I went to Cheltenham Literature Festival and read HOW TO FIND GOLD.
The kids were amazing! They drew beautiful crocodiles...

I had a brilliant time at Foyles in Birmingham doing a reading HOW TO FIND GOLD and then drawing a massive picture with everyone...in the end it turned into an impromptu book! Here it is.

Such a wonderful and inspiring workshop by @vivschwarz #amazingauthors #foylesbrum #colouringoutsidethelines

A photo posted by Andi (@wererat) on Aug 6, 2016 at 12:52pm PDT

Well. I haven't blogged for a while, and it's not because I've been busy with events so much as busy with trying to pay rent... you know what, London rent makes NO SENSE any more.

Anyway.
I should do a proper post about wonderful awards - I am so grateful that I Am Henry Finch won an English Association Award and "Is there a Dog in this Book?" won a FCBG Children's Book award.
But I kept no notes, I was simply overwhelmed and then I had to run off straight to the Hay Festival.
So, I admit it, I'm not very good at social network stuff this month, evidently... just have a bunch of drawings I did at the awards ceremonies and the festival!

Germaine Greer on the left there at the Hay Literature Festival.

More green room sketches from Hay

...more Hay....

Fancy hotel in Hereford where I got to stay, yay

More Hay Festival: Margaret A Boden!!!

Salman Rushdie having a rest at Hay

Sarah McIntyre at the Union Jack Club

There were some children at the Children's Book Award. They were great. We had diner at the Union Jack Club...

...and pudding.

Well, look at us. Here's Alexis giving his bit of the acceptance speech for the 2016 Little Rebels Award at the London Radical Bookfair, with his hand in his pocket as is appropriate, and me making the appropriate face for an award winner, and Wendy Cooling getting ready to hand over the framed trophy, most appropriate of all in every way.




This is hands down the best thing I've won in my whole life. - The Little rebels Award recognises books that celebrate social justice and equality for children aged 0-12 - what could be better?

Don't be too cross that I was reduced to making faces by the end, people said the most wonderful things about "I am Henry Finch".
Kerry Mason of Letterbox Library who runs the award put it like this:

“It’s an absolute gem of a picture book. It deploys the simplest of graphics and text to ponder vast questions about our humanity. Viviane Schwarz’s blood red thumbprint finches get to the beating heart of our existence and Alexis Deacon’s minimalist, beautifully structured, sentences are like a beginner’s course in existentialist thought. This is a book which respects and honours the youngest of readers, believing them capable of and thirsty for philosophical thought.”

Out fellow shortlistees were: Michael Rosen and Neal Layton for Uncle Gobb and the Dread Shed, Gill Lewis with Gorilla Dawn (who won the award in 2015), John Boyne with The Boy at the Top of the Mountain, Yasmeen Ismail’s I’m a Girl, Michael Foreman with The Little Bookshop and the Origami Army! - A strong list!

We had a panel talk with everyone who could make it. It was a sunny day (hence me stealing Alexis' hat), the trees around Goldsmith College were scattering pink petals everywhere. It was a very friendly talk, despite the underlying frustration of an overall lack of "rebellious" picture books being published in the UK. It's hard to not be friendly when pretty much everyone involved still has pink petals stuck somewhere on their head. Michael Foreman pulled his impressive backlist out of a handy suitcase like a stage magician, Alexis and I demonstrated some domestic birdsong and everyone agreed that there should be more rebellious books. I contemplated the 70s German books I had as a child and wondered if I was the only one there who feels that current UK picture books are incredibly tame on the whole, and that the books I learned to read with would blow them sideways...

My favourite book had a page with a naked king that you could glue paper pants on if you thought he deserved them, and my sister made him some that you could take off again just to annoy him. Many times I went holding a book that bothered me up to my mother, asking: "Is this ok???" And she's say: "No, it isn't", or "Yes it is", or "I am not sure", and always "Lets talk about it," but never "They really shouldn't make such confusing books for children!" - Reading the same books again, I still find that they encourage discussion, and I am impressed with my family, and grateful.
So I guess I was lucky. I want all children to be that lucky. I don't want access to information and permission to take agency to be a privilege. Opportunities to be confused and difficult and curious and learning in ways that can't be measured in standardised tests and judged across the board must be a basic right for every child.

It was great to meet the judges and organisers, the fellow artists and book sellers at the fair.
I am enormously heartened seeing the level of political engagement in such a respectful and creative environment.
I've got a bit tired of London lately as everything I love is getting pushed out and shined over gradually, but... we have a new mayor now who I actually voted for, and we still have events like this one, and there is hope. Maybe we can even fix education, eventually.

I am enormously proud to feel that Henry can be a mascot for rebellious thought, until next year. But let's make books fit to dethrone him with panache and kindness and curiosity. Let's keep asking questions as well as explaining what we think we know. Picture books are not just for putting tiny children to sleep peacefully, they are for waking them up as well.






Here's a writeup in the Guardian (just in case you are for example a member of my family and want to see that this is a real award) and here is the proper, detailed official event writeup by Letterbox Library.

Photos copyright Letterbox Library.

Look at these kids from Oaks Primary school in Birmingham drawing Henry Finch and the Beast for World Book Day...

The most important thing about launching a new book is that everyone else must know it has happened.
You must take many pictures and remind other people to take many pictures and make an IMPORTANT FACE.

