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By nearly all accounts, higher education has in recent years been lurching towards a period of creative destruction. Presumed job prospects and state budgetary battles pit the STEM disciplines against the humanities in much of our popular and political discourse. On many fronts, the future of the university, at least in its recognizable form as a veritable institution of knowledge, has been cast into doubt.

The post The University: past, present, … and future? appeared first on OUPblog.

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This post is about my random observations of the lovely city of Bologna. I have so many wonderful things to share with you lately, I just have to cram them all together! For instance, I did find the children's bookstore just off of Piazza Maggiore and is is truly sweet.

Lots of people ride bikes here, and they are experts at dodging the tourists who aren't watching where they're going (me included). Susan and I had a quick lunch - she had baby octopus, which was DELISH. I had shrimp/squid salad with aubergines - also yummy. During lunch we were serenaded by a seriously good band. I'm pretty sure they were just busking for kicks, because they seemed quite professional. Buying prosciutto here is a charming experience. As is shopping. And just wandering about. This is artwork by Gesta Future - randomly placed. I've never seen peppers as big as the ones in the supermarket here - they were the size of melons! Don't ask me why all these people were dressed in Medieval garb - I have no idea. This was my main path every day. This was nice to see. As was this.
There are gelato stands everywhere and with all the walking you do here, there is no guilt in indulging - which I did.
      In closing, Bologna is a lovely town to just wander about in. I'm so glad I visited!

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I'll admit, I didn't go to the book fair on the 4th day - I was so tired I was pretty sure I wouldn't have made a good impression on anybody I met at that point. And truly, I felt like I'd done as much as I could. I connected, reconnected, observed, was inspired, and learned a whole new side of this industry.
     Of course, I wasn't nearly as tired as the SCBWI booth folks. They were kind enough to invite me along to the fall-apart party at Osteria De' Poeti.

Like so many businesses here, if you didn't know about it, you'd never find this place. In fact, that was one surprise about Italy. When businesses close here, they really close. As in, a giant metal garage door comes down hiding any sign (or signs) of the business behind it. There is no wandering at night to see what stores might be available to you the next day - the signage gets hidden behind those big, metal doors. That includes grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, etc. This is a town where you need to know where you're going.
     Happily, my dinner-mates did. We ended up with a big group at a great restaurant hidden at the bottom of some stairs on a quiet back street. What a treasure this place was! The asparagus were some of the best I'd ever had. It was followed by "special" pasta (a.k.a. gluten free) with Bolognese (of course!), and a meringue cake that I could actually eat. Woohoo!!! Of course, I shared it because, good lord, it was a lot of cake! But with the long days, all the walking and full tummies, Julie Hedlund and I were rather tired. It was a right and proper fall-apart dinner. And well-deserved at that. Sogni d'oro - sweet dreams!

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Part of the reason this was the year to do Bologna was because of SCBWI - the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. They only do the Bologna Book Fair every two years. This year they went all out with a double booth and professionally printed panels - it looked GREAT. And it became home base for me, which was such a nice thing to have in that overwhelming Book Fair atmosphere.
     This year, I was the official SCBWI tweeter (twitterer?). You can see the posts at https://twitter.com/SCBWIBologna or #bol16SCBWI. I even did an impromptu portfolio critique for an attendee whose registration went awry. (Art Director Martha Rago was the official portfolio critiquer for the event.)

     But the real work was done by Chris Cheng (author and Australian Regional Advisor) and Susan Eaddy (author/illustrator and Midsouth Regional Advisor) - they're the ones who put it all together. That's the two of them with me and Bob.) And wow, did they do a good job! The booth had constant activities going on. First were the Dueling Drawers. This is a half hour of two illustrators who have two minutes each to illustrate several scenes from an unpublished manuscript that they've never read. Here were Kelly Light and Mike Curato.      I had two back-to-back Duels. The first one was with Bob Barner. My second duel was with Evi Shelvi from Indonesia.
The next day the duelers were the long-time experts at it, Paul O. Zelinsky and Doug Cushman. Paul and Doug were instrumental in establishing the Dueling Drawers so they had a whole show going on, with mood music and everything! Another nice activity were the Personal Showcases. Authors and illustrators set up their wares for an hour or so to talk to passers-by. Here are Susan and Julie with their set-up. And me with mine.There was also a cocktail party at the booth towards the end of the fair that was very well attended. Here I am with Chris again. But best of all was SCBWI was the home base for so many people at the fair - so many of them long time friends of mine, and many who are new ones. Founder Stephen Mooser was even there with his wife, how nice! Here I am with Martha, Paul, and Doug. SCBWI isn't quite as big in the UK as it is in the US, but I hope this increased presence at the Bologna Book Fair will help improve that. Because truly, it's so nice to reconnect with such amazing professionals all over the globe, and to feel at home among friends no matter where you are.

