Stephen R. Swinburne's Blog

New Wiff and Dirty George illustrations by Liz Callen!

Have a look at the wonderful and quirky art Liz Callen has done at the WADG website. I think the spots are smashing!

AND check out how awesome a 5th grader named Marin Beal from Raguet Elementary School in Nacogdoches, Texas, reads the first chapter of Wiff and Dirty George. She's a natural. Find it on YouTube (Chapter One of Wiff and Dirty George by Stephen Swinburne)

Betsy Bird's words

I absolutely LOVED this review by Elizabeth Bird. She nailed it! I now want to go to the steps of the New York Public Library and read Wiff and Dirty George until someone tells me to shut up!

"Once in a great while I get a little bored with the usual children's book tropes. Another new kid in school who meets a seeming outcast and bonds with them? Whoopie. A foster kid who seems prickly but has a heart of gold? Woo. Two boys in swinging 1960s London defeating a rabbit-obsessed villain intent on making people's pants fall down? I . . . . wait, what? Back up a bit. What was that? You see, once in a great while I forget about being bored with the usual children's book tropes when I find myself walloped upside the head something as original as Stephen Swinburne's Wiff and Dirty George, particularly the first installment, The Z.E.B.R.A. Incident. If weird is good (and it certainly can be) then it is fair to say that Wiff and Dirty George are doggone great."

Full review

—Elizabeth Bird, Children's librarian at the Children's Center at 42nd Street of the New York Public Library system

Betsy Bird’s words

I absolutely LOVED this review by Elizabeth Bird. She nailed it! I now want to go to the steps of the New York Public Library and read Wiff and Dirty George until someone tells me to shut up!

“Once in a great while I get a little bored with the usual children’s book tropes. Another new kid in school who meets a seeming outcast and bonds with them? Whoopie. A foster kid who seems prickly but has a heart of gold? Woo. Two boys in swinging 1960s London defeating a rabbit-obsessed villain intent on making people’s pants fall down? I . . . . wait, what? Back up a bit. What was that? You see, once in a great while I forget about being bored with the usual children’s book tropes when I find myself walloped upside the head something as original as Stephen Swinburne’s Wiff and Dirty George, particularly the first installment, The Z.E.B.R.A. Incident. If weird is good (and it certainly can be) then it is fair to say that Wiff and Dirty George are doggone great.”

Full review

—Elizabeth Bird, Children’s librarian at the Children’s Center at 42nd Street of the New York Public Library system

Wolsey Road Remembered

"The Wolsey Warriors stood guard beside The Rusty Blackbird, an ancient pub and the only establishment on Wolsey Road. The Wolsey Warriors were Ian Pepper, Stu Desmond, Sid McKenzie, and Halsey Heath. Wiff saw the Warriors look up. He was on full alert when the gang crossed the street to intercept them."

When we were kids we'd fight with gangs from neighboring streets. One summer evening a battle commenced with name calling. A ruffian threw a rock, we grabbed stones and chucked them back. It was getting dark and I could hear my mum calling me in for dinner. I turned to go and a rock flew out from the darkness and split open my upper lip. The scar is still there. Those were the good old days when we battled with sticks and stones!

Can you retrieve your childhood memories? Mine this treasure trove for writing ideas. Do you have photographs? Stare at them and let stories take shape in your mind.

Steve's first car

When the streets of London turned mean, I retreated to the backyard of 7 Wolsey Road. It was a refuge. Ivy-covered brick walls enclosed a very small patch of dirt, but to me it could have been as vast as the Scottish moors. Dirty George and I played cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians. We staged rocket launches, plotted army movements, built dirt castles. This is a photo of me  tooling around in my first car. I loved that car. I wish I still had it. It was a convertible.

"A little nonsense is cherished by the wisest man." One of my favorite Roald Dahl quotes.

Wiff and Dirty George's Wolsey Road

"Wiff stepped out the door and scanned London's rooftops. Brick chimneys crowded the horizon. A flock of pigeons wheeled over Wolsey Road. If he shut his eyes, this was the scene that stuck in his head. This was home."

Wolsey Road is a real place. I lived there for the first 7 1/2 years of my life. You can find Wolsey Road in north London.

Here's a photo of Wolsey Road in the 1960s.

We lived at 7 Wolsey Road. Dirty George lived a few doors up. The white van is parked in front of 7 Wolsey Road. Around the corner was Mary's Sweet Shop. I remember pinching (stealing) coins from my mum's purse and carrying a fist full of coppers to Mary's shop. I plonked them down on the counter and asked for sweets. Mary rang my mum. I got a good hiding (spanking). I was five years old.

I also remember the  only pub on the street was called The Lady Mildmay. My nan told me during the blitz of London the pub took a direct hit from a German bomb and two people were killed. They've rebuilt the pub and it still operates on Wolsey Road.

Wiff and Dirty George’s Wolsey Road

“Wiff stepped out the door and scanned London’s rooftops. Brick chimneys crowded the horizon. A flock of pigeons wheeled over Wolsey Road. If he shut his eyes, this was the scene that stuck in his head. This was home.”

