Jonathan Stroud's Blog, page 80
August 30, 2011
Edinburgh skyline…
Edinburgh skyline…
With Ann of Blackwell's Bookshop - and a rather fine cake.
With Ann of Blackwell's Bookshop - and a rather fine cake.
Signing at the Book Festival.
Signing at the Book Festival.
On Stage in Edinburgh
On Stage in Edinburgh
Edinburgh Book Festival 2011
A slightly belated blog entry about my visit to Edinburgh last week… On Monday 22nd August I had a fine full day at the elegant Literary Festival site in Charlotte Square, beginning with a lovely schools event in the morning. Around 250 pupils from several schools in southern Scotland joined me to have an excellent chat about all things Bartimaeus. It was great to introduce many of them to the series, and for newcomers there was the option of starting off either with Amulet, the Amulet Graphic Novel, or the new Ring of Solomon paperback. Afterwards, I weaved my way through the crowds of sightseers, Festival goers, jugglers, mime artists, big hairy kilted men wielding swords etc to Blackwell's Bookshop on South Bridge, where I signed some stock and was rewarded by a very tasty chocolate cake (see pic). Then back under the shadow of the castle to Charlotte Square for my evening's event, populated mainly by long-time Bart fans, including my three costumed friends from the MGM Comics Expo back in May (see pic 28th May entry). The day finished with a nice chat with my friend Keith Gray and his partner Jasmine. We looked forward to Keith's anthology NEXT (to be published March 2012), which'll feature short stories on the afterlife by (among others) Keith, Malorie Blackman, Frank Cottrel Boyce, Sally Nichols and me. And then? I rolled into bed.
August 21, 2011
Off to Edinburgh this afternoon to take part in the festival tomorrow. I've got a morning...
Off to Edinburgh this afternoon to take part in the festival tomorrow. I've got a morning school's event, then a public one at 5.00pm. If you're anywhere about, come along and join in! I'm planning to nip to Blackwell's bookshop in the early afternoon to do some stock-signing too. Meanwhile, the delights of a crowded Luton airport await me…
August 3, 2011
Live Facebook Chat tomorrow!
To celebrate the publication of The Ring of Solomon paperback tomorrow, I'll be on my Facebook Fan Page between 4.00-5.00pm (UK time) that afternoon to answer questions about Bart, Solomon, the 'lost chapter', and generally have a nice chat with anyone who might be around. You'll find me at http://www.facebook.com/JonathanStroudAuthor. Hope to speak to you then!
August 2, 2011
Bartimaeus 'Lost Chapter' revealed!
Just back from an excellent weekend in Norfolk, where it was (unusually) warm enough to swim in the sea, and definitely nice enough to stroll along beside the quays, watching people crabbing and eating excellent fish and chips straight from the paper.
Now I'm back home, writing hard and enjoying it: 5 pages a day is my current aim. And my mood is made even better because the lovely Ring of Solomon UK paperback is out on Thursday. A large box of them has just been delivered to my door by a weak-legged postman, and they look fantastic.
Anyway, to celebrate, we've got something special planned. On Thursday, 9 a.m. UK time, I'll be posting up a 'lost chapter' from The Ring of Solomon for everyone to see. To start with it'll be exclusively on my Facebook Fan page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/JonathanStroudAuthor), but it'll be posted up on this Bart site later.
When writing a Bart book, there are always lots of scenes and sequences that don't make the final cut, and Ring of Solomon was no different. This extract features Bart and Faquarl trying to kill their nasty master, and getting into a little spot of bother over it…
So you can take a look at it from Thursday! Meanwhile, more surprises later in the week… Stay tuned!
July 21, 2011
A Busy Summer Ahead...
Home from holiday this week, and back to my desk ready for a summer of scribbling on several different projects. Usually I stick to one book at a time, but I've got a couple of new ideas currently that each warrant investigation. So: new notebooks, new files, various nice new coloured pens lined up, tea brewed, phone off the hook… I'm ready to go.
Meanwhile, great to hear about Ring of Solomon being on the shortlist for the Coventry Inspiration Awards (see News page). The winners of these awards are decided by public online votes… More on this later in the year. The paperback edition of The Ring of Solomon is being published soon - on 4th August - and I'm looking forward to bringing it to the Edinburgh Festival later that month.
Further ahead, Andersen Press's Next anthology, to which I've contributed a short story, is scheduled for publication on 1st March next year.
Just signed contracts for Croatian and Russian editions of Solomon, so these will hopefully be published before too long.
June 27, 2011
ALA - New Orleans
A full, fun day at ALA yesterday began with a great signing session at the Hyperion stand: lots of lovely Bart enthusiasts came for a chat and a signature. Afterwards I did a video interview in support of American Libraries, and did an audio recording for Teachingbooks.net.
Took a stroll round the French Quarter in the sweltering afternoon, then dolled myself up for the Newbery/Caldicott banquet, where the great and good (and me) gathered to celebrate this year's award winners. Erin E Stead, Clare Vanderpool and Tomie dePaola all gave charming and moving speeches; it was an honour to be present at such an inspiring occasion.
