV, in this fun-filled writing and illustration workshop. You'll be ready to fly to the rescue in no time!

Wanna come with?

Giveaway!

So, now that I have my precious author's copies of MAD CAP, I am in the very enjoyable position to GIVE ONE AWAY to you, my charming readers. I'm running the competition here, on my French site and on good old Facebook as well so that you can be in with a chance of winning wherever you might be.

How? you ask.
Easy peasy, I answer.
Just drop me a comment down below (or on my French site or on Facebook) before 25 JULY. All entrants will be thrown (metaphorically speaking) into a hat (literally) and a Trusted Tool of Fate* will be used to designate the winner.
* if he's not too busy watching the Muppets.

Best of luck to all!

Not one, but two...

... chapters of Mad Cap are visible by all and their grannies on the Little Island website right here. Go, go, go!
(Meanwhile, I'm working on my teacher's notes, my future workshops and school visits, and the artichokes growing in our garden. You?)

First review!

If you don't know Mary Esther Judy's blog at Fallen Star Stories, shame on you! Mary works for Dubray in Galway and is, in short, great. Her blog is full of all the good stuff they get up to in the West and it also features a wealth of brilliant reviews of picturebooks, YA novels and other reads. And this week, Mary is reading Mad Cap!

Here's what she has to say about it:

This is a thoroughly enjoyable read for young, confident readers. Mad Cap is personable, funny and the kind of girl you'd want to have around. The setting and events provide great excitement. It can be difficult to find a book with a central girl character that is strong, likable and true to life. But here she is! The flow of the story and the relationship between the characters make it highly suitable for boys and girls alike. And the presentation of the book adds to this notion, as the illustrations and cover do not rely on a feminine 'pink-girly' image, even though the central character is a girl. A great, new read... but be prepared for your own little super-heroes to be inspired into action. Utterly recommended!!

Blush and chuffed, thanks Mary!

Mad Cap on her way

See what I mean?

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!

A mystery is uncovered and a load of chocolate is eaten

(c) Sadie Cramer for Little Island

Right so, since the last post seems to have elicited some excitement among my readers, I shall no longer tarry and will this instant reveal all.
After nearly 40 picturebooks and translations published  in France, I am now going to see my name on a cover in English. This time, it isn't as a translated author or an editor, but as an Actual Writer of (silly) Fiction Composed Directly in This Here Language.
The good people at Little Island have allowed me to pitch my tent in a corner of their lovely beach and Siobhán, Elaina and myself are more than delighted to introduce you to MAD CAP and her gang of best friends, entertaining relatives and crazy neighbours.
Madgie Cappock, aka Mad Cap, is a super hero who isn't terribly heroic, but she is (if I say so myself) really quite super. Together with her genius friend Norbert Soup, she has set up the Rent-a-Hero agency, who specialize in all kinds of missions from doing your homework for you to locating missing items (people, socks, that sort of stuff) or identifying zombies posing as teachers (and vice versa).
This time, Mad Cap and Norbert have quite a bit on their plate: the new butcher has gone awol, Madgie's big brother has a girlfriend and there's the panto tap-dancing routine that needs practising. Oh, and there's also a giant fluffly rabbit somewhere in there.
The talented Sadie Cramer is in charge of illustrating Mad Cap's shenanigans. Here you can see lovely, cuddly kitty-cat Sapphire (charming, isn't she?). I'll show you more tentalising morcels as we go along.
All going well, this splendiferous masterpiece should hit the shelves in the summer (early July, I'm told), but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, it is now officially Chocolate-fest time, so go on and have yourself a treat. I will.