Wolsey Road is a real place. I lived there for the first 7 1/2 years of my life. You can find Wolsey Road in north London.

Here’s a photo of Wolsey Road in the 1960s.

We lived at 7 Wolsey Road. Dirty George lived a few doors up. The white van is parked in front of 7 Wolsey Road. Around the corner was Mary’s Sweet Shop. I remember pinching (stealing) coins from my mum’s purse and carrying a fist full of coppers to Mary’s shop. I plonked them down on the counter and asked for sweets. Mary rang my mum. I got a good hiding (spanking). I was five years old.

I also remember the  only pub on the street was called The Lady Mildmay. My nan told me during the blitz of London the pub took a direct hit from a German bomb and two people were killed. They’ve rebuilt the pub and it still operates on Wolsey Road.

Read the first 3 chapters

Read the first 3 chapters of Wiff and Dirty George.

"The railway car burst into bedlam. Handbags yawned

wide. Briefcases sprung open. Fountain pens zoomed

by Wiff's nose. Passengers shoved and struggled to grab

their trousers and skirts. Dirty George had never seen

so many pairs of pink polka-dot undies. Eyeglasses, cuff

links, hairpins, and brooches hurtled to the floor. Belts

curled around ankles like snakes.

A weird energy force had invaded the train, pulling
everything downward."
-selection from the first chapter

Download here.


You can pre-order the book at Amazon.

What's in a name?

A lot of kids ask me where the two main characters in the book get their names. When I was growing up in north London, England, my best friend on Wolsey Road was an untidy boy named George. Because neither of us cared much for soap and water, my mum called my friend Dirty George. She nicknamed me Wiff.

The book idea actually began with just these two names, Wiff and Dirty George. That's all I had. I knew I wanted the story to take place in London but I had no plot, no conflict, no structure. I didn't know who my characters where, what they wanted, and what was standing in their way.

Olga Litowinsky in her wonderful and pithy book, Writing and Publishing Books for Children in the 1990s (don't worry about the "1990s," still very relevant today) says, "The best book begins with characters, characters who want something. They spend the rest of the book trying to get it, while other people or events conspire to keep them from getting what they want. Over and over again, you will hear from editors, "Know your characters."

In the beginning, I didn't know anything about my two main characters, so I spent six months living with them, discovering who they were. Every where I went, Wiff and Dirty George tagged along. They eventually became real people to me. And from an awareness of their hopes, fears and motives, a story unfolded.

Hello and welcome

Blimey! You've reached the headquarters of Wiff and Dirty George. Well done!

"Wiff and Dirty George – The Z.E.B.R.A. Incident" will be published by Boyds Mills Press on March 1 in hardcover. ISBN 978-1-59078-755-7 Ages 9-12

Welcome to the world of Wiff and Dirty George. Explore the escapades of these two English lads. Follow Wiff on Twitter at wiffking. Become a fan at Steve Swinburne's Facebook fan page and by all means, check out Steve's Vimeo and YouTube channels. Read Steve's book at the library or visit his website to buy his books at Amazon.com (or your local independent bookstore!). Get your weekly dose of England 1969 and the adventures and doings of all things Wiff and Dirty George right here.

Here's what the publisher says about the book:

"Have no fear, England! Wiff and Dirty George are on the way!"

Something bizarre is happening on a train pulling into Paddington Station. A strange gravitational force has taken control of the passengers, causing zippers to unzip, buckles to unbuckle, and trousers to fall down, revealing more polka-dotted underwear than ever imagined. Among the victims are two London lads named Wiff and Dirty George. When a man disguised as a rabbit snaps a photo of the mayhem and jumps from the train, Wiff and Dirty George give chase. Little do they know they are about to battle the sinister Basil King, who leads an army of rabbit-costumed thugs and mad scientists determined to take over Britain. Set in the Beatlemania 1960s, here is the outrageous adventure of Wiff and Dirty George, who must stop one of the most dastardly plots ever to be unleashed on England. Will the lads save the day?

What’s in a name?

A lot of kids ask me where the two main characters in the book get their names. When I was growing up in north London, England, my best friend on Wolsey Road was an untidy boy named George. Because neither of us cared much for soap and water, my mum called my friend Dirty George. She nicknamed me Wiff.

The book idea actually began with just these two names, Wiff and Dirty George. That’s all I had. I knew I wanted the story to take place in London but I had no plot, no conflict, no structure. I didn’t know who my characters where, what they wanted, and what was standing in their way.

Olga Litowinsky in her wonderful and pithy book, Writing and Publishing Books for Children in the 1990s (don’t worry about the “1990s,” still very relevant today) says, “The best book begins with characters, characters who want something. They spend the rest of the book trying to get it, while other people or events conspire to keep them from getting what they want. Over and over again, you will hear from editors, “Know your characters.”

In the beginning, I didn’t know anything about my two main characters, so I spent six months living with them, discovering who they were. Every where I went, Wiff and Dirty George tagged along. They eventually became real people to me. And from an awareness of their hopes, fears and motives, a story unfolded.