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For years I'd heard about "The Wall." This is where illustrators can tack up examples of their work for passers-by to check them out and take samples. I heard this was the biggest year for the fair ever, but I'll admit, I wasn't expecting this. The Illustrators' Wall was not just one wall, it was several, and it went on...

and on...and on... Folks got there early to claim space with posters that had little tear off tabs (I thought these worked best). People seemed mostly respectful about not covering up anybody else's work. And some folks got quite creative with their displays. This was a common presentation - the poster with the card or postcard holder. This was my fave, an actual pop-up display. I bet they got some work. So, do people actually get work from this? At first I worried that the people taking the cards were mostly other illustrators, and yes, there was some of that. But I also saw a publisher-looking-sort-of-guy going down the wall and truly scouring everything, taking tabs and cards with clear intention. I say intention because the tabs oftentimes didn't have artwork on them (I thought that was a loss), just contact info. In other words, there was no reason to take one unless you were going to look up the artist later and perhaps try to get in touch.
     And I did hear of illustrators making deals at the fair. One creator was there to finalize a contract with her publisher over a deal that had been worked out before-hand. My friend Julie was busy selling foreign rights to her book, which had been traditionally published, but the house had sadly closed. Another illustrator had been coming for years - an editor recognized her and set up time to talk to her after the fair. So yes, deals were being made. I had several lovely conversations with editors - yes, even in the notoriously long lines for the bathroom, which is where I hear a lot of deals end up getting made! That will be hilarious if anything comes of those. Overall though, I'm not sure the fair is something you need to do if you have an agent - if you already have an 'in' with the publishing houses. I got the impression that the fair was a main resource for Italian or European illustrators, who don't have representation elsewhere.
     That said, the sheer volume of competition was completely overwhelming, unnerving, intimidating and educational. There was a ton of TALENT there but it was so varied - even in the Illustration Showcase. Styles were all over the place. Boris, Catherine and I tried to make the best of it.But it gave us all food for thought. Boris and I walked back together, talking about it. We stopped at a small playground. This photo sums up Boris' reaction perfectly. My big take-away? You absolutely cannot predict the market, or position yourself to sell. Tastes are too varied. All you can do is create what feeds your soul and hope it's of interest to somebody else.

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     No, they don't have gondolas in Bologna - they're more about tortellini and mortadella (both invented there). But I'm still going on about Italy this week and they do have gondolas in Venice! (Which piggie would you rather be?)
     CLICK HERE for more coloring pages!
     CLICK HERE to sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of six literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!
     When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

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I purchased a bus pass and bought my tickets for the fair early so that I wouldn't have to wait in the lines. I was READY! Okay, I was physically ready. Mentally, there was no preparing for something like the Bologna Children's Book Fair. I was completely overwhelmed.
     There were no less than six halls (buildings) which were each the size of a football field and each filled with booths representing publishing houses from all over the world. It made it seem like the ENTIRE WORLD IS ALL ABOUT CHILDREN'S BOOKS! LOVED that! LOVED the connections I made and saying 'hi' to trade industry buddies. But I was also unbelievably humbled by the amazing talent represented there. (These were some illustrated trees being auctioned off for a good cause.)

