CELEBRATIONS, July 2020






Summer is fast approaching - and what better way to see in the brightest season of the year than with a celebration of good news and happiness. Join B B Taylor as she gets ready to open the doors to summer in true celebration style! 


New Releases 


Can you smell something? No it's not Clare Helen Welsh, but it is her latest book Poo! Is That You? This fun and informative offering was published on 9th July. It’s Clare’s first non-fiction picture book with Macmillan, illustrated by Nicola O’Byrne. Lenny the Lemur is on holiday in the Amazon rainforest. He's just settling down for a nice snooze, when a very yucky smell wafts past... Poo-ie! What or who could it be?




Tracy Darnton's Young Adult thriller The Rules is published on 9th July. It's about a girl on the run from her prepper dad who grew up living by his strict set of rules. Tracy thinks it's been very strange indeed to launch a book on the perils of constantly preparing for disaster in the midst of these unusual times!



Fizzing with magic and wonder, Alex English is flying into this month's celebrations with her debut Middle Grade book. Sky Pirates: Echo Quickthorn and the Great Beyond, will be sailing on to our shelves filled with adventure on the 23rd July, thanks to publishers Simon & Schuster.
Grab your footie boots and ball and join us as we celebrate Elizabeth Dale’s latest picture book Trailblazer, wonderfully illustrated by Carolina Coroa, and published on 28th June by Maverick Books. It tells the incredible true story of the struggle for women’s football. Did you know that a hundred years ago, women’s football used to be more popular that men’s? And the FA tried to crush it by saying women’s bodies were too frail to play and they banned women’s teams from playing on their grounds for 50 years – until 1971! Trailblazer is a fascinating tale of teamwork, tenacity and incredible talent – and holding onto your dream. A truly inspiring story for all children everywhere - especially at this time.

Melanie Louise Charles is sprinkling some magic into her Summer as she releases her debut book Windy Days Ahead which is already being enjoyed by school children, and the first in the series of her Kensal Rise series.

SCBWI North West Network Coordinator Susan Brownrigg is celebrating the publication of her debut children's novel Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest from Uclan Publishing. Susan launched her book on 2nd July with a Q&A with the Literacy Trust's Get Blackpool Reading project on the GBR Facebook page. Then, later in the evening, she celebrated her book birthday with her fellow SCBWI North West critique group on Zoom with a number of members donning seaside-themed hats and headwear. You may have seen the North West members on social media congratulating Susan with fabulous 'Blackpool postcards'.

Teri Terry is going blue for all the best reasons this month with her newest book Dark Blue Rising. This is the stunning first novel in a new speculative thriller trilogy from the bestselling author of SLATED. Tabby lives a transient life with her mum Cate, never sticking in one place long enough to make friends. Until one day, an accident changes everything. Published by Hodder Books 9th July. 

Coming Soon 

Tracey Mathias is so awesome that Scholastic are relaunching her epic Young Adult Novel Night of the Party with a new title and cover, and a more romantic thriller feel. Hitting our shelves on the 6th August retitled Silence is Also a Lie, this will be one to watch!

Niki Leonidou is excited to share some good news as she announces her next book coming out later this summer! It is a non-fiction book she has had the pleasure to illustrate for the Greek publisher Saitis. This book is the second in a series and it tells us everything about grapes, wine making, the Greek traditions and secrets of many recipes of making cookies, vinegar and so on as well as its origins to the god Dionysus. She chose to work in acrylics for these gorgeous illustrations that she has given us a sneak peek at!

Gary Dix is excited for the summer ahead as the fourth book in the Brian Brackbrick series will be released in August! This time the theme is music, and we meet Morris Hawkwind from the music shop! Brian Brackbrick and the Melody of Morris Hawkwind.


Lucy Farfort is so excited to be able to announce that her debut book as an illustrator Afraid of the Dark published by Little Tiger Press will be out in October 2020! Lucy was selected for the 2016 UV anthology and has gone from strength to strength from there! 


Keep your eyes peeled here for all the upcoming books and newest signed deals, we'll make sure you don't miss out!

Agents 

Have you got a new agent? Don't be shy. Let us know so we can celebrate with you too! 


Awards 


Kathyrn Evans is an author on a roll as she has won yet another award! This time snapping up the Crimefest Bristol Award. Beauty Sleep is published by Usborne, with stunning cover illustrations by Will Steele.

Good News 


Celebrations come in all shapes and sizes and we like to try and celebrate as many as possible with our members! Stephanie Tanner has her celebratory feat this month as she has just completed the first draft of her first ever Middle Grade manuscript. The working title is The Ghosts of Frogmore*, and it's a ghost story/adventure with a few twists and turns. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is not that she wrote it but that she was able to knock out most of it during lockdown while attempting (unsuccessfully) to homeschool her two boys ages 7 and 4! Now, she's trying to wrap her head around the editing process.Yikes! Good luck on the next steps Stephanie!

In April it was announced that Emma Finlayson-Palmer was accepted for Room 204 with Writing West Midlands. It's an annual writer development programme which allows writers from across the West Midlands to develop their skills through mentoring, networking, one-to-ones with Writing West Midlands staff, performances and access to the wider Room 204 network of over 130 writers. Writers join for an initial year, but their membership never expires and they continue to support Room 204 writers for as long as they wish.



Share your good news with us and brighten our day!


*All images courtesy of authors mentioned above. 

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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 over with your good news at celebrations@britishscbwi.org, a picture and any links so we can celebrate too :) 



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