Steve Antony Steve Antony

Write on Kew

London's Kew Gardens is beautiful. What a fantastic setting to hold a story-time event. A couple of weekends ago a whole host of authors held events at Write on Kew, including me. There, I read the newly-released The Queen's Present for the very first time to an audience. Afterwards, I took a leisurely stroll around the magical gardens. Below are some pics from the day, along with a video all about Kew Gardens. 

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Wokingham Libraries: Mr Panda Cake and Librarian of the Year

A couple of weeks ago I visited Wokingham Libraries for a day of events. I think it was my fourth, or maybe fifth, visit to the Wokingham Library. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Elizabeth (pictured below) was the first librarian to contact me about holding a library event, way back in the summer of 2014, not too long after the release of my first picture book: The Queen's Hat. Elizabeth recently won the Public Librarian of the Year Award from CILIP (Chartered Institution of Library and Information Professionals) for all of her hard work and boundless enthusiasm!

The highlight of the day was the MR PANDA CAKE, baked by Wokingham Librarian, Claire Groves (AKA Chocolatey's Cakes). It was delicious. Slicing it felt a bit wrong, but it tasted so good. Just check out the rainbow coloured layers inside Mr Panda (below).

It was also nice to catch up with Cathy MacLennan and to visit Woodley's indie children's bookstore, Chapter One. 

Claire and I visited several schools in the area, and the last story-time event of the day took place in Wokingham Library, where I met some little (and big) fans of The Queen's Hat and Mr Panda books.

All in all, another fun day with Wokingham Libraries!

Me, Librarian of the Year, Elizabeth McDonald and fellow author-illustrator,  Cathy MacLennan

Me, Librarian of the Year, Elizabeth McDonald and fellow author-illustrator,  Cathy MacLennan

Photos by Cathy MacLennan.

Photos by Cathy MacLennan.

Chapter One Children's Bookshop

Chapter One Children's Bookshop

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Steve Antony Steve Antony

Whistle-stop UK Bookshop Tour

Blackpool Tower

Blackpool Tower

Last week I visited around 20 bookstores from Gloucester to Glasgow for Books Are My Bag, a nationwide campaign to celebrate bookshops. It was a whistle-stop tour incorporated into a weeklong road-trip to a close friend's wedding in Gretna Green. Each visit was somewhat spontaneous. Every time we took a pitstop, we sought out the nearest bookstores. Most of the stores we visited were Waterstones and WHSmiths, but we did stumble across the award-winning Booka Bookshop in Oswestry - a shop conveniently located near some friends - and Blackwell's and Forbidden Planet in Edinburgh. 

It was great to meet and chat to so many booksellers, including fellow twitterers. I don't think I've ever visited so many bookstores in one week. From what I can recall, we swung by Gloucester, Worcester, Telford, Wolverhampton, Oswestry, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Blackpool and Stoke-on-Trent. It was a little crazy, I admit, but it was so fun! The only problem now... I need a new bookshelf. 

Angel of the North is in The Queen's Handbag

Angel of the North is in The Queen's Handbag

Waterstones, Blackpool

Waterstones, Blackpool

The biggest bookstore in Scotland - Waterstones, Glasgow

The biggest bookstore in Scotland - Waterstones, Glasgow

Waterstones - though I can't quite remember which town this was in!

Waterstones - though I can't quite remember which town this was in!

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At Cheltenham Festival there's a Monster in the Hood!

Cheltenham Festival was such fun. My event was based on Monster in the Hood and Betty Goes Bananas. The audience were brilliant and so were their Monster drawings! Below are some pictures and a couple of tweets from the day. 

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War - not an easy subject, so let's talk about working together

There are several picture books that tackle difficult subjects and they each have something unique to offer. 

My desire was to simplify to its core what is an anything but simple subject so that people can add their own interpretations and apply it to just about any kind of conflict.

