Sue Eves

Reigning Cats And Dogs

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:09:00 +0000

Vivian Schwartz and I presented our books at the Sydenham Arts Festival today. Woofy and Biscuit rubbed noses for the first time and played games with the dog, the cat and the audience of under 5's and some older!

Woofy was blindfolded and guessed the noisy toys while a child shook or squeaked one of Woofy's toys and Biscuit became the cat under the hat, hiding her eyes while a child hid a rainbow ball of wool for her to find.

At one point the cat,Biscuit, disappeared under the bookshelves as it shot out of Viv's hands. Luckily, a small child crawled into the small space to retrieve it.

The Quiet Woman And The Noisy Dog By Sue Eves & illustrated by Ailie Busby
There Are Cats In This Book By Vivian Schwartz

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Cats And Dogs Festival Special

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:18:00 +0000

Vivian Schwartz and I will be reading from our books at the Sydenham Arts Festival tomorrow at 10.30am.

There Are Cats In This Book and The Quiet Woman And The NOISY DOG are brought together in a special story time and book signing.

Kirkdale Bookshop
272 Kirkdale Sydenham SE26 4RS.

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My puppet dog and Vivian's puppet cat will be with us.
Who knows what will happen when the dog and the cat meet for the first time!

Lake Swan

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:02:00 +0000

My digital doodle of the day.

A CAB - The Movie

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Books And Bubbly

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:27:00 +0000

A quick sketch and off for a picnic to celebrate the paperback publication today of The Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog

The quiet woman smiled and said, "Let them play!"
The noisy woman said, "O.K!"

Hockney Cab - Paintings On My Phone

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:41:00 +0000

This could be a new way to work out my thumbnails for my picture book dummies. After watching the BBC programme: Imagine about David Hockney last night, I downloaded 3 of his iphone paintings (which you can download over 48 hours only) and discovered the brushes application on my phone.

My cab painting is a sketch I did while waiting at the station this evening. Photoshop users are already familiar with digital art. Painting digitally in the dark is a whole new phone game for me. I photographed this bus that was parked on my local common recently and worked on it in the brushes application.

Paperback Picture Book Picnic

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:44:00 +0000

I'm taking a picnic and a walk in the park this Thursday 2nd July to celebrate the publication of our paperback edition of The Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog

"Oh Woofy! Oh Woofy! I love you, Woofy! La-La-La-La-La!"

Professor Jacqueline Wilson

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Jacqueline Wilson signed books for fans after her lecture at Roehampton University last Thursday evening. The children's author is a professorial fellow, sharing her expertise with students on the Creative Writing and Children's Literature courses. She parted with valuable tips for those of us learning the craft of writing for children.

You are not alone. Everyone wants to write for children nowadays.

We laughed and inwardly cried and sighed at the thought of those wanting 'to dash off a little children's book.'

What will make your submission different from all the others? Here are a few of her tips from the top:

What ever it is, your heart has to be in it. You have to care about your characters. 'Imagine what it's like for the child.'

Keep writing more and more. Don't stop at the first book! Make the most of your lucky breaks.

Don't re-read as you write. Finish the draft first before you judge it.

For those writing historical fiction, 'imagine it as fiercely as you can.'

Jacqueline Wilson has just completed Hetty Feather which was commissioned by the Foundling Museum and will be published in Oct 2009. She says she tried to write with an authentic Victorian voice whilst keeping it lively and direct.

And in a pleasing circle of events, JACQUELINE WILSON MAGAZINE will be published by D.C.Thomson who named their comic for girls after their most junior journalist in 1964 - JACKIE.

Kyle Cassidy's Small Art Project

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:48:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I commented on a photo of Neil Gaiman and his dog by photographer Kyle Cassidy in his post about collaborative art. It was his fan letter to musician Nicki Jaine that was the seed to his eventual meeting and photographing Neil Gaiman.

I stumbled across this post after following a Neil Gaiman Twitter to Kyle Cassidy's livejournal blog inviting artists to collaborate on a small art project. All you had to do was say 'Yes' in the comments.

I immediately responded and landed on the first page of comments under my livejournal name Pixzzzart and for the next few days watched as 600 people replied with the word 'Yes.'

The positive replies have reached the 800 mark and Kyle Cassidy set up a separate community for creative souls in search of inspiration and, as it turns out, a collaborator.