     As I walked around, I realized again and again, "e, you have got to up your game!" (Here's me sneaking up on a Stormtrooper.)      In some ways, I wish I'd seen the Fair when I was starting my career - to see what I'm truly up against. But on the other hand, if I'd known, I'm not sure I would have had the guts to keep trying. So, hmmmm.
     I learned so many things, though, which I'll try to share with you while I'm still raw with processing it all. (My brain hurts!) First, I saw what I believe to be a disparity between the showcased illustrations and the actual for sale, published books. What they say the trends are and what actually sells seem to be two different things to me. The market is the true decider. Buyers do have power, and wow, do their tastes vary.
     There is as much demand for the more showy, colorful commercial books as there is for the trade books - maybe more. Although that market doesn't venerate the creators like the trade industry does - it's more about licensed characters, and they are POPULAR.      Different countries/cultures do have different looks, although there's a lot more overlap than you might think. Fairs like this, I think, are homogenizing the market a bit, which is a shame. That said, there are some really stunning new and inventive looks coming out of Indonesia, India, and Germany. Heck, everywhere really. Every culture has it's run-of-the-mill stuff and it's stars. But there are some truly exciting things happening all over the world. It was a treat to get a taste of that.
     The booths themselves varied considerably. Some were big and fancy and some were small and humble, and sometimes it had nothing to do with the size or reputation of the publishing company. (Heck, Lawrence King, publisher of Johanna Basford's coloring book SECRET GARDEN was one of the smallest displays there - and we all know they have gobs of money!) Here were some of my faves:      Here was one I didn't expect to see there - very modestly and quietly tucked into a corner.      I loved getting to finally meet my publisher from Little Pickle Press, Rana DiOrio for the first time. She's just as dynamic in person as I imagined. And they had a great space in the Children's Books USA booth, which also housed some other great publishers such as Peachtree Publishers, Holiday House, Charlesbridge, etc. They were in nice company and made a strong showing. Rana was busy the whole time talking foreign and licensing rights. Go Rana! She's been working so hard to get the word out about A BIRD ON WATER STREET. See it in there? (The fact that I didn't get a photo of the two of us is a testament to how overwhelmed I was. Can you say 'deer in headlights'?)      There were indeed a ton of illustrators there - a dedicated post on that is coming soon. In the mean time, I quickly found that the way to talk to somebody was to introduce myself as a blogger with over 3,600 subscribers to my newsletter rather than as an author/illustrator. Eyebrows went up at my subscriber numbers and I had their attention. That was nice, especially as I'm trying to get to know the UK market and am looking to feature more UK books on my blog. I was given a ton of catalogues and emails to PR folks. I'll follow up with them when I get home. And of course I gave them my info, on an illustrated postcard. "Oh yeah, I'm an author/illustrator too." :)
     I especially loved meeting people who I'd been emailing with for years. Some were people I haven't worked with yet, but would like to (and who happily recognized my name). And some were publishers I have worked with in the past and would like to do more with in the future - like Judy at Free Spirit Press. (This is their booth.)     Mostly, it was simply odd reconnecting with industry friends in ITALY. We had chats, hugs, drinks, dinner - you name it. Highlights were drinks with Kelly Barrales-Saylor and Jordan Kost of Albert Whitman, running into Alvina Ling of Little Brown, drinks with Erzsi Deak of Hen & Ink Literary, meeting my publisher Rana DiOrio, and seeing all my SCBWI buds. It seems I only ever see these folks in exotic places anymore and I'm okay with that! I saw old friends, made some new ones, and soaked up as much as I could about books, the market, illustrative directions, and inspiration. I do feel like I took advantage of the book fair as best I could have. That said, I only went for three of the four days. It was enough, truly.
     Meanwhile, I am trying to process all the great conversations and experiences I had. Any one of them would have been enough to keep my brain busy for days. I have enough to keep my brain busy for months!

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The city of Bologna is filled with colonnades, arch-covered sidewalks which keep you dry from the rain. It's a signature thing here and they are quite famous for them. And while it's lovely to look UP at all the fancy arches, I couldn't help but look DOWN. Because below my feet were some of the most stunning textures - marble, terra cotta, stone. This is what Italians walk on every day here and it seems no two sidewalks are quite the same. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

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Sunday was my play day here in Bologna. Susan Eaddy (Midsouth SCBWI Regional Advisor) has been to Bologna many times to help out with the SCBWI booth, so she's learned her way around. We spent the morning visiting the many and amazing Catholic cathedrals. (Remember, this is Italy!) They truly are stunning. (I'm mixing them up here, but you get the idea...)

