Nosy Crow's Blog, page 93
October 18, 2017
Announcing the speakers for our next Nosy Crow Masterclass, How to Write Picture Books
Last week we released details for the next Nosy Crow Masterclass – another edition of our How to Write Picture Books event, taking place on January 20 next year.
The masterclass sold-out in record time: if you’re still interested in attending, you can add your name to our waiting list here, and if a place opens up, we’ll notify you.
And today, we’re very pleased to reveal the full line-up of speakers for the masterclass!
The day will begin with an overview of the children’s book market, setting a context for picture books in 2016.
Nosy Crow’s Managing Director, Kate Wilson, will deliver a crash course on the editorial essentials for writing picture books – a distilled masterclass all in itself.
Penny Holroyde, co-founder and literary agent at Holroyde Cartey, will talk about her role as an agent – what she looks for in a submission, do’s and don’ts for authors, and more.
Over lunch, there’ll be the opportunity for our attendees to receive one-on-one manuscript feedback.
Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam author Tracey Corderoy will begin our afternoon sessions with a talk on how she writes, covering topics including the differences (and challenges) of writing in rhyme and prose, where she finds her inspiration, and more.
And finally, Kate Wilson close the masterclass with a session on the importance of thinking internationally, and writing picture books for a global audience – followed by a glass of wine at the end of the day!
If you’d like to register your interest in future masterclass events, sign up to our books newsletter here, and be the first to find out when we announce new dates.
October 17, 2017
Christopher Edge will be on Down the Rabbit Hole next week!
Down the Rabbit Hole returns to the airwaves next Tuesday – the only radio programme dedicated entirely to children’s books, with a trio of unparalleled experts in its hosts, Katherine Woodfine, Melissa Cox, and Louise Lamont. And next week’s episode will be especially exciting: one of its special guests will be Christopher Edge, author of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright and The Jamie Drake Equation!
You can listen to Down the Rabbit Hole at 5pm next Tuesday on Resonance FM, 104.4FM, or online here – and you can find an archive of previous shows here. And you can find out more about the show at the Down the Rabbit Hole website and Twitter account.
Don’t forget to tune in on the 24th!
You can take a look inside The Jamie Drake Equation Below:
We have a very limited number of signed copies of the book available for sale – you can buy them online here.
October 16, 2017
The next Nosy Crow Reading Group is almost here – we’re discussing The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell
The Nosy Crow Reading Group is back in a couple of weeks – we’ll be discussing The Wizards of Once, the first book in a brand new series by How To Train You Dragon author Cressida Cowell.
And if you’re interested in coming along, there are just a couple of places remaining!
We’ll be meeting on Monday, October 30th at 6.30pm, at the Nosy Crow offices – 14 Baden Place, Crosby Row, SE1 1YW – for a discussion of the book (along with wine and crisps).
If you’d like to come along, just register for a place with the form below, or at this page – if the reading group becomes fully booked, you can add your name to our waiting list, and we’ll notify you if a place opens up.
You can buy the book online from Waterstones here.
You can watch a trailer for the book at the top of this post – and here’s a video of Cressida introducing The Wizards of Once and reading from the book:
We hope to see you there!
October 13, 2017
There are just a few days left to bid for original, signed artwork by Axel Scheffler and help raise money for charity
Last week we announced the launch of a charity auction for some unique signed, dated, original pieces of artwork by Pip and Posy illustrator Axel Scheffler, created during a live-drawing and storytelling session at the Hay Festival. There are five pieces available to bid on, featuring some of Axel’s best-known and most loved characters – including The Gruffalo, Zog, and Pip and Posy – and all proceeds will go to Three Peas, a charity offering help and support to the thousands of people suffering and fleeing civil war in Syria and other war torn countries.
And there are just a few days left to bid – the auctions will end this Sunday! Here are the five pieces being auctioned:
The Gruffalo meets Pip and Posy:
Zog meets Pip and Posy:
Pip and Posy: The New Friend:
Pip and Posy: The Big Balloon:
Pip and Posy:
Each piece of artwork is a signed, dated and titled original – if you’ve always wanted your own original illustration of The Gruffalo, Zog, or Pip and Posy, here’s your chance! All of the pieces are A4, drawn in pen and coloured pencil.
The auctions will end on Sunday October 15th at 5pm.
Please do bid generously for this hugely important cause – and good luck!
October 12, 2017
What’s your magical name?
Earlier this year we published You Can’t Make Me Go To Witch School!, the first book in a hilarious, action packed school series, Toadspit Towers, written by Em Lynas and illustrated by Jamie Littler.
And today we’ve launched a special quiz to celebrate the book – a Toadspit Towers name generator! And you can WIN one of five SIGNED COPIES of the book, and a cauldron full of goodies, just by taking part.
Just share your magical name with us on Twitter, using #ToadspitTowers, before Friday 3rd November, and you’ll be entered into our giveaway competition.
Find out your Toadspit Towers name here.
Here’s a look inside You Can’t Make Me Go To Witch School:
October 11, 2017
Watch our new October books video
We’ve got some wonderful new books out this month – and a beautiful new video to showcase them all! You can watch our October Books video at the top of this post – and you can find out more about all of the new Nosy Crow books out this month here.
If you like the video, subscribe to our YouTube channel and you’ll be the first to find out about new content – including author Q&As, readings, live-drawings, and more.
Watch our new October books video!
We’ve got some wonderful new books out this month – and a beautiful new video to showcase them all! You can watch our October Books video at the top of this post – and you can find out more about all of the new Nosy Crow books out this month here.
If you like the video, subscribe to our YouTube channel and you’ll be the first to find out about new content – including author Q&As, readings, live-drawings, and more.
October 10, 2017
How to Write Picture Books: tickets for our next Masterclass are on sale now!
