H.S. Norup's Blog, page 2
September 24, 2020
The Hungry Ghost Book Launch
The Hungry Ghost was published on 24. September 2020, and, as you can see, there was a good turnout of Lego figures. They, along with Freja and Ling, listened patiently to my Lego-avatar’s speech, before we all devoured the brickaliscious book cake.
Afterwards, I celebrated the launch with my family and we had real chocolate cake with mint frosting and a sugar-printed book cover and bubbles.
July 31, 2020
The Hungry Ghost–finished copies are here!
Happy author with cloud halo – Photo: Marcus NorupFinished copies of The Hungry Ghost have arrived, and they are stunning!
I’m so grateful to my editor, Sarah Odedina, to cover designer Anna Morrison, and to India Darsley and the rest of the team at Pushkin Press for transforming my manuscript into such a beautiful book.
Just look at the dragon on the spine, or the lovely quote by Sinéad O’Hart–one of my favourite middle-grade authors.
In fact, while I was opening the b...
June 19, 2020
100 Days Countdown
100 Days Countdown
This week, I began a 100 days countdown to the publication of my new book. The Hungry Ghost comes out on 24. September 2020, and every day until then, I’ll be sharing photos of my inspiration and the Singapore I got to know in the four years I lived there.
Follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, to see the photos when I post them. Or check out my Pinterest board for The Hungry Ghost to see all the photos I’ve posted so far.
May 4, 2020
The Hungry Ghost
Im so excited to reveal the cover of my new book today. Its called The Hungry Ghost and will be published by Pushkin Press on 24. September 2020. Anna Morrison has designed the stunning cover, and I love it just as much as the cover she made for The Missing Barbegazi.
The Hungry Ghost is the story of Freja, a twelve-year-old girl, who moves to Singapore to live with her father and his new family. When a mysterious girl in a white dress appears, Freja follows her on an adventure to unravel old...
April 1, 2020
Resources for home and school
Im not getting much writing done at the moment, but I have developed activity sheets for The Missing Barbegazi and updated the resources section of my website.
[image error]The Missing Barbegazi Word Search[image error][image error]
You can download these worksheets and find other activities and resources here.
I will continue to add to this section, so please let me know (via the contact form) if you have feedback or ideas for other activities.
March 1, 2020
Pinterest mood boards
Whenever Im working on a story, I like to create a mood board to collect ideas and find inspiration for my characters and the setting. I used to print, cut and glue images into a notebook, but now I mainly collect them in folders on my computer.
Take a look at my Pinterest board for The Missing Barbegazi here:
November 12, 2019
US book launch day
The Missing Barbegazi is now published by Jolly Fish Press in the US.
Take a look at this lovely book trailer. It’s magical and captures the atmosphere of the story.
You can read more about the book and order it here.
“A fun and fast-paced adventure filled with heart and hope. A good choice for middle-grade readers who like their realism with a side of fantasy.”
Booklist
“A fast-paced middle-grade fantasy, set amongst a backdrop of youth competitive skiing, with love for family as its...
August 1, 2019
Red Dot Book Awards
Im delighted that The Missing Barbegazi has been shortlisted for the Red Dot Awards in Singapore!
The shortlist for this wonderful book award is chosen by school librarians. It forms the basis for the National Readers Cup, before a winner in each category is chosen by students.
[image error]January 11, 2019
On Writing The Missing Barbegazi
The initial idea for the book came to me while skiing, a couple of years before I began writing the story. At the time, I was rewriting (for the nth time) an MG fantasy novel set in the afterlife, so I wrote my thoughts on the skiing story in my notebook and later copied them into my ideas collection—a Scrivener file with notes about potential future projects—and then I forgot all about it.
After a “First Pages session” at AFCC (Asian Festival of Children’s Content) in 2015, my dream editor,...
October 11, 2018
On Researching The Missing Barbegazi
This post first appeared as a guest blog post on Luna’s Little Library.
THE MISSING BARBEGAZI takes place in the real world with fantastical elements. In this type of fantasy, so-called low fantasy, where characters in a realistic setting have encounters with mythical creatures and the other-worldly, it’s important that no one can find faults with the real or historical elements, as that makes the fantasy parts less believable. So I researched diligently.
Before I begin any writing project,...