Not an inch of space is left free of decoration. And it was interesting to see how most of the artwork looked similar - as if by the same hands. And perhaps they were, with master artists and their apprentices. This Renaissance look was everywhere, and ironic considering I don't know anybody (personally) who paints like that today. (An interesting contrast to what I'll share later from the book fair.)
Which is a shame. We don't build like this anymore either. Heck, even they didn't build like they used to. We had the opportunity to see some terra cotta sculptures that blew my mind. This was The Campianto by sculptor Niccolo dell'Arca who passed away in the 1400s. Wow. Another terra cotta wasn't quite as moving, but still had so much more motion compared to the marble sculptures surrounding it. This one was by Alfonso Lombardi in the 1500s. One of the high points was to see the altar to Saint Catherine. It's usually locked, so this was a rare treat. Here's Susan at the open door. We were able to walk right up to the altar, which is famous for two reasons. One, this little angel on the right is believed to be hand carved by Michelangelo himself.And two, when you walk around the back of the altar, you get to see what is called a relic - a valued piece of a revered saint. In this case, quite a big piece. They have Saint Catherine's head (now a skull) ensconced in this beautiful case - and yes, you can see it in there. Outside, Susan explained the mystery of these harsh exteriors. Apparently these rough-looking bricks are the structure before the facade is built on. So here you see the finished Basilica di San Petronio at the bottom and the work-in-progress at the top. (So far, it's been several centuries - these things take time.)
     The Basilica overlooks Piazza Maggiore - pretty much the center of Bologna. Just off to the side is the Piazza del Nettuno with its Fontana del Nettuno, which is a favorite meeting spot for Book Fair attendees. "I'll meet you at the Neptune Fountain!" is a common phrase here. Pardon the angle, but Susan and I couldn't resist a selfie. And this was all before lunch! Susan had to run to the Fair grounds to set up the SCBWI booth and I was left alone. Or so I thought. Within a few minutes I ran into Margo and Marilyn from dinner the night before. (How strange to hear your name called out in a completely foreign city surrounded by thousands of people!) We had tea while overlooking the piazza for a while.
     And then I ran into fellow classmate Catherine Thomann. We did the more modern side of Bologna and did some shopping down Via dell-Indeipendenza, which connects the city north to south. The sun came out, our sweaters came off. I bought a scarf as my Italian souvenir. And we had wine and cheese at a lovely out of the way cafe. What a day!
     And that wasn't even all! SCBWI hosted a private party that evening at Libreria Trame Bookstore. It was a great opportunity to catch up with industry friends from America - so very cool!
     So that was Day 2, and I haven't even made it to the Book Fair yet! It's coming, I promise!

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I am in Bologna, Italy! I'm here for the Children's Book Fair, but I arrived a day early to enjoy this lovely city. The first thing that struck me about this trip was how odd it was to be leaving Edinburgh, realizing that it is now home - that when people ask me where I'm from, my story has grown quite a bit more complicated! Georgia? Virginia? Scotland. At any rate, the first plane went to Amsterdam, and from there, it was a small plane to Italy.

I navigated everything just fine and ended up in sweet Bologna. I'm staying at an AirBnB in the city center. This is my view. (I'm not in Scotland anymore!) Agatha got me set up on Wifi and had put together a map o key places to see and good restaurants, then I had to rush off to meet friends for dinner. It was Chris Cheng (Regional Advisor for SCBWI Australia), Susan Eaddy (Illustrator Coordinator for SCBWI Midsouth), Marilyn and Margo (Conference Coordinators for New England).We met up at La Mela, just off of Piazza Maggiore. The one sad thing about this trip is being gluten free - no pasta, no pizza. PAH! So, I had stewed octopus instead, which was delicious. Afterwards, we went for gelato - something the Italians are famous for, and rightly so. Then we walked around a bit. It's just beautiful here. And I saw no less than four couples completely making out right in public. Yes, this is a country for lovers. In the center of town there are two enormous towers. One is much bigger, while the smaller one leans just a bit. (Not as much as this photo would imply!) The reason for them isn't completely clear, although the going story is that wealthy families built them to be able to keep an eye on the countryside and any possible invaders. Here are Chris and Susan with the tower. And the rest of us. (Not a great angle, but I was trying to get us with the towers.) We split up after that and Susan and I meandered to the monastery where she's staying. One of the things that immediately strikes you here are the covered colonnades. You could walk the entire city in the rain and never need an umbrella because of these covered sidewalks. And they are BEAUTIFUL. No two are alike, and I am in awe of their construction. I've walked on marble, terrazzo, shaped stones, and then there was this one. There are little bits of beauty everywhere. And a little bit of not so beautiful. This is Santa Lucia. I have never seen a more intimidating religious structure in my life. It screamed 'inquisition' even though that happened in another country. Fear of God indeed.
     So, I made it back to my flat and after that long day, I fell over. The nice thing, though? No jet lag. It's only an hour's difference from home. Yeah, I know.
     Check back soon for my wrap up of the Bologna Children's Book Fair!

