Imagine and Draw: Storystock 2014

The Big Draw is the world’s biggest drawing festival running from October 1^st to November 2^nd across the UK and twenty other countries. It aims to encourage everyone and anyone to pick up a pencil and draw, embracing their creativity and unleashing their inner artist.

As part of the Big Draw, three of our fantastic Templar authors and illustrators appeared at Storystock at Bush Theatre in London.

Entertain the littlies this summer

As the summer holidays continue we invite you to throw a bit of a party and celebrate the release of an UnBEARably funny new book by superstar author illustrator Emma Dodd.  

The Entertainer by Emma Dodd

Elephantom at the National Theatre

Author Ross Collins tells us about taking his picture book The Elephantom from page to stage

I remember exactly where I was when the idea for 'The Elephantom' came to me. I was walking my dog, Willow, on a hill called Queens View at the southern end of Loch Lomond. It's a beautiful place and a great thinking spot. I was rummaging around for words that I love. There was 'sausage' and 'linoleum' of course and then I came to the word 'elephant'. Elephant is one of those lovely onomatopoeic words. 'Ele' is flexible and wriggly like a trunk and 'phant' is big and heavy and solid. When I thought of 'phant', 'phantom' came to mind. An Elephantom. Ghost elephants. I wondered what it would be like to be haunted by an elephant. At first my childish brain thought "Amazing!" but then my weary adult brain thought "Actually, if you lived in a small semi-detached property, full of breakable objects, being haunted by an elephant would be no fun at all." So my story became more about the difficulties of having an Elephantom and how you would go about getting rid of one…

The book that emerged was first published by Templar in 2006. Sales were healthy, children loved it and it was recognised by that year's Kate Greenaway Award. But after that, like most books, we went our separate ways and I forgot all about phantom elephants for five years.

Awards news for Templar Publishing – Plus WIN all of these titles…

2014 has been a pretty busy year for us. We’ve been on some pirate adventures with Jonny Duddle, discovered how Marvellous Maths can be with Jonathan Litton and Thomas Flintham and learnt How Animals Live with Christiane Dorion. 

We love hanging out with our authors and illustrators.  In fact, we think we have some of the finest (and most fun) books – and it seems lots of other people think so too. Just look at the awards we’ve been shortlisted for below:

Schütterts Bilderbuch Bärchen (Winner)

Adam Stower – Silly Doggy

Hampshire Illustrated Children’s Book Award (Winner)

Jonny Duddle - Pirates Next Door

Blue Peter Book Awards

Jonathan Litton and Thomas Flintham  - Marvellous Maths

Maine State Library ‘Cream of the Crop’ List

Helen Ward - The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

Waterstones Children’s Books Prize

Helen Hancocks – Penguin in Peril

Read it Again! The Cambridgeshire Children’s Picture Book Award

Emma Yarlett – Sidney, Stella and the Moon

Helen Hancocks – Penguin in Peril

Independent Bookweek Shortlist

Jonny Duddle – The Jolley Rogers and the Ghostly Galleon

Dundee Picture Book Award

Gemma O’Neill – Oh Dear, Geoffrey

Kate Greenaway Medal

Olivia Gill – Where My Wellies Take Me

Royal Society Young People’s Prize

Christiane Dorion – How Animals Live

Sheffield Children’s Book Award

Adam Stower – Troll and the Oliver

Andy Mansfield and Henning Lohlein – Fish Food

* * WIN * * 

To be in with a very special chance to win a bundle of all of these titles, just tell us in the comments box below which is your favourite Templar Publishing book and why :-)

Enter by 6pm on Monday 23rd - UK Only.

Don't forget to Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! 

Aaron Blecha – Ten Monsters In The Bed

Ten Monsters in The Bed, illustrated by the super Aaron Blecha, is a humorous play on 10 Green Bottles/10 in a Bed, where 10 monsters are squished together on a bunk bed.

