Who was at the Faerie Tarantula book launch last week?

I was truly thrilled to be at the Faerie Tarantula book launch last week. It was a joint affair by Paula Harrison who launched The Crystal Mirror, the first in her new middle grade Faerie Tribes series for girls, and Jackie Marchant who launched I'm Dougal Trump Where's My Tarantula?.

It was held in London's Phoenix Arts Club, in a tiny street where the opening scenes from Harry Potter were filmed. The pictures and theatrical posters crammed on the walls were a great backdrop for a wonderful evening.


Kirsty Stansfield, Paula's editor at Nosy Crow says, about The Crystal Mirror

"It’s got great atmosphere and pace, and I really like the relationship between the characters. They’re very well drawn. But what I like best about it is that it raises the possibility of transformation – one day, you’re on the school bus, thinking about what to have for tea; the next, you’ve got wings and you’re about to fly out the window! I like that."

Paula says: "The story is based on the idea that faeries live among us and look like us in their human form, so humans can't tell them apart. They also belong to five tribes with power over water, air, animals, plants and fire. There's a lot of enmity between the tribes. I just liked the idea of writing about a reality hidden inside our everyday world."

We first gave Paula, a big hurrah a few weeks ago. SCBWI's love to celebrate with cake and wine so I thought I’d share some photos of the evening so you can see who was there and raise your own glasses to Paula and Jackie.

You can see Candy Gourlay’s recording of Paula reading the prologue of The Crystal Mirror on the Nosy Crow blog. Thanks also to Candy for letting me post some of her photos.

Thanks to Paula and Jackie for a fabulous evening and here’s to sparkling success for the Faeries and the Tarantula, hip hip hooray!

Kirsty Stansfield, Editor at Nosy Crow
& Catherine Alport, Publicity Manager, Macmillan

Paula with one of her fab sparkly cakes

Andrew Weale gave a hilarious reading

Anita Loughrey and Joe Friedman

Candy Gourlay, Alice Williams from David Higham Associates
& Odette Williams

Nick Cross and Kirsty Stansfield

Mo O'Hara

Heather Kilgour, Paula Harrison and Bridget Strevens Marzo

Lucy Van Smit

Tim Collins

Jeannie Waudby and Jo Franklin

What's escaped from Jackie?

Teri Terry and Jo Franklin

Heather and Bridget with the earlier books...

Mo O'Hara with scary hat and Jackie

Quick! The tarantula's escaping!

The last sparkly fairy cake...

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Tania Tay is an ex-advertising copywriter and has been published in Sable LitMag. She is writing MG and YA fiction, and is on the editorial team at Words & Pictures.