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     I'm in Italy this week and this is what I hope I'll be doing! Okay, I'm gluten free, but I hear the Italians are very supportive of that since they were the original home of gluten-based decadence! I hope so!
     CLICK HERE for more coloring pages!
     CLICK HERE to sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET - winner of six literary awards. Click the cover to learn more!
     When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

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As you read this, I will be in ITALY!! That's right. April 2nd through 8th I am finally off to the Bologna Children's Book Fair - something I've wanted to do my entire career as a children's book creator. Now that we live in Scotland, it finally became doable! Add to that, the SCBWI only has a presence every other year, and this is the year! I can't WAIT!
     I've been busy preparing everything I'll need. I have my postcards.

I made my own portfolio. It's small enough that it will fit in my backpack, with an acetate cover to protect it (orange!). And I bound it using the tortoise shell Japanese stab binding design with thread I dyed hot pink. It's a cultural clash, but so is my life right now! I mentioned SCBWI... I am the official SCBWI twitterer (tweeter? twit?). At any rate, if you follow at https://twitter.com/SCBWIBologna or #bol16SCBWI, that'll be me trying to keep you up-to-date on all the happenings. Wish me luck with that! Meanwhile, I've been busy planning meetings and lunches and dinners and such. Some big ones are:

1) I will finally meet Rana DiOrio, my publisher at Little Pickle Press
2) I will participate in TWO drawing challenges at the SCBWI booth on Tuesday
3) I'll have a table from which to share my wares within SCBWI on Wednesday
4) I'll have dinner with Erszi Deak and Susan Eaddy the first night there
5) I'll hang out with writer and illustrator peeps throughout

I cannot WAIT! And of course, I'll share with you guys on FB, twitter, and HERE on my blog! I hope you'll follow along - wrap-up blog posts coming soon.

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Woohoo! I've made it into the shortlist for this well-respected gallery show which will be on display during this year's Bologna Children's Book Fair, which I will finally be attending!
     The images are listed alphabetically by image title, so mine is the last one, called "Where Did She Go." My piece is alongside some pretty amazing company. I especially love the Billy Goats Gruff piece by Nicola Robinson, fellow SCBWI British Isles illustrator. CLICK HERE to have a look at all the finalists! (I think, I hope this page is open for public viewing.)
     At any rate, this is an awesome welcome to Italy for me! I can't wait for the Fair way away in April.
     Here was my entry...

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Entrance. This year's theme is Alice.

I'm in Bologna, Italy at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. Many folks on twitter have asked about the fair, especially as so many agents attend and tweet about it! -- so I thought I'd do a little post about what the heck goes on here.

First of all, there is the show floor - if you've ever been to a trade show like ALA or BEA you'll be familiar with the sight of row after row of booths filled with books from every publisher in the US. The difference with Bologna is, there are not only booths for every publisher in America... there are booths for every publisher in the entire world. Publishers get a chance to look at the best of the best, so that they might "buy in" books from other countries to add to their own lists. It's truly amazing and inspiring to see what is being published elsewhere.

Costumed characters must've been boiling!

Also, as with any convention center, you get the assorted giant characters wandering around, weird giveaways and photo ops, lousy food, temperatures that range from oven-blasting heat to ice cold in the space of a few yards, etc.