Today we’re very pleased to announce the return of the How to Write Picture Books Nosy Crow Masterclass!
This will be an intensive, all-day writing masterclass, with sessions from authors, editors, agents, staff at Nosy Crow, and more – all focussed on writing picture books. There’ll be practical suggestions, advice on every aspect of writing, from rhyme and scansion, to editing a text, working alongside illustrators, understanding the format, and guidance about what comes after – finding an agent, understanding a contract, and international selling.
As part of the day, there’ll also be the opportunity to receive one-on-one manuscript critiques for anyone who has chosen this ticket option and sent along writing samples in advance. And there’s also a saver ticket option for those of you would like to attend the masterclass, but don’t have a manuscript ready for critique yet.
The masterclass will take place on Saturday January 20th, here at the Nosy Crow office (14 Baden Place, Crosby Row, London SE1 1YW), and Early Bird and Saver tickets are available now.
Ticket price includes tea and coffee breaks throughout the day, lunch, and a glass of wine at the end of the day. We’ll be announcing more details about the day, with speakers and a list of sessions, very shortly.
Places are extremely limited, so if you’re interested, get yours now – we hope to see you there!
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October 6, 2017
Bid for original, signed artwork by Axel Scheffler – and help raise money for charity
Earlier this year, Pip and Posy illustrator Axel Scheffler led a fantastic live-drawing and storytelling session at the Hay Festival. And today we’re very pleased to say that we’ll be auctioning some of the original artwork that Axel produced on the day in aid of charity. There are five different signed, dated pieces available to bid on, featuring some of Axel’s best-known and most loved characters – including The Gruffalo, Zog, and Pip and Posy – and all proceeds will go to Three Peas, a charity offering help and support to the thousands of people suffering and fleeing civil war in Syria and other war torn countries.
Here are the five pieces being auctioned:
The Gruffalo meets Pip and Posy:
Zog meets Pip and Posy:
Pip and Posy: The New Friend:
Pip and Posy: The Big Balloon:
Pip and Posy:
Each piece of artwork is a signed, dated and titled original – if you’ve always wanted your own original illustration of The Gruffalo, Zog, or Pip and Posy, here’s your chance! All of the pieces are A4, drawn in pen and coloured pencil.
The auction will run for 10 days, and end on Sunday October 15th at 5pm.
Please do bid generously for this hugely important cause – and good luck!
October 5, 2017
Nosy Crow celebrates girls and women with two timely books
We are delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of two books for readers of 9 to 12 celebrating girls and women: an anthology of 10 new short stories by contemporary female writers called Make More Noise! New stories in honour of the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage; and a glorious, full-colour, biographical celebration of ground-breaking and inspiring women called HerStory: 50 Women Who Shook the World.
Kate Wilson comments: “My older child was able to vote for the first time in the last election, and took a lot of pride in it. This brought home to me the importance of being able to vote, and when I discovered that the centenary of the date on which the first British women were given the vote was coming up, I thought that it deserved recognition. We are hugely proud be celebrating, and championing, the most remarkable women who have helped shape our world in HerStory, and to have gathered together such a stellar list of British female authors at the top of their writing game in Make More Noise!
“There’s nothing, we think, quite like HerStory for its accessibility and appeal to its audience in terms of the level of beautiful illustration, the register of the language, and the focus on the women’s early lives.
“With both books we will be celebrating girls, and inspiring them to, in the words of Emmeline Pankhurst, ‘make more noise’.”
Make More Noise! will publish in February 2018. Each story, written by a star-studded list of contributors including well-known, award winning and new voices in children’s literature, celebrates strong female characters, with subjects ranging from the ’43 Group to modern ghost stories.
The full list of authors contributing to the anthology is: Emma Carroll, Kiran Millwood Hargrave (winner of the 2017 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize), Catherine Johnson, Ally Kennen, Patrice Lawrence (winner of the 2017 YA Book Prize), M.G. Leonard (winner of the 2017 Branford Boase Award), Sally Nicholls, Ella Risbridger, Eva Wiseman, and Katherine Woodfine.
A donation of £1 from the sale of each copy will be given to Camfed, an international charity which tackles poverty and inequality by supporting women’s education in the developing world. The book will be published on 1st February 2018, in time for the centenary anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which was given Royal Assent on 6th February 1918, extending the franchise to women for the first time.
Author Kiran Millwood Hargrave, comments: “I’m honoured to be contributing to an anthology that celebrates girls in all their complexity and world-changing power: we need to hear and tell their stories.”
Katie Smith, Deputy Chief Eexcutive Director, Camfed, comments: ‘‘We are really proud to partner with Nosy Crow on Make More Noise! These are stories about strong women told by talented women writers – an inspiration for girls and boys, men and women everywhere. They chime beautifully with Camfed’s work in girls’ education in Africa, and our partnership with the young women change makers who emerge. There are now over 100,000 of them in our CAMA alumnae network — young women who fought the odds, gained immense respect in their communities, and now use their stories and their resources to inspire and empower the next generation of girls.”
HerStory: 50 Women Who Shook the World will publish in March 2018, in time for International Women’s Day. Featuring fearless women through history who have enriched our lives with their bravery, vision and hope, the full-colour hardback is divided into thematic chapters: Believe and Lead; Imagine and Create; Help and Heal; Think and Solve; Hope and Overcome. With inspirational quotes and a wealth of biographical detail particularly about the childhoods of each of the 50 women featured, this is a glorious, and essential go-to for every child hungry to learn more about women from many countries and cultures and from Ancient Egypt to the UK today who have shaken, and continue to shake, our world.
Meticulously researched and written by Katherine Halligan, the acclaimed artist Sarah Walsh has illustrated HerStory with expressive portraits and vignettes on each spread.
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