On each spread, a monster gets pushed out and tumbles to the floor. Readers can press the characters to hear the fun sounds they make; plenty of snoring, burping, sniffing and farting!

Aaron invited us to have a sneaky peek at a few early stages of the Ten Monsters in The Bed book design, check these out!

Character Development:

Templar Publishing celebrate 10 Year Anniversary of Classics with Robert Ingpen

After 10 years and several beautiful editions of classic children's books, Templar Publishing are pleased to announce the release of the stunning new illustrated edition of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. 

With over 70 unique illustrations, the original artwork is from multi-award winning illustrator Robert Ingpen. 

A classic tale, beautifully told, Pinocchio joins other popular titles in the list such as The Jungle Book, The Secret Garden and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Over 130 years old, the story of a wooden puppet full of tricks and mischief who wants more than anything to be a real boy has transcended time to become a true classic in children’s literature. Turned into the hugely popular Disney film in 1940, there is also a live-action film adaptation in production from Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro starring Robert Downey Jr, proving that Pinocchio is an enduring classic with ongoing appeal for all.

Robert Ingpen is a prolific writer and illustrator who has contributed to over 100 books. He has received the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration, and has previously worked for the United Nations. He lives in Australia with his wife Angela and has four children and four grandchildren.

*WIN* To celebrate the release of this stunning new edition of Pinocchio and celebrate 10 years of Templar Classics, we are giving away 5 copies of the book. 

For your chance to win, answer the question below as a comment:

What does the word Pinocchio actually mean?

A. Pinenut/kernel

B. Wooden Puppet

C. Real Boy

D. Chocolate Pudding

Entries must be made by 5pm on Sunday 9th March - Good luck!

Click HERE to order Pinocchio now...

Whizz your way through the Summer Reading Challenge with Fleeced!

Templar Publishing are thrilled to announce that Fleeced! by Julia Wills has been selected for this year's Summer Reading Challenge.

Set up by The Reading Agency charity, The Summer Reading Challenge takes place every year during the summer holidays. It is completely FREE and allows children to read six library books of their choice, collecting stickers and other rewards along the way.

In addition, children can now track their reading all year round, find new books and take part in competitions and games. There is also advice for parents and carers alongside videos from authors and celebrity recommendations. 2013 saw a record 780,000 children participate with the challenge hoping to improve on this in 2014 by at least 50,000. 

The theme this year is Mythical Maze, perfect for Julia's fantastic novel about a heroic ram called Aries. 

Here she tells us a little bit about her inspiration behind the book...

We are recruiting: are you our next Junior Editor?

Award-winning children’s publisher seeks ambitious Junior Editor, fellow doodler and general book sniffer.

The Chosen One (see above) will work across novelty, non-fiction and picture books, looking after a range of titles.

Working with us in Dorking is an unrivalled experience; we look out of the windows at lush rolling hills, venture into town to be greeted by a majestic (and massive) chrome cockerel and have our very own award-winning vineyard to rival the Champagne region! If that doesn’t tempt you, nothing will.

If you’re already an editorial junior wishing to climb your career ladder, this is an incredible opportunity. We consider quality and innovation the main focus and we have a fantastic future ahead of us – full of hard work, good books and great laughs.

A track record of editing children’s books, excellent proofreading and project management skills, creativity and a drive to explore new ideas are essential.

If you consider yourself worthy of the position and wish to join a dedicated, professional and friendly team – please apply by emailing your CV and covering letter to Libby Hamilton, Managing Editor, at libby.hamilton@templarco.co.uk.

P.S.  Must be able to wiggle an After Eight Chocolate from your forehead, into your mouth. No hands allowed. Get practising. 

THANK FICTION IT’S FRIDAY!

Thank fiction it’s Friday and better still, it’s a bank holiday weekend. So with the final bank holiday of the summer, we’re all about Summer Reads today. Books to take to the beach, books to loll on a sun-lounger with, books to while away time in a café or at the airport or books to rave about when you get back from the long weekend.