The second piece of the fair is the Art. There are art galleries, art prizes, and perhaps most striking, the Walls of Art. These are white walls surrounding the main hall, that get papered over by hopeful illustrators displaying their wares. By the end of the fair, these walls are so crowded with artwork that it is dripping all over the floor.

Day 1 - the walls are just starting to fill.

Day 2 - More art to come!

Now, the part of the fair that AGENTS think is the most important: Rights selling at the Agent's Centre. You'll recall this blog post from a few years ago explaining subsidiary rights in a nutshell -- well, the rights that agents are mostly here to sell are foreign/translation rights.

One side of the agent's centre

Agents and foreign rights managers each have an assigned table in the Agent's Centre. From about 9am to about 6, agents will sit at one of these 100+ tables taking meetings. Every half hour, a new meeting. Some agents' schedules are so intense that they don't even build time in for breaks... this was a bit of a problem this year, as we didn't have an Agent Restroom! ARGH. #bathroomgate #glamorous.

The goals of most meetings include networking and putting faces to names; learning about the market in a given country; and pitching, pitching, pitching. Agents are meeting mostly with foreign publishers and foreign co-agents, and talking about their own list based on what those people say they are looking for.

Not gonna lie - it's truly exhausting. Which is why tonight I stayed in my rental apartment rather than going off to party-hop or have a dinner out. Because tomorrow... it all begins again!

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Right now in children's book world, it's all happening in Bologna! Publishers and rights teams from all around the world have gathered in the vast Italian conference centre/warehouse for the Bologna Children's Book Fair to buy and sell the rights to publish each other's books in different languages. Britain is quite a small country, so if British writers and illustrators can have their work sold abroad, it's much easier to earn a living at their jobs.

So everyone who makes books is wondering... what will happen?? How are our books doing? Will the rights people talk up our books as extra-special, and will potential publishers notice our books when they walk past our publisher's stall? So nerve-wracking for everyone, but exciting, too!

So I was thrilled to see this banner in the OUP Children's stall, tweeted by our publisher, Liz Cross. Yay, PUGS!



And rights agent Karoline Bakken sent me a peek of the catalogue that visiting publishers will be looking at. Here's the Pugs page:



24 languages... that is AMAZING. Sometimes in the past, my books have sold in three or four languages, but this is incredible. Working with Philip Reeve and the OUP team was definitely a good idea. Liz just tweeted a picture of the rights team, here they are! A huge part of the success is down to their enthusiasm, and these people have done a great job so far. And huge thanks to our translators! A Belgian friend was recently reading the French edition of Oliver et les Isles Vagabondes, and she said that translator Raphaële Eschenbrenner's text was pure magic.



I actually have TWO books at Bologna this year! I'm still working like mad on Pugs of the Frozen North, but I've seen printed copies of Dinosaur Police, which comes out with Scholastic UK in May. That baby is ready to walk! Big thanks to my Scholastic editor Pauliina Malinen and designer Rebecca Essilifie.



I hope Dinosaur Police sells lots of foreign editions, too, fingers crossed. I mostly just make picture that please me, but there are a few things I did to make it so foreign publishers wouldn't be put off. Take this spread, for example:



If we zoom in on the police car, you'll notice it's not absolutely clear who is driving. Now, it shouldn't really matter, since this is Dinoville, not Hong Kong or Norway or Egypt, but if publishers in a certain country are fussy about kids learning the 'correct' side a driver should sit on, this won't actually be incorrect. (I actually find that rather amusing, this slightly mysterious car.)




Check out the writing on this cinema poster. If I'd made the writing all black, it could have been lifted and replaced with another language. (It's too expensive for foreign publishers to change all the colour layers, so the black text is on a separate layer they can lift off in one swoop.) But I didn't want the writing to be all black, and it's so tiny that I didn't think people could read it anyway, so I was able to make it red, and make it non-English. (Who says dinosaurs write in English, anyway?)



Now, you might say, 'Hey, the lettering of that PIZZA sign on the left is in white, not black. But ah ha, there is a tricky way around this! Notice how it's all surrounded by black. That whole black bit can come off, leaving a blank space for the foreign publisher to fill in different lettering. And the pizza poster on the right is obviously in dino-language; publishers can leave it as it is.



