I was invited by the lovely Dannii Minogue to be her guest at the X-Factor results show on Sunday night in London. Very exciting! Dannii had said some very nice things about my books in a Sunday Times interview a while back and we started to correspond, which in turn led to the invitation. Great fun to be there and see how the programme is made. It’s impossible not to get swept away by the fun of the whole thing. Afterwards, my sister and I spent some time with Dannii in her dressing room backstage and got to meet lots of the contestants. A great night.

For more photos from the set and backstage, add me as a friend on facebook   www.facebook.com/john.boyne1

Only back from Germany and off again to England, this time for a joint signing of NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY with Oliver Jeffers, the book’s illustrator. As Oliver lives in Brooklyn and I live in Dublin this was the only opportunity we got to do something together. So as far as I know the only place where there is stock of first editions of the novels signed by both of us is here.

To see more photos from the signing, add me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/john.boyne1

I was in Eason’s bookstore last night for the launch of WITH LOVE FROM ME TO ME – A LETTER TO MY SIXTEEN YEAR OLD SELF, a collection of letters from various well known Irish people written, as the title would suggest, to their 16 year old self. Including me. Proceeds from the book go to the Irish Youth Foundation so it’s well worth picking up for Christmas. Other contributors include Miriam O’Callaghan, Maeve Binchy, Bill Cullen, Dustin the Turkey, Jennifer Johnston, Brian Keenan, Derek Landy, Colum McCann, Barry McGuigan, Senator David Norris, Ross O’Carroll Kelly, Joseph O’Connor, Patricia Scanlan and many others.

This coming Saturday sees the only joint signing that Oliver and I will be doing for NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY. Oliver, of course, designed the jacket and all the illustrations inside the book. It takes place in Foyle’s on Charing Cross Road, London, at 2 pm. Be there!

NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY has been shortlisted for Children’s Book of the Year at this year’s Irish Book Awards. Hurrah! The other shortlisted titles in my category are by Sarah Webb, Derek Landy and Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick. You can vote online for the winner here.

The ceremony itself takes place in the Mansion House in Dublin on November 25th.

I arrived in Germany last Friday for the German book tour to promote THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE. I’ve been here only twice before, once for the Cologne Literary Festival about 3 years ago and once for the Jewish Film Festival in Berlin in 2009, which was the last stop on our STRIPED PYJAMAS movie book tour.

This time around I get to visit 7 cities – well one of them, Zurich, is of course in Switzerland – and I started on Friday night in Gutersloh where I was hosted in a wonderful bookshop, the oldest building in the city.

My weekend was free and I spent it in Leipzig which is a beautiful town. Monday time I gave a reading in Lehmanns bookstore in the center of Leipzig. All the dates on this tour will include a German reader alongside me – I read a passage from the book in English, he reads a passage in German, then we share a final passage in two languages.

In Dusseldorf now. 3 down, 4 to go!

I’ll be in Germany and Switzerland for the next 9 days visiting 7 different cities to read from and discuss THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE / DAS HAUS ZUR BESONDEREN VERWENDUNG. So if you happen to be in Germany, do come along! All details of dates and times can be found on my German publishers Arche-Verlag’s website but in a nutshell they’re:

Friday, 22. Oktober 2010, 20 Uhr
Buchhandlung Markus, Gütersloh

Monday, 25. Oktober 2010, 20.15 Uhr
Lehmanns Buchhandlung, Leipzig

Tuesday, 26. Oktober 2010, 20.15 Uhr
Mayersche Buchhandlung, Düsseldorf

Wednesday, 27. Oktober 2010, 19 Uhr
Lew Kopelew Forum, Köln

Thursday, 28. Oktober 2010, 20.30 Uhr
Buchhandlung Hugendubel, München

Friday, 29. Oktober 2010, 20.30 Uhr
Buchhandlung Heymann, Hamburg

Saturday, 30. Oktober 2010, 20 Uhr
Orell Füssli Bookshop, Zürich

I gave a reading yesterday from NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY at the wonderful Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoire as part of the Dun Laoire-Rathdown Library Voices series. It’s a great venue to read in – I read there last year with Patrick Gale – and on this occasion I was interviewed by my old friend Bob Johnston who runs the excellent Gutter Bookshop in Temple Bar, Dublin.

The first of the foreign language editions of NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY is published today in Holland by my Dutch publisher Boekerij, who also publish The Thief of Time, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, Mutiny On The Bounty and The House of Special Purpose. In Holland the novel is published under the title NOAH BARLEYWATER GAAT ERVANDOOR.