The second most important thing about launching a new book is the CAKE.
We made one that was secretly filled with gold which spilled out when it was first cut, and it had golden marzipan piled on top and it was gilded with edible gold dust.

You also need a CROCODILE. So I crocheted one and had a raffle. As it happened, Crocodile won my friend Lily because she was best at finding hidden raffle tickets (they were mostly in books to do with GOLD).

It was so exciting that no one remembered to take any pictures.
Fortunately, Chris Riddell drew one in his Laureate Log, because he is professional that way.

HOW TO FIND GOLD is only one of Anna and Crocodile's adventures.

Isn't that awesome! First month of the year and Anna and Crocodile win a surprise honour.

I wrote a making-of feature for the Walker Books blog, you can read it here.

I wondered who these instructions were for. Was this a chapter from a pirate primer? Who was reading it now and why? I started to illustrate it, first imagining myself as a small child, practicing to sleep with my eyes open to make sure no one could steal the gold I hadn’t found yet.

“Get yourself a pet that will surprise you at night,” the story recommended. “A crocodile is ideal. Carry one with you wherever you go to build up your strength. Start with a young crocodile. It will grow.”

This was an idea taken from the Greek myth of Milo who carried a calf on his shoulders every day until it grew into a bull and he grew into a mighty Olympian. More importantly, one summer when I was tiny my mother bought me an inflatable crocodile in the supermarket. It was big enough to ride on and intended for the seaside. I carried it everywhere, dragging it by the tail until its snout wore through on the tarmac and it deflated before the holiday even started.

I drew a girl and her toy crocodile. It wasn’t quite right. They just seemed very quiet and small. - I drew them in on a new page and asked the girl some questions about the crocodile. She said it was called Rupert Maureen, and didn’t move unless she threw it and she wasn’t supposed to throw it. I didn’t expect that.

As promised, here is the first of a few MAKING OF posts about How To Find Gold, my new picture book that's just been published (go buy it, thanks)!

I was developing the characters of Anna and Crocodile by letting them act out some of the ideas I had for the book on paper. I had no idea who they were yet. Anna had my haircut (it grew out gradually while I was working on the book) and the crocodile was a toy which Anna had told me was bought from IKEA ("when we got the wardrobes").

This is from the second sketchbook (there were many).

Finally!!
Anna and Crocodile have arrived! HOW TO FIND GOLD is in UK bookshops today, published by Walker Books.

This is the issue:

Of the 650 seats in the House of Commons 459 are occupied by men and 191 women.
There are 32 million women in the UK,
51% of the population. They are a diverse majority.
But the House of Commons is 71% male.

Maria Miller MP, Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Jess Phillips MP, Angela Crawley MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Baroness Smith of Newnham, Callum McCaig MP, Wes Streeting MP, Ben Howlett MP and Sophie Walker, Leader of the Women's Equality Party.

"There are some awfully, awfully average men in here". Callum McCaig on Whitehall.

No, he won't.

Baroness Smith of Newnham and Ben Howlett.

Jess Phillips.

Caroline Lucas.

Sophie Walker from the Women's Equality Party.

Many good questions asked.

The last question came from a child, to great applause, and was answered by every member of the panel (in the case of Maria Miller with s shrug - the rest gave firm estimates).

What is a picture book if not a tiny paper theatre?

Drawing upon over two decades experience in picture book making and the performing arts, award winning author/illustrator Viv Schwarz and award-winning theatre designer Ellan Parry present a master class in visual story-telling, exploring the intersection between picture books and performance.Whether you are a professional picture book artist, a student or just want to try your hand at making something for your family, this class will give you tools to bring drama, expression and emotional impact to your work. We will bring in creative tools and exercises learned, invented, collected and developed over years of professional practice as well as materials that we would use ourselves professionally. We will show you how to work fast to generate characters and bring them to life, using techniques borrowed from theatre as well as drawing games and storytelling exercises. You will learn how to develop your story hands-on to make a well-paced, engaging picture book. This class includes a portfolio/dummy book viewing and discussion in small, friendly groups in the morning, so we can tailor the afternoon book-making lesson to you, personally.   This is a workshop for adults, although we may consider talented teenagers. We are charging an introductory rate of £50.

I am setting up recording equipment at the studio so I can film clips now and then, to supplement the workshops I'm running with The Kraken Studio (That's our studio).
It's fun.

A video posted by Viviane schwarz (@schwarzviv) on Oct 18, 2015 at 10:07am PDT

My Anxiety web comic has a brand-new home.
I am reposting all the old episodes, edited and tidied a bit, and there are many new ones to come.

I'm working on a spread for the Drawn Chorus Collective's latest anthology; it's an alphabet book.

I'm having a lot of fun doing portrait commissions.
Here is a matching set of twin girls.

You can now commission me for portraits, as long as you're happy to be an animal in it.

I had a few wonderful school visits recently...

In St Christopher's School I helped with a project where the kids made their own picture books. I did a day of tutorials, some sketching and in the end made a whole dummy book on stage.
They had a biology lesson in the gym, handling exotic animals, which was great fun to draw.

I did portraits of people coming to ELCAF today.
Here are some cool cats who turned up:

There's an Opera Flashmob happening in London, and you can be part of it...

An invitation to bring your rolling suitcase along and embark on a musical journey of boisterous wheels and beatific voices in sunny King’s Cross. Prepare for a dose of flip-flopping holiday fun!