I'm not going to Bologna this year - I'm too busy finishing Pugs of the Frozen North! - but OUP did bring Philip and me out two years ago, to promote Oliver and the Seawigs. You can read all about that trip and find out more about the Bologna Book Fair in this earlier blog post. Bologna is notorious for not having a unified Twitter hash tag, but you can spot English-language news on #BolognaBookFair and #bcbf15.



And Philip has an exciting new book going there, too! I've actually read it - or even better, had it read to me, when I had a bad case of the 'flu for two weeks! Philip gave me daily installments over Skype, editing his text as we went. And this story is AMAZING. Here's the new cover, designed by Holly Fulbrook, Jo Cameron and the OUP design team!



Find out a bit more about the book here on Philip's blog. Today you can take part in the Railhead Twitter promo:



Ha ha, here's my 'RAILHEAD Ambassador Hat', some assembly required.



Of course, a big shout-out to our fab agents. Jodie Hodges reps me at United Agents, and Jane Willis is covering for her while she's on maternity leave; Philippa Milnes-Smith reps Philip. (Fortunately they're all good friends.)


Check out more at #PicturesMeanBusiness

And Philip's written a very interesting article about judging the YA Book Prize. First prize went to Louise O'Neill with Only Ever Yours, but Philip reviews four of his favourites from the shortlist. Do pop over to his blog, it makes for a good read.

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I connected with Maral on Facebook because I swoon at her artwork and because she is a huge Francophile like me. She is relatively new to children’s books, but her work has been well received: selected in Society of Illustrators (Illustrators … Continue reading →

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I wasn't able to go to the Bologna Children's Book Fair this year, but news is still coming in! Mark A. Chambers tweeted this picture of the Oxford University Press stand, with its big Cakes in Space poster:



And my agent, Jodie Hodges, spotted this napkin still hanging on the wall at Da Silvio, the restaurant we went to last year during our visit! (Here's a close-up of the napkin; that was a good night.)



A couple more peeks at Cakes in Space, my upcoming book with Philip Reeve. It's all set in space, so you think there wouldn't be much reason to draw plants, but Pilbeam the robot shows the girl Astra that the ship has a herbarium. So I got to draw cool growing things and robotic insects.



The look of this page is very influenced by medieval manuscript illumination and paintings. Which was great fun, mixing it into this futuristic context.



(Read more about the Bologna Children's Book Fair in an earlier post.) A couple more fun peeks from Twitter:

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If you work in children's books, you'll know that everyone's gearing up like mad for the Bologna Children's Book Fair: designers are shrieking and running about with cut-up bits of paper (ARGHHH!!!!); rights people are trying to find little pockets of calm to make phone calls to Canada, Korea (SHHHH!!); Bologna cafe owners are making up extra buckets of gelato (Bene, bene!). And I've been - very quietly (eep eep!)- making up some samples for the Oxford University Press stand:



Remember those great Seawigs bags we had last year? This year they're going to be orange, and feature cakes, aliens and robots.



Here's another little peek:



'So what is the Bologna Children's Book Fair?' you ask. It's an exhibition centre in Italy with enormous halls - like airplane hangars - where publishers display their books, many of which haven't launched yet. And their agents work like mad to sell the rights of the books to other countries, to be published in other languages. (These are called 'co-editions'.) Britain's a small country, so if you sell a book well in Britain, that's great, but if the book can be selling in 15 different languages, there's a chance you might actually make a living from it! My co-author Philip Reeve and I went to Bologna last year with our publisher, it's an amazing place. OUP let us draw all over the stall, and I always love the chance to peek at foreign editions, particularly the French language picture books; they often have such interesting design and quirky illustrations that expect quite a lot of advanced abstract thought from their readers.



If you want to catch a bit of Bologna action, you can follow the hashtag #BCBF14. (I think this is the first year they've actually managed to pull together an organised hashtag for English language tweets. Past year's it's been Twitter chaos.)

One of the exciting things has been seeing the Uncorrected Proof copy of Cakes in Space arrive in the post! This is a work-in-progress version, with about half the illustrations finished, and the other half as pencil sketches.