In a subsequent blog post, Kyle Cassidy revealed the random pairing and we were pushed out of the nest and into creativity.

My collaborator is a young photographer with a sensational collection of Pink pics. We have emailed after initial contact via Twitter. Two weeks to go before we report back with 'What came of it' and as nothing has come of it yet - we have work to do.

All we can say at the moment is it may involve photos and a children's story and it's all happening online as my collaborator lives in Northern Ireland.

Wish us luck!

Anthony Browne New Children's Laureate

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:23:00 +0000

Congratulations, author/illustrator Anthony Browne on becoming the next Children's Laureate
He wants to focus particularly on the appreciation of picture books. Hooray!

'We have in Britain some of the best picture book makers in the world, and I want to see their books appreciated for what they are – works of art.'

Willy's Pictures (Willy the Chimp)is one of my favourites. The chimp is painting a portrait of Anthony Browne on the cover of the hardback edition I bought. But the picture on the cover above gives more of an indication as to the astonishing achievement of Anthony Browne as a fine artist. This picture book is literally a work of art.

Books and Hats at the Hay Festival

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:14:00 +0000

I arrived in time to see new Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy reading Mrs Aesop and 6 of her other poems (listen to the event here on the Hay Festival website). She had sold out of The World's Wife but I bought some of her children's poetry.

The Hat

I met author, Jenny Valentine in her delicatessen in Hay the day after hearing her talk about Writing Children's Fiction. She writes for 3 days a week, from 9-3 and works 2 days a week in the shop and is writing 3 novels a year! Her latest is The Ant Colony

Michael Morpurgo read I Believe In Unicorns and talked about his life as a writer. His advice to aspiring writers:

'Live and interesting life and write down the single most important thing that happened that day.'

I discovered that Apple may have the answer for Mac users wishing to find an electronic reading device in the future. Jamie Byng was obviously very excited by the Apple Tablet. I could get in to digital reading and handwriting on this net book. The Sony Reader is not yet Mac compatible or Wi-Fi connected and is in black and white. Sony were selling their reader at £30 discount for £199.

As well as a few new books, I bought secondhand books in Hay town centre.

Booth's Books, Hay

My most exciting find was the first UK edition of Caldecott & Co. Notes on Books & Pictures by Maurice Sendak (1989). It includes his acceptance speech in 1964 when he won the Caldecott Medal for Where The Wild Things Are.

With Where The Wild Things Are I felt that I am at the end of a long apprenticeship. By that I mean all my previous work now seems to have been an elaborate preparation for it.

Thanks to Addyman Books in Hay town centre for tucking this book into their children's books' corner.

Thanks also to Yvette Jelfs hatstand on the festival site. At last I have a hat for the Ascot Ladies' day and I had a sun hat for reading at Hay.

Sarwat Chadda At Book Launch For The Devil's Kiss

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:08:00 +0000

Sarwat Chadda At Book Launch For The Devil's Kiss , originally uploaded by Pix zzzart.

Whoop! Sarwat signs copies of his new children's novel, The Devil's kiss at the Dulwich Picture Gallery last Friday.
Sarwat is the British SCBWI hero of the Undiscovered Voices Anthology 2008.

Devil's Kissis a sharp, terrifying masterwork of plotting and I'm sure Billi will be everybody's hero.

I can safely say I'll never write anything like it.

4 Stars For The Quiet Woman

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:59:00 +0000

A very simple concept is turned into something approaching a little gem...

Books For Keeps, the children's Book magazine, gives The Quiet Woman And The Noisy Dog 4 stars and a sparkling review in the May issue. Woof!

Earmarked Pages of The Writer's Tale

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:44:00 +0000

I've finally finished reading Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale (Doctor Who) by Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook - the heavy hardback 'untold' story of the making of the TV Doctor Who series. It's taken me 6 months and when I posted about it in October last year, I couldn't imagine it taking me that long to read. The last non-fiction book that took me almost as long was 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

I hadn't expected to earmark so many pages of The Writer's Tale. (I referred to one of my earmarked pages of Robert McKee's Story the other day. I knew it would be useful sooner or later.) I'm not sure when or if the others will be of any future reference in my writing but the one that has already answered the question that has been bothering me for so long - 'What is Voice?' is already magnificently supporting me in my writing. Page 501 - (of 512, including the index!)has the answer. You could skip the other 511 pages but the weight of the question only feels truly lifted when putting down the heavy volume after 6 months. Anyway, I can't give away the ending! Oh, all right then - the answer is a long and satisfying one but essentially, it's about you and who you are and how you think - but don't think about it!

