Metaphrog's Blog, page 6

Islay Book Festival

Had a great time at the Islay Book Festival last weekend, where we did two events for children and families. It was enjoyable to spend time with all the other authors and see some of their talks: Vivian French (pictured here far left, with ourselves, and Violet and Jean, two of the organisers) Simon Puttock, Caroline Clough, Christopher Brookmyre, RJ Mitchell, Shirley MacKay and Andrew Crummy. We also managed to find time to explore some of the island.Islay Book Festival was celebrating its 1...

Writers in Residence at Edinburgh International Book Festival

The Edinburgh International Book Festival may be finished, but our residency at the festival was just beginning today. Over the next few months, with hip-hop artist Dave Hook of Stanley Odd fame, we'll be working with pupils at Shawlands Academy, to help them create comics and rap songs based on fairy tales and folk stories. After our first, joint session today, Dave will be go on to work with the group focusing on stories and rap. While we concentrate on the graphic storytelling and design a...

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2015

We had a great time at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2015. 
Our new graphic novel, The Red Shoes and Other Tales, premiered with gold stamped exclusive advance edition copies. The book isn't officially out until October 13th in the US and November 1st in the UK.
Gala Day, the final day of the festival is open to schools only and saw us deliver a talk to over 80 children. 
The festival may be finished now but for us as Writers in Residence at the festival, it's all just...

Talk at Momentum

Yesterday we gave a talk to book festival directors from around the world, about our work and also about graphic novels (including the Scottish scene).

It was part of Momentum, the Edinburgh Festivals International Delegate Programme delivered through a partnership between British Council Scotland, Festivals Edinburgh and Creative Scotland.

Also speaking were Adele Patrick and Sue John of Glasgow Women's Library (were the event took place), Jean Cameron of Glasgow Life, Bob McDevitt, programme...

Gold Stamped Exclusive Advance Edition of The Red Shoes and Other Tales

A very limited number of gold-stamped 'Exclusive Advance Edition' copies of our new graphic novel The Red Shoes and Other Tales will be available from the Edinburgh International Book Festival bookshop on Charlotte Square, for the duration of the festival, which takes place during the last two weeks of August.
Exclusive Advance Edition of The Red Shoes and Other Tales
The book itself is beautifully printed and comes in a hardcover quarter-bound edition (that's with cloth all around the spine),...

First reviews for The Red Shoes and Other Tales

Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews have both written great reviews of The Red Shoes and Other Tales, to be published on October 13th 2015 by Papercutz.

Publishers Weekly says: "Hope, joy, and pain intermingle in these dark, alluring stories, which may leave readers thinking of Andersen as a precursor to modern horror."
Full review here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-62991-283-7

Kirkus Reviews calls it: "A darkly pensive read, perfect for chilly fall evenings."
Full review here:&nbs...

Patrons of Reading Activities: Great Scottish Scientists Project

This year, as Patrons of Reading at Northfield Academy, we had the pleasure of working on an exciting project, organised by librarian extraordinaire Mandy Wilson.

The project involved art and science teachers, and S1 pupils were set the task of creating comics about Great Scottish Scientists. Scotland has a rich history of invention and, for a small country, a surprisingly large number of famous discoveries to its name.

Allan Burnett (author of “Invented in Scotland”) delivered...

Edinburgh International Book Festival Residency

We are honoured and delighted to be writers in residence for the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2015. As part of the Baillie Gifford Schools Programme, we will be working in collaboration with hip-hop artist Dave Hook doing a series of workshops in Shawlands Academy in Glasgow, exploring stories, translations and fairy tales from different languages and traditions. This is an exciting celebration of storytelling in its many different forms, and we are very much looking forward to being...

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2015 Event

We're thrilled to be part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival again this year and honoured to be doing an event as part of the Baillie Gifford Schools Programme. The other exciting news is that we will be premiere launching The Red Shoes and Other Tales at the festival. Limited numbers of a Special Festival Edition of the graphic novel will be available in advance of the official release date. 
Graphic Novel Fairy Tales with Metaphrog is on Tuesday September 1...

The Red Shoes cover and trailer!

Here it is: the cover for our new graphic novel The Red Shoes and Other Tales to be published by Papercutz in October! It's going to be a nice quarter bound hardcover in full colour and contains our interpretation of the Hans Christian Andersen classic.

And here's the trailer!

THE RED SHOES AND OTHER TALES by Metaphrog - Coming October 2015 from Papercutz! from Papercutz on Vimeo.
An original graphic novel from the award winning team behind the LOUIS series! The first story...