So, here’s a quick recap on some fab Summer Reads from Templar Fiction, all of which are featured in ebook promotions this weekend, so grab them while you can!

For splash-tastic fun and the trials and tribulations of being half-human, half-mermaid, try Tera Lynn Childs’s FORGIVE MY FINS and FINS ARE FOREVER. 

If you’re a fan of high school rom-coms or Nickelodeon’s H20 series you’ll love these Lily and Quince’s stories. And, summer’s the perfect time to try out some Fin Fashion – think sparkly eyes, pearlescent nail polish and salt-spray hair-styles.

Cool Fin fashion over at Tera Lynn Child's Pinterest page

If you’re desperate for the next Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire, or just a lover of fast-paced, thrilling, dystopian YA, you’ll be gripped by THE TESTING by Joelle Charbonneau. Movies rights have been optioned and it’s already a hot summer read, so don’t get left behind on this one, read it now!

Have you got what it takes to complete The Testing?

From action-packed YA to the glamorous girls and the music world of LA in the rocking DRUMMER GIRL. Readers are loving this top summer read,  and it’s the perfect book to be seen around the pool with.

Rock on with Crush for hot summer read

And who can resist a laugh-out-loud book on a bank holiday weekend? Well not us, and we’ve got plenty of side-splitters to pick from. ME, SUZY P. is a brilliantly-funny debut about the somewhat chaotic life of 14-year-old Suzy Puttock. 

We love Suzy P. and you will too

As Greg Wallace would say “It doesn’t get funnier than this.”  Move over Georgia Nicholson and Tallulah Casey, Suzy P’s here.

And for fans of The Inbetweeners and the humour of The Heat and Bachelorette, you will snort, snigger and guffaw out-loud at the antics of Cooper, Matt and Sean in Hollywood script-writer Don Calame’s SWIMTHE FLY.  Come on, you TV execs and Hollywood, (we know you’re listening!) these books are crying out for on-screen adaptation. 

We promise you will laugh - A LOT!

And last but no-means least on our summer reading bonanza, is Claire McFall’s FERRYMAN. Shortlisted for the Scottish Book Award, and the Edinburgh Book Festival First BookAward, it’s already creating YA waves. Engulf yourself in Dylan and Tristan’s epic journey across the wasteland and be transported this summer to another place. But that’s the great thing about books, isn’t it? They can take you anywhere, even from the comfort of your armchair. 

An epic love story and thrilling journey

For Kobo deals use this code GET30NOW on checkout for 30% discount. 

For details of Amazon Kindle Summer Reads check out here. 

Black Dog wins the Greenaway!

Templar Publishing are very proud to announce that
Levi Pinfold's beautiful picture book Black Dog is the WINNER 

of the 2013 CILIP Kate Greenaway Award!

We are over the moon and so very pleased for Levi - it is thoroughly well-deserved!

‘Of all the books considered for this award, BLACK DOG was the one that I most hoped would be recognised. Levi is an outstanding talent and we are immensely proud to be publishing him.’ Amanda Wood, Templar's Creative Director.

Here is a clip of Levi talking to our Art Director, Mike Jolley about his win:

http://youtu.be/wLSpBdQaaX8

Huge congratulations are also in order for our sister company, Hot Key Books, as Sally Gardner's Maggot Moon is the winner of the 2013 Carnegie Award! A very proud day for Bonnier!

Olive and the Bad Mood written and illustrated by Tor Freeman – Reviewed by Holly Surplice

Olive and the Bad Mood
By Tor Freeman

Olive and the Bad Mood by Tor Freeman is something that grown-ups & little people can all enjoy & relate to because lets face it, who doesn't get in a bad mood from time-to-time?! My nearly four year old was totally engrossed in the story and loved the unusual and abrupt approach of the grumpy Olive! She really enjoyed pointing out when Olive was being unkind, and sympathising with the other characters.