I never - never - sit there thinking, what's my voice? You might as well ponder, who am I? It is in fact the same thing.
Russell T Davies 'The Writer's Tale'

So now I understand what publishers and editors and agents and other established authors mean when they say write from the heart - I always thought they meant write passionately but what I think they mean is write from the heart of you or more accurately from your head because no one else can read your thoughts - unless you write them down.

You find your voice by writing, by experience. It doesn't matter what exactly you're writing, just that you are writing.
Russell T Davies 'The Writer's Tale'

Reading At The Opticians

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:06:00 +0000

I was thrilled to see a battered old copy of my first picture book HIC! in the waiting area of my local opticians. I recently got excited about the delivery of my brand new books but that is nothing compared to seeing the well-loved, well-read, loose-paged, crumpled-edged copy of my first published book, beautifully battered from years of page turning. The optician said that she often reads it to children and was delighted when I gave her a copy of The Quiet Woman And The Noisy Dog to add to their collection of books. I was also pretty pleased that I needed new glasses. I can still use my old ones.

Sally Nicholls And Season Of Secrets

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:19:00 +0000

Season of Secrets entwines the myth of The Green Man with Molly's story of loss and her new life with her grandparents in the country. Sally Nicholls' second children's novel is the best read since Skellig. I think of children's author, David Almond, as my soul author and I didn't think I'd ever find another children's author to match his writing.

Sally's first book, Ways to Live Forever won the Waterstone's Children's Book prize last year. I offered it to my teenage daughter to read and she declined saying, "I don't want to read any more books about dying!" But Ways To Live Forever is not just another book about dying, like Seasons Of Secrets, it's a book about being a child and all the magic and fear and sense of belonging and laughter and tragedy that childhood brings.

Sally Nicholls is the second of my soul authors and she has written her second brilliant Children's Book - I'll want to read everything she writes.

For anyone wishing to explore magic and myths, I recommend Treadwell's bookshop in London that specialises in worldwide paganism. I went there for the launch of Season Of Secrets last week. With its glass cases and shelves of antique objects and ancient tales - it felt a little like taking a trip down Diagon Alley!

Woofy Meets Eddie

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:52:00 +0000

Give The Dog A Biscuit Bone, originally uploaded by Pix zzzart.

A few more photos have come in of the book launch. This was the moment Woofy offered Eddie one of my gingerbread dog bones.
Photo by Claire Grehan.

And The Winning Puppet Dog Name Is...

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:06:00 +0000

And the winners are:

Demcee & Maddy B - Congratulations!

On Wednesday 4th March, I announced the winners of the Name The Puppet Dog Competition in a special prize-giving presentation. I'd chosen the name from the list of suggestions sent to me by a class of 8 & 9 year-olds from St Francis School in Berkshire. Woofy presented a book token to each of the winners and then we posed for the press photographer from Ascot News.

Woofy made a special thank you speech to the audience of KS2 pupils in the main hall. After several failed attempts to remember his name, Woody? Woosy? Woolley? We revealed the Woofy balloons and the children sang a Woofy Song to teach him his name.

Thanks to all the staff who sat around the table with me in the staffroom plotting a last minute timetable to involve the whole school. Starting with the pre-school, I went from class to class reading The Quiet Woman And The Noisy Dog, ending up in the class of 10 year-olds already celebrating World Book Day in Victorian Dress.

I don't think I'll forget our visit and I'm looking forward to reading the Victorian Woofy story.

oh and the reason I chose this name?

Woofy is the name of the Noisy Dog in the book!

Kirkdale Bookshop Event Photos

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:17:00 +0000

Kirkdale Bookshop had done a brilliant job publicizing the event as part of their World Book Day celebrations - the long narrow room was full of kids and adults. And look - no hands!

Afterwards, I suggested we take a photo of the front of the shop. If you look closely, you can see our book in the window as well as on my lap.

After they'd gone...

We may well be back for the Arts Festival in July. I'll keep you posted.

