CELEBRATIONS October 2018





As the days get darker and the spooks begin to creep out of the shadows, we look for that autumn magic floating through the air! BB Taylor begins the spooktacular month of October by rounding up all our SCBWI celebration news with a cackle and zap!

New Releases

This Autumn Liz Flanagan is releasing her magical new book, Dragon Daughter. This tale of one girl's quest to protect her dragons is published by David Fickling Books and has already been causing quite a storm.




Claire Helen Welsh starts October with a stomp. How Rude! is published on 4th October by Quarto Kids and is illustrated by Olivier Tallec. This hilarious picture book with an important message about kindness is the first in a new series about two good friends, Dot and Duck.




Fiona Barker is dreaming this month away with her latest picture book Danny and the Dream Dog published by Tiny Tree and illustrated by Howard Gray. This beautifully crafted picture book is about finding friendship in most unexpected places.





Picture books are flying in thick and fast this month with, next, Flo and Flip the Inchcolm Seals, written by Rosie Johnson and illustrated by Stephanie Centola.





Rachel Burge has been brewing up a storm with The Twisted Tree, released in e-book and due out in paperback in January 2019. Published by Hot Key Books this is a twisty, tense and spooky YA debut, part ghost story, part Nordic thriller - perfect for fans of Coraline and Michelle Paver's Dark Matter.






Nick Cook is launching Fractured Light, the first book in his latest YA trilogy, taking the leap from traditional publishing to indie publishing. He's loving this new direction. The Fractured Light trilogy is also part of the Multiverse Chronicles, an epic series of interlinked stories that follow the struggle of humanity to survive across parallel universes. Watch the darkness because the shadows are coming for you!








Coming Soon

PM Freestone is definitely feeling the magic this month as Scholastic reveals a global rights deal for her new YA sensation Shadowscent, a sweeping epic filled with adventure, romance and political intrigue. Make sure you pre-order your copy now and don't miss out!




Nosy Crow has bought a middle-grade novel by Nizrana Farook, who graduated from the Bath Spa MA Writing for Young People course last year. Set in Sri Lanka, The Girl Who Stole an Elephant is about Chaya, who leads her friend on an adventure through the jungle, with an elephant! We can't wait to see it on the shelves! 





Awards

Image credit: Alex Edwards
Have you won an award? Been nominated, shortlisted or had an honourable mention? Show us your trophies and let them shine! Don't be shy you are amazing!

Agents

Image credit: Alex Edwards


Gary Sheppard is thrilled to have signed with Alice Williams at the Alice Williams agency. He can't wait to be a part of Alice's dynamic new venture and join a great roster of talented authors and illustrators.





New Members

We love welcoming new members into SCBWI and watching them grow and succeed in chasing their goals. If you're a new member, let us know so we can welcome you too. SCBWI has so much to offer - celebrating successes is just part of the fun! And if you're too shy, or not quite ready yet to give us a wave, remember we are always here to support you through your adventures!



This month we welcome new member Jonathan Standing who has just finished his MA in Illustration at the University of Hertfordshire. As part of his studies, he completed his first picture book, Through the Wall.

As a reward he joined SCBWI. What better way to celebrate?


Good News

Alison Gardiner is definitely celebrating in style as she has been invited to attend the Gibraltar Literary festival this November as a guest author. I wonder if she can fit me in her suitcase?

Alison Gardiner



Jill Calder has been selected as one of 10 Children’s Book illustrators in a new show about British Children’s Book art put on by The British Council and curated by Lauren Child. Opening in London at the British Council until the beginning of January then touring India, China, Australia, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico and other European countries!

Philip Davies celebrated the release of Destiny's Ruin, the final novel in his Destiny's Rebel trilogy, published by Books To Treasure, with amazing cover artwork by fellow-SCBWI, Emma Graham. The book launch was held at Blackwell's in Oxford and went down an absolute storm! (And with cake like that we can see why!)





Jill Atkins has been a member of SCBWI for a number of years and is definitely ready to celebrate! She writes educational books, ranging from early readers to teen books for reluctant readers, and novels. Her publishers over the years have included such names as Hodder, Dorling Kindersley, Scholastic, HarperCollins, Evans, Wayland, Franklin Watts, OUP, Maverick, Ransom, Barrington Stoke.
This month she is celebrating the publication of her 100th book! We definitely think that cake is in order and we are so proud and lucky to have her as a Scoobie!

Catherine Cooper is feeling very honoured this month. Following a talk for a gentleman's breakfast club, one of the members contacted her to say he'd been inspired to pick up his pen again. Not to write a book, but to write a song. He'd been in the music industry for many years but had not written anything for a number of years. Unbeknown to her, he'd read his wife's copy of The Golden Acorn and Jack's Song was born. He was so grateful for the inspiration that he sent a framed copy of the lyrics and an MP3 file of the first recording. He's now composing another song for the second Jack Brenin book and intends to write a song for each of the books to celebrate Jack's rite of passage.

These are the kind of things that make all the hard work worth while!

In fact, she was so blown away, Catherine has written Nigel into the next book. He's to be 'Ingle the Bard', Ingle being an anagram of Nigel's name but also the place where the Bard would have sat, near the fire in the hearth to sing and tell his stories. Her new illustrator for the next companion book to the Jack Brenin series, Michael Sheppard, has illustrated Nigel for her as Ingle.


We have so many fantastic book launches and so much to celebrate, feel free to send us your party news and celebration photos so we can congratulate you, too!




*All images courtesy of authors mentioned above.



Have you got good news to share? New book? New agent? Award nominee or winner? Are you a new member? Say hi and let us know. Why not send an email to celebrations@britishscbwi.org with your good news, a picture and links so we can celebrate too :)








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