My publisher is running a festive prize draw with Waterstones.
Order your special signed edition with unique endpapers and snowflake sprayed edges of The Ice Children before 23:59 on Wednesday 1 November to be in with the chance of winning:
A family day out for 2 adults and 2 children to an ice skating rink of your choice.
A festive dinner at your choice of restaurant.
A travel allowance of up to £150 is included.
If you read my biography, you’ll learn that once upon a time, I worked in the music industry.
It was the nineties and the record label I helped run was called Setanta Records. The label specialised in music from Ireland. It was run out of a council flat and set up by a man named Keith Cullen. The bands I worked with included The Divine Comedy, The Catchers, Edwyn Collins, The Frank and Walters, and A House.
RTE (the Irish BBC) have made a half-hour programme about the label, which I was pleased to take part in. They were happy years for me and I learned a lot.
If you are a fan of music from the nineties or interested in indie record labels, this show might interest you.
While I was in Cheltenham for the literature festival, I popped into Cotswolds Radio to chat to Iris and Miles about Wild Things! They are brilliant radio hosts who are passionate about nature.
I revealed Paddy Donnelly’s incredible cover for the fourth and final book in The Twitchers Quartet at the Cheltenham Festival this weekend. Behold the beauty of Feather, the winter adventure for my birdwatching detectives.
I think it could be my favourite one, but it is so hard to pick between them. They are all incredible.
Feather will be coming to bookshops in February. If you would like to preorder a copy - and I’d be very grateful if you did - then here are all the places you can do that.
Look at these four beauties. I’m so indebted to Paddy Donnelly and Walker Books for making my stories look so glorious. I always wanted to write four Twitchers Mysteries, so that if you read them, you’d experience a year of birdwatching, and now I have. I couldn’t be more proud. I hope you like them too.
Big news for those of you who love audiobooks. Spotify have just acquired the right to play audiobooks.
If you are a subscriber, you can listen to fifteen hours of audiobooks free every month, which amounts to two of my books.
All my books are in there with the exception of The Ice Children which is an Audible exclusive.
I had a very busy couple of days at the Cheltenham Literature Festival and I loved it.
It’s always such a pleasure to meet readers (young and old), and Cheltenham puts on one of the very best festival in the country.
I made a video of my adventures for each day I was there. Take a look, and if you’re wondering whether or not to go along to your local festival, I hope they pursuade you to give it a go.
I will be at the Guildford Festival in November. Come along. It will be fun.
DAY ONE of the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2023
DAY TWO of the Cheltenham Literature Festival 2023
This week I attended The Week Junior Book Awards. The Ice Children audio production was shortlisted for the Best Audiobook and although it didn’t win, we impressed the judges enough for them to award it one of only two Highly Commended badges given out that evening. I was overjoyed. I’m very proud of that Audible production.
It was a brilliant evening and I bumped into lots of lovely Author and Illustrator friends. I was especially delighted to see Penny Neville-Lee, the artist responsible for making The Ice Children into a beautiful book.