Everything in GREEN LIZARDS VS RED RECTANGLES was intentional - the digitally drawn faceless rectangles, the hand drawn characteristic lizards, the death, the life, the hope, the two complimenting colours, the word TRUCE. 

WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR and ENOUGH IS ENOUGH are the two statements that really stand out and that was absolutely intentional because what are we/you fighting for and when is 'enough enough' in any kind of altercation, disagreement or war?

'8 Red Rectangles' 

'8 Red Rectangles' 

It's also an exercise in design, which was initially inspired by '8 Red Rectangles' by Malevich. Even I didn't know how these two entities would visually resolve their differences until the end of drawing this story. And despite it's overall simplistic design, it was not a simple task to populate this book with so many lizards and rectangles. And because of my red-green colourblindness (oh, the irony) I have developed a very effective but very tedious and time-consuming process to render my final illustrations. Let's just say that this is compiled from HUNDREDS of layers in Photoshop. Nor was it easy to work out the visual actions and reactions, but it was fun. 

And if you look closely, there are some sad scenes. At one point I actually got really emotional drawing these little reptiles. Each lizard has its own story. If you get this book, really take a good look - A REALLY GOOD LOOK - at all the lizards. They're not all fighting. In fact, most are NOT fighting. And the ones that are fighting are inadvertently hurting other lizards. Hang on, are the rectangles JUST lifeless objects? Are the lizards fighting against themselves without even realising it? You could get really deep with this... I did. 

I realise it was a bold move to include a 'death'. But that was the catalyst for the 'biggest war ever'. Often, war is because war was, until someone has the audacity to pose the most direct question of all, or proclaim that enough really is enough. I did intentionally soften this scene by using the word 'squashed'. And, if you look closely, you might spot a little bandaged lizard on every page after the 'squash' so maybe she/he is ok after all. That's up to you. 

UK Hardback 

UK Hardback 

It's been really great to see how classes have interpreted the book and how they've taken my 'simple' take on war and turned it into a lengthy discussion. I had a really interesting chat about the book with some college teens recently. Why rectangles? Why red? Why green? Why are they fighting? Why are we fighting? One person even suggested that the war started because a lizard and rectangle were in love (they got this from the final 'kiss' scene on the hardback's endpapers). 

The book doesn't explain why they are warring or how it all started. I don't know why the war started, I just know they're at war and that war is getting them nowhere. 

The two sides are very different from each other but they have one thing in common - the book. Perhaps they are just fighting for space. 

I could go on and on about how I important I feel this book is and how it can be as simple or as complex as you would like it to be. Even though it tackles a weighty subject, it's actually quite a fun book, if you want it to be, and could lead to discussions about 'working together'. I know it's not commercial, but I don't care about that. Maybe it will go under the radar. Who knows? I wrote this book because I felt compelled to do so, and I'm really glad that I did. 

You can buy the book here, or your fav bookstore, or you can borrow it from your nearest library. 

 

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Monsters from Bryony School Reception Class

I love receiving post from schools via my publisher. Here are some amazing depictions of the Monster in the Hood, by Bryony School's Reception Class!  Thank you for sharing these with me, Bryony School!

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Lifeboat Illustration Auction is happening NOW

A couple of my prints are available to bid on here: http://www.jumblebee.co.uk/lifeboat

This amazing auction is selling original illustrations, limited edition prints  and signed books by some fantastic  children's authors and illustrators. 

All the money raised is going straight to The School Bus Project who are converting buses into mobile schools that will provide vital education & support to the refugees trapped across Europe.

***UPDATE*** The auction has now closed. Congratulations to the winning bidders!

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My role as Patron of Swindon Libraries Children's Services

I am excited an honoured to announce the news that I've been made Patron of Swindon Libraries Children's Services.

As a local Swindon resident, I feel passionately about the values of libraries to our town.

Swindon Libraries provide an amazing and invaluable service, and I look forward to supporting my local librarians by taking part in events and promoting the great things they offer our community.

Thank you, Swindon Libraries, for this wonderful opportunity.

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