The fantastic use of white-space in this book makes it clear to see what is going on and really emphasises the main character's journey through the book which makes for a really lovely page-turning experience. The very clever visual description of a bad mood is brilliant done, and I love how contagious that little black cloud above the head is! Even without reading the words, this picture book has such clear visual narrative that it is one that non-readers can enjoy 'reading' by themselves which I always think is a wonderful thing.


For me, I found myself reminded, in a really great way, of Richard Scarry's Busytown books which I loved as a child, there is just something that is so funny about the characters that Tor has created for these books that I'm sure will lead them to be classics too. This very clever & witty book with universal appeal to both girls & boys is a great addition to any bookshelf, and has the bonus feature of teaching a very important lesson, what ever happens, you must ALWAYS share your sweets!

This review was written by Holly Surplice Follow her on Twitter @HollySurplice

GP by very talented Holly Surplice!

Visit Tor Freeman's blog here http://www.torfreeman.com/ 

Find out how to draw Olive HERE  

Alex Gutteridge on shedding a tear...

To coincide with the publication of Last Chance Angel this month, we asked Alex Gutteridge to tell us how she ended up writing a tear-jerker

I have to confess to being a bit of a weeper and wailer, to the extent that I tend to avoid films, plays and books which I suspect will make me cry. So no-one was more surprised than me to find myself writing a book which, by its very nature, could be construed as a tear-jerker. In Last Chance Angel, Jess is knocked off her bike and ends up in a coma. On the point of death she is given a few days’ grace and the opportunity to return to earth for the purpose of visiting her friends, in invisible form.

This has not been an easy book to write and it has taken quite a time and many drafts to get it right. But from the very beginning it was an obvious choice to use the first person, not just because it made it easier for me to place myself in Jess’s situation but, by seeing life and death from only her point of view, I hoped that my readers would also closely identify with Jess’s character and predicament. Sometimes, when writing Jess’s story, I did find myself close to tears and, strange as it may seem, I was pleased when that happened. It confirmed that I was absolutely on the same wavelength as my character and for me this is at the heart of every story I write. I knew what Jess was thinking and feeling and how she would react in any given situation. This means that if your plot takes a sudden twist or turn, and this does happen to me because I’m not a planner, you are better equipped to deal with it and to retaining the authenticity of the story.

Indisputably tension heightens emotion. Throughout the book the clock is ticking down until Jess’s date with death. But that tension would not work, that emotion would not be ignited unless my readers care about what happens to Jess. But life is all about finding the right balance and I applied that principle to Last Chance Angel. Too much heartbreak would, I have felt, made the book extremely heavy going and probably made readers switch off. The addition of humour varies the tone but I also hope that these lighter passages contrast with the darker chapters, thus adding to their intensity.

In conveying tension and emotion dialogue is vital. You can say so much through a conversation but often it is in the pauses, the things left unsaid which tug at the heartstrings. In the conversations between Jess and her beloved Gramps I called upon my own memories. My own grandfather died over thirty years ago but I still miss him very much indeed and the tenderness, patience and wisdom which he showed to me has definitely contributed to the character of Gramps in this book. Writing those passages proved to be both comforting and painful.

So are there any boundaries when writing something which could prove upsetting? For me one of the boundaries I imposed upon myself was not to describe Jess’s medical condition. Not only did I consider graphic description to be unnecessary but also to be inappropriate. In some cases less is more. This applies too to language. There is always a danger of making subject matter like this overly sentimental. I have tried to avoid that as, in my opinion, sentimental writing does not necessarily access deep emotion. In fact it can have the opposite effect.