This very limited edition will be missing a bunch of fun stuff like the author pages and endpapers. Last year I'd finished all but the last chapter, and this year I was feeling a bit bad that I'd only managed half this time. But I talked about it with some people, and actually, I think this way might be better: last year people thought they basically had the finished book, and they were surprised when much later they saw the final version, how much more interesting stuff it had in it. This one doesn't pretend to be finished, but it still gives an early reader a very good idea of what's in store.



I've completed all the artwork now and we're working on final edits. I couldn't go to the Emirates lit fest until I'd finished, and that meant I had to put in some very long hours. It really was quite gruelling, and half of me felt terrible about it, because I wasn't giving my friends and family any time, and leaving stacks of e-mails unanswered. But another part of me loved the excuse to switch off from everything but drawing, and really focus on making great pictures. And then I'd feel a bit guilty for enjoying it so much when everyone was annoyed at me for letting them down in so many different ways. So yes, some tears and pleading were involved. I think this is the hardest thing about my job right now, always feeling like I'm letting down so many people all the time. I get quite depressed about it. ...That is why I need my fleet of McIntyre Clones.



...Heh heh, I love this Zen teacake here, he looks like such a calm little dude in the midst of cakey chaos.

Cakes in Space launches in the UK this September, and fingers crossed that it does well in Bologna. Oliver and the Seawigs did VERY well - 14 foreign co-editions sold - so this year I'm optimistic.

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The weather was great on a recent Sunday in Bologna. I had a great time poking in and out of corners and taking it all in.

A gorgeous flower shop… and some of the towers Bologna is famous for

and some famous Bolognese foods!

One of the city’s lovely porticoes

Sorry I’ve been scarce lately. Between travel and working on my novel, it’s been tough to make time to post, but I have lots to share. See you back here soon.

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Stands 'Looted' At Bolgona

from The Independent:

British publishers have expressed outrage at what they describe as the widespread "looting" from their stands by people attending the world's leading children's book exhibition.

Michael O'Mara Books, an independent publisher, found nearly three-quarters of its titles had vanished.

Its staff took the titles to Italy for the Bologna Children's Book Fair to sell the rights to publishers worldwide - only to find themselves left without the tools of their trade.

Mauro Spagnol, senior foreign rights manager for the publisher, told The Independent that up to 70 of 100 titles were stolen from his stand, with neighbouring stands suffering similar thefts.

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Want to see what children’s book illustrators are doing around the world?

As I mentioned in my last post, illustration is the main course of the Bologna fair’s visual feast. Here’s where you see, more than ever, that a great cover is a book’s best friend. The photo above is from the posting wall at the Fair, where illustrators are invited to leave their cards in the hopes that they’ll be noticed.

Here is one of my favorites, from illustrator Daisy Hirst:

I love the fun, playful quality of her work.

In addition to the posting wall and the many booths of books, there’s a yearly exhibition of top talent and a spotlight on a “guest of honor” country—this year, Portugal. I was so inspired by the showcase winners and by so many other illustrators whose work was on display. Check out the exhibition artists here.

Some links to blogs by/ articles about my favorites from the exhibition:

Alejandra Barba of Mexico

Jo Suna of Korea

Fereshteh Najafe of Iran

Anja Reiger of Germany (Berlin)

Katrin Stangl of Germany

Gerry Turley of England

Just as when I went to the Frankfurt Book Fair, I was struck by how many different styles of artwork there are across world markets. There’s so much exciting stuff going on in Spain, Korea, Holland, Iran, you name it.

I’d love to see some American publishers translate some of these books and/ or work with some of these illustrators. Most foreign book rights sales go the other way (English into other languages) but we’re really missing out on some fabulous stuff.

American publisher Front Street, back in the day, brought Dutch and French titles to the US market (A Day, A Dog, The Yellow Balloon, Little Bird’s ABC —all of which I love). But since Front Street’s passing, somebody needs to take up the torch. Is there a publisher out there doing this that I just don’t know about?

It was also interesting to talk to some European illustrators about where their work fits in best. One I spoke to had been told her work would sell best in Eastern Europe. Another had been told his would do better in Latin America or Asia. I’d love to see a map of what kind of illustration fits where.

Would you like to see more international books brought to the US market? There’s some dispute that Americans just don&rsquo

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