World Book Day at Wimbledon Books

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:55:00 +0000

It's World Book Day tomorrow and we will be at Wimbledon Books and Music from 3.30pm to celebrate. Come in and listen to our story!

Storytime at Kirkdale Bookshop

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:13:00 +0000

It's story time at the Kirkdale bookshop on Saturday 28th February at 10.30am. Come and listen to our story

Sketch from my Bottom Drawer

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Dancer, originally uploaded by Pix zzzart.

I've been organising images for my new website and I found one of my early art school sketches. I think I drew it from a photo of Margot Fonteyn - It was the first time I'd used my new 2B, 3B, 4B, and 6B pencils in one drawing!

Time to sharpen my pencils again, I think.

Flowers From The Bookshop

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Aren't they lovely!

I have returned from a morning of reading and signing at Wimbledon Books and Music. This is the first in a series of book events I am doing over the next month to promote our new picture book . It was a good start and I'm sure I'll learn a great deal from meeting our readers. The youngest was 2 years-old today and Dad was bringing the children along as a diversion from the birthday preparations - (mum was at home making a pirate ship cake, apparently).

The booksellers, Kath and Rosalind, were well prepared for my visit, with a few of my books on a signing table and cushions scattered on the events' room floor. I arrived far too early because I'd overestimated my journey time (I don't suppose I'll always be that lucky).

There was plenty of time for fear to set in (mine not theirs!) before the first child wandered in clutching a dinosaur and wearing dinosaur boots. Story time is a regular occurrence at this bookshop, so the children were quite happy to make themselves at home, playing with the toys and books enticingly displayed on the shelves. I asked some of the children their names - in case I needed to catch their attention during the story.

As the children were between the ages of 2 and 4, I announced that I was going to read them a story, plumped up the cushions, asked everyone to sit down and introduced them to the book. One girl told me she had the book already - good start - it was only published last week. And then I read.

I have years of experience as an actor and puppeteer but I was really nervous before this reading. I've spent 10 years trying to get this story finished, suddenly the reader is waiting and I am about to read the book aloud for the first time - the moment was overwhelming. Will they like it? Will they like it a lot? Will they remember it after I've read it? Will I remember how to read it!

Yes, they liked it and they remembered significant turning points in the story when I asked them questions at the end. Had they been a bit older, I would have invited them to ask me questions but instead I decided it was time to let the dog out of the bag!

Hoping to maintain their interest and continuing with the Quiet and Noisy theme, we played 'Hunt The Noisy Toy'. The children took it in turns to hide a squeaky toy bone behind their back and the dog had to seek the sound and retrieve the toy. Good game, I'll use that one again!

We had a good time - I signed a few books and I was presented with this gorgeous bouquet of flowers, a cup of tea and a choice of any book from the bookshop!

Two of Brian Wildsmith's titles caught my eye - Animal Gallery and Favourite Nursery Rhymes
I could have picked War Horse by Michael Morpurgo but in the end I chose The Knife Of Never Letting Go

We discussed a return visit and if all goes to plan, I'll be reading from The Quiet Woman And The Noisy Book at Wimbledon Books again on World Book Day, Thursday 5th March, from 3.30pm.

Book Signing and Puppet Dog Tail Waggling

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:35:00 +0000

On Saturday I'll be doing my first public book signing at Wimbledon Books and Music in South London. I will be reading The Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog and introducing my puppet dog who has not been officially named yet.

Before the book was published on 5th February, I asked pupils from a Berkshire school to make a list of suggestions for a suitable dog name to celebrate the launch of my picture book. I've chosen a name and I will announce it at the school on March 4th in a special Naming Day and prize-giving presentation.

The head teacher has been sworn to secrecy but if you happened to stop by Wimbledon Books and Music on Saturday 14th Feb at 11am - the dog will be let out of the bag!

Ailie Busby's Art, Sue and the Noisy Dog too

fox.eves@googlemail.com (Sue Eves) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Sue Eves and the NOISY Dog
Photo By Claire Grehan

Well, here we are at the Illustration Cupboard in London last week for the book launch. Illustrator, Ailie Busby, was unable to attend but she kindly lent three of her original paintings from The Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog, for the event.

Top left corner of the photo is the Noisy house and below it, the illustration of the Noisy Town with colourful houses that remind me of towns I've seen in Ireland. The dog and I are standing beside the title cover painting and we match it too!