I never deliberately set out to write something that would upset my readers or try to make them cry and to be honest if that had been my aim I don’t think I would have succeeded. Instead my focus, when writing Last Chance Angel, was purely to create an interesting story about friendship and how well we really know people. Pivotal to this was my main character, Jess. I have spent so much time with her that I love Jess almost as if she was a real person. So when someone says to me that this book has brought tears to their eyes I take it as a huge compliment because it means that they love Jess too. As an author what more could you want than that?

Emily Diamand at Templar Towers

This afternoon we had the lovely Emily Diamand visting us to talk about the marketing of her new book Ways to See a Ghost. 

The book is not released until July, but without setting of any spoiler alarms we can promise you an exciting paranormal adventure where horror meets ghost story in a contemporary setting.

Eyes open in July everyone!

Templar at the English Association's 4-11 Picture Book Awards

The lovely Katie Cotton, Editor, has blogged about Templar's success at the English Association's Picture Book Awards

On Wednesday, we were lucky enough to be invited to the rather beautiful (and architecturally impressive) British Academy for the English Association’s 2013 4–11 Picture Book Awards. Templar got two (yes, that’s right, TWO!) of the four prizes, scooping both the Fiction and Non-Fiction awards in the 7–11 category.

Where My Wellies Take Me, by Clare and Michael Morpurgo / illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill, won the Fiction award. It’s always lovely to get nice comments on our books, and we especially enjoyed hearing the judges say that this was a book that really celebrated the English countryside, both in terms of natural beauty, through Olivia’s stunning artworks, and the literature it has inspired, by featuring some of the nation’s best-loved poems. How We Make Stuff by Christiane Dorian, illustrated by Beverley Young, won the Non-Fiction award, with the judges praising its innovative and educative use of novelty in explaining difficult concepts.

The worthy winner of Fiction 4–7 was the hilarious Hippospotamus – a tale of a hippopotamus who has a spot on her bottamus from publishing royalty Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross (Andersen Press). The Non-Fiction 4–7 Award went to A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Hearld. A little like Wellies in terms of its ‘part poetry, part scrapbook’ feel, this is a gorgeous book from Walker that captures the simple loveliness that is everywhere in nature, if you can only look.

Unfortunately neither of the Morpurgos could make the ceremony, but Christiane, Beverley and Olivia were all invited up to the stage for some award-holding and photo-taking. After a lovely reception, where the other shortlisted books were greedily pawed over by the Templar team and a fair amount of wine was drunk, we moved on to the buzzing café of the ICA for more wine and chatting.

Massive congratulations to our super-talented contributors, and thanks to the English Association for a lovely evening!

Illustrating 'There, There' – By Ivan Bates

Illustrator Ivan Bates tells us about the process of illustrating There, There, written by Sam McBratney.

There There is my fifth book with Sam and he always makes illustrating very easy to enjoy. With faultless pace, tender emotion, and characters you want to embrace (often literally) he has consistently given me all the things I need to turn little seeds of ideas into blossoming pictures, and There There was no different.


My part of the story began with those bears. Hansie simply had to be seen. He started off as a doodle but the little fellow just wouldn't stay still. He kept flowing out of the end of my pencil and onto the paper, insisting that I do more. He knew that I liked drawing ducks, (believe me, I've drawn hundreds) and he wanted to follow and play with them on the drawing pad, so I let him. It wasn't long before that little scribble had turned into a duck-walking, ditch-falling, cuddle-getting, bouncy little bear.


Dad bear, however, started life as a hat. An old straw one, that was a bit frayed at the edges, a bit like the one I can just about remember my grandfather wearing, when I was very young. He gradually appeared from underneath this hat, all tufty and brown, complete with his slightly scruffy sports jacket and glasses, as if almost by magic. It was certainly a less conscious process than some characters I’ve created, in the past. I could easily imagine him trying hard to set veg in his garden - not always very successfully. In fact I'm pretty sure that it was Mum bear who really knew what to do and was not surprised when Dad got into a scrape himself, hence her expression when picking out the thorn from his foot.

Characters often live alongside you, when you’re illustrating. Before any final art is done, they have already lived a full existence in your head and you’ve imagined them in all sorts of funny situations. It is as if the book is just a snapshot of what you know they're like and what they've been up to, all along. Small and inquisitive Hansie bounces along in his haphazard way, while enormous Dad is watchful, (he’s always close by) patient and most importantly, is always there when he’s most needed.

And it was capturing the emotion in those 'most needed' moments that was perhaps the key to the whole book, for me. There are few feelings that compare to comforting and cuddling your child. It is almost as if, for that time, the rest of the world doesn't exist - just you and them. And that was what I tried to show in many of the illustrations. If the reader can share and enjoy that same feeling of intimacy, from my art in the book, then I would consider that to be a success. I mean, who wouldn't feel good having a long, gentle hug from a big Daddy bear?

Meet Justin Richards

Author of The Wolfstone Curse, Justin Richards, popped into the office, and so we took the opportunity to ask  him the important questions...

How do you take your tea/coffee? 
JUSTIN: White, no sugar, and often! I ha

ve a little sign up in my office that says: 'No coffee - no workee'

Who should we be following on Twitter?  
JUSTIN: Apart from me, of course - @JJCRichards - and @TemplarBooks I'd suggest Mr Ripley's Enchanted books - @EnchantedBooks

What super power would you have? 
JUSTIN: The ability to streeeettttttcccch time, so that I can get more things done!

6 things you couldn't live without:
JUSTIN: Well, my wife and two sons for starters - is that three or can I just say 'Family'? I think I can. And I'm assuming nourishment and shelter are sorted or it'd be a boring list of Food, Drink, Clothes, House, Health, and Vampire-Killing stakes.
So: 1 - Family
2 - Doctor Who
3 - Laptop
4 - Bacon sandwiches
5 - Coffee (see above!)
6 - Imagination
 
What would your last supper be? 
JUSTIN: It's be a million separate courses, with a long break between each - I mean, like, hours between each course. Really.

What's the biggest secret that you're willing to reveal on our blog? 
JUSTIN: Well, I did once kidnap someone. But that was an accident.

Follow Justin on Twitter @JJCRichards
The Wolfstone Curse is publishing July 2013 - preorder your copy here

The Shadow Lantern Book Launch: Much Deserved Thanks!

Teresa Flavin is on the blog today telling us all about the launch of her latest book, The Shadow Lantern.

On the eve of May Day, with spring finally in the air in Glasgow, forty-five guests and I assembled in Waterstones Argyle Street to celebrate Templar’s publication of The Shadow Lantern, the final adventure in The Blackhope Enigma trilogy.

After a busy day preparing chocolate cakes and chilling down the beverages, it was wonderful to stand in front of a table heaped with copies of The Shadow Lantern, a vase of flowers and a cool lantern-style planter brought by a friend. I was flanked by ‘Watson’, the skeletal star of the new book trailer who attracted quite a lot of attention throughout the evening!

Having held my two previous launches at studio spaces, it was a pleasant change to have this one hosted by Waterstones and to be surrounded by shelves of books. My lovely agent, Kathryn Ross of Fraser Ross Associates Literary Agency, spoke first, saying lots of things that were so nice my face went crimson. By the time it was my turn to speak, I had to rely on the notes I’d made on an index card to remember all the people I wanted to thank. Besides Kathryn and Waterstones, I thanked Templar Publishing and Candlewick Press for their continuing support and enthusiasm for my books. I really am pleased to work with both these fantastic publishers.

I also thanked The Scottish Book Trust and Creative Scotland for awarding me a four-week writer’s residency in Finland last spring. I wrote much of The Shadow Lantern while living on Suomenlinna, a stunning and historic fortress island that is a World Heritage site. I was fortunate to meet a number of Finnish authors, illustrators, artists and publishing professionals who enriched the experience even further.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of promoting my books has been making video trailers (watch the trailer at the bottom of the post) and building new websites. I had a lot of friends and colleagues to thank for their expertise and help with filming, editing, sound engineering and website development. My final thanks went to my dear husband, who has encouraged and supported me throughout my writing journey.

It was great fun to read a particularly dramatic excerpt from The Shadow Lantern. Some years ago, the idea of reading my work aloud to an audience would have made me very nervous, but now it is one of the chief pleasures of doing events. I also love signing books; it gives me a chance to speak with everyone, especially young readers, and thank them for choosing my books.

We ended the evening stuffed with chocolate cake and fizzy drinks. When the last guests had left, I could do nothing but smile; the trilogy was happily finished and launched. At that moment my mind turned to the future – and the excitement of writing the next book.

Follow Teresa on twitter: @TeresaFlavin

Lucy Serocold: Two weeks in Editorial

Hi, I’m Lucy, a Classics graduate from London. I’m hoping to get a job in publishing, so over the past two weeks the folk in Editorial have kindly allowed me to join them for proof-reading, researching and generally being helpful. I’m very much hoping they’ll let me come back again in the future (hint hint), which is why today I’ve been bribing them with pistachio & lime cupcakes…
(nb. the cupcakes were devine!)

I started off last week with a proof-reading test, using a list of the BSI marks to get familiar with them. This was pretty straightforward, but the second part of the test was much harder: a ‘style test’ to put the information from the test into a format suitable for 5-8 year olds. I found it surprisingly tricky to get the information across in a way they’d understand, as well as being engaging and fun. It’s quite a wide age range to bridge for reading level as well as level of understanding. All in all, a very useful insight into the writing side of the editor’s job, as Templar pride themselves on using their editors’ writing skills as well as honing others’ work. Katie’s example was much better than my attempt – practice obviously does make perfect!

Luckily, for most of the rest of my time I managed to stick to the editing side: I was given lots of proof-reading and tweaking text for books. Being a pedant, this was perfect as it’s the kind of thing I find weirdly enjoyable. One of my jobs was altering the text to make it suitable for different markets: I ‘Americanised’ (or should that be ‘AmericaniZed’?) Penguin in Peril, a gorgeous new picture book, which has recently come out in the UK. Highly recommended, and not just by me!

http://booksniffingpug.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/top-secret-sneak-peek-penguin-in-peril.html

http://paperrobinstudio.com/2013/03/07/book-of-the-month-penguin-in-peril-by-authorillustrator-helen-hancocks/

With Penguin being a picture book, there wasn’t too much to do to make it suitable for subway-riding, movie-watching Americans, but the following week I was presented with the daunting task of ‘Anglicising’ a whole YA novel! Thankfully a freelance proof-reader had already done the hard work of marking up the manuscript, but while putting her corrections into InDesign I discovered a fair few things which had been missed. This just proves that the more different pairs of eyes checking a book, the better. I’m pretty confident I got the majority of the changes such as ‘defense’, ‘-ize’ verbs and expressions like ‘in back’ (which to me just sounds ugly), and as a bonus, I got to read a cracking story as well.

My other major task was picture and sound research for various projects that are in the pipeline (the details of which are all under wraps for now: I even had to sign a confidentiality agreement!) Picture research and fact checking was fun, broadening my own knowledge of a huge range of topics. I particularly enjoyed the sound research, as I got to listen to all kinds of crazy wild animal noises while watching the work of the office going on round me – a great juxtaposition of worlds!

Another ongoing job for any intern is assessing the slush pile. It’s good fun as you get to see the range of writing that people consider publishable – some of it’s good, and some so bad it’s funny. Doing the rejections can be a bit sad, but enlivened by seeing how far some of the letters are going (people send stuff from Australia!), as well as making the discovery that ‘Universal Postal Union’ coupons don’t work at the post office any more. (Readers who are submitting work from abroad, take note!) Templar is usually quite strict about only sending letