Exciting times ahead!

1) I’m performing at this year’s Perth Writers Festival Family Day…yee ha! I’m working on all-new material, including a super-spooky Japanese ghost story and some stories from my own super-scary school camp. I’m hoping to spend as much time as possible at the festival (baby permitting). Heaps of fab childrens writers will be there. Keep your eyes peeled for:

– AJ Betts (author of fab YA Wavelength, recommended if you’re stressed about this year’s exams, or if you’re not),

– Karen Blair (launching her new book complete with live animals!),

– Meg McKinlay (author of Surface Tension, which will keep you reading late into the night),

– Frané Lessac and Mark Greenwood (launching their latest book, or are they)(it’s about a liar)(or is it?),

– Sally Murphy (author of the award-winning Toppling),

– Briony Stewart (winner of a Realise Your Dream fellowship to the UK),

– Julia Lawrinson (sex, sex, sex…need I say more?) and

– Lara Morgan (fresh from finishing the last book of the futuristic Rosie Black Chronicles).

It’s going to be FAAAAAAB!

2) I’m off to Finland! Or at least, my books are. (Take me with you, please!! I’d love to visit Finland!) Takeshita Demons and The Filth Licker are both being translated into Finnish. They’re both due to appear in Finnish bookshops this year…yee ha! Or should I say, siistiä!

3) Winner of the 2010 Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Childrens Book Award, Tom Avery, is racing up the Amazon UK charts with a new project: serialised short fiction. Check out his post on the pros and cons of writing in serial (although it seems to be all pros right now: well done Tom!!)

So many of the writers and illustrators I know and love are rolling in success at the moment…and it’s great to be around them! Inspiring stuff.

Now I just need to find my way free from the sleep deprivation, nappies and caterpillars….
(The caterpillars are doing very well, thanks for asking)(4 of the 9 are now in cocoons; 1 is preparing its cocoon; 2 have passed on to the Great Caterpillar Field In The Sky, and 2 are *stil*l feeding their grubby faces)(soooo fat!).

(“I hope they’ll fit in their cocoon,” says our toddler 🙂 :-))