I was a guest on The Book Show on ABC Sydney yesterday to discuss NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY. Obviously I didn’t fly to Sydney for it – it was a live link-up to the RTE Studios in Dublin – but you can hear the full interview and a short reading online here.

Then on to the Cheltenham Literature Festival where I read on Friday night from THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE with one of Ireland’s finest novelists, Joseph O’Connor, author of STAR OF THE SEA, REDEMPTION FALLS and GHOST LIGHT, among other works. Then a NOAH event at the Playhouse theatre on Sunday morning before heading home to Dublin.

Ten days to recover, then it’s onwards to Germany, for the German book tour for THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE. All the readings there take place in bookshops and the times/dates are listed here.

Fortunately I got there just in time to sign the books and deliver my after-lunch talk – preceded by Charlie Higson of The Fast Show/Young James Bond, and succeeded by Peter Snow of the election night swingometer – before heading on to Birmingham, where half the roads were closed off due to the Tory party conference.

Finally I made it to my hotel and Monday I visited two schools filled with very enthusiastic pupils in Birmingham before making my way to Peters Libary Service, a fantastic book depository where teachers and librarians come to find their books. They had a fantastic NOAH display to welcome me, pictured above.

Then on to London, where the tubes are on strike.

I first had the idea for the book about 2 years ago and I began with the ending, which was originally supposed to take up the bulk of the story. However, as I wrote and rewrote it, the story changed quite a lot and, I think, turned into something quite unexpected.

It’s published in the UK today and will (so far) be published in over 20 languages throughout 2011. You can see when it will be available in your country and read an extract from the opening chapter here.

Then on to London for an early morning appearance on BBC Breakfast on Thursday morning where I talked about NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY. The premiere of Eat Pray Love was on in London the night before and I had high hopes that Julia Roberts might be on the show too; instead there was an actor from Coronation Street. Oh well.

And then to a fantastic venue just off Oxford Street in the evening, where my UK publisher, Transworld, was holding a party to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Full of authors, agents, editors and Random House folk, it was a very enjoyable evening although I made it to bed reasonably early as I was on the first plane back to Dublin this morning. All energy must be conserved for the UK book tour in 9 days time!

The dates and cities are:

Thu Oct 21, 8 pm              TUBINGEN

                Buchhandlung Osiander, Wilhelmstasse 12

                www.osiander.de

Fri Oct 22, 8 pm                 GUTERSLOH

                Buchhandlung Markus, Munsterstrasse 9

                www.buchhandlung-markus.de

Mon Oct 25, 8:15 pm      LEIPZIG

                Lehmanns Buchhandlung, Grimmaische Str. 10

                www.lehmanns.de/leipzig

Tue Oct 26^th, 8:!5 pm      DUSSELDORF

                Mayersche Buchhandlung, Konigsallee 18

                www.mayersche.de

Wed Oct 27^th, 7 pm          COLOGNE

                Lew Kopelew Forum, Neumarkt `8a

                www.kopelew-forum.de

Thu Oct 28^th, 8:30 pm      MUNICH

                Buchhandlung Hugendubel, Theatinerstrasse 11

                www.hugendubel.de

Fri Oct 29^th, 8:30 pm        HAMBURG

                Buchhandlung Heymann, Eppendorfer Landstrasse 77

                www.buecher-heymann.de

Sat Oct 30^th, 8 pm             ZURICH

                Orell Fussli Bookshop, Bahnhofstrasse 70

                www.books.ch 

One of the television interviews I did when I was in Brazil has been posted on YouTube. There are some funny cut-ins along the way – “it’s all for one, D’Artagnan!” – also, a photograph of me with a strange expression on my face holding a collection of Philip Ardagh books in my hands!

It will be available in bookshops in one month’s time, on 30th September.

I’ll be giving two readings at the Cheltenham Literature Festival: in the first, on Friday 8th October, I’ll be reading from THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE alongside fellow Irish novelist Joseph O’Connor, author of Star of the Sea, Redemption Falls and Ghost Light. Tickets for this event are available here. The following morning I’ll be doing a solo event, reading from NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY, which will be published earlier that week. Tickets for Noah – click here.

On Saturday 16th October I’ll be at the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoire, County Dublin, to read from NOAH. Tickets here.

And on Saturday 6th November, there will be the only opportunity to have a copy of NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY signed by both the author – me – and the illustrator – Oliver Jeffers. We’ll be together at Foyle’s bookstore on Charing Cross Road London at 2 pm. More details of this signing are available from the Foyle’s website here.

Hope to see you at some of these!