Festivals are like buses: You wait for ages then two come along together.
I was doubly fortunate to be appearing at Bath and Cheltenham Children’s Literature festivals on the same weekend, and quadruply fortunate that I was on stage with two terrific authors.
At Bath, I had Stephanie Burgis, who is already a friend of mine and we’d spent a few days on retreat together at my house a couple of months ago. Her new book The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart is one of my favourite books this year and you should all read it. Here we are together, having a great time talking about dragons, Wales, fairies and all things bookish with our lovely chairperson, Sarah. Our next books both have fairies in and both are due out next year so, who knows, we might be back for another joint chat.
The highlight of Bath was the giant red chair in the writers’ room. The perfect place for a quick read before going on stage.
Then, Sunday, and on to Cheltenham.
I had a little trouble finding the writers’ room because it was labelled ‘VIP entrance’ and I had to be coaxed through. Inside, I found Katharine Woodfine and Sibeal Pounder. Sibeal and I have the same agent and we’ve met up several times, so it was fun to catch up. Also, Sibeal’s latest book, Bad Mermaids had me laughing out loud all the way through so you should read that one too.
Here we are, giggling about something. We did a lot of that.
So now it’s back to writing, and I’ll have exciting news about my brand new book with fairies soon! Keep a look out.
A big thank you to Macmillan Kids Books, all the festival organisers, Stephanie, Sibeal, and my lovely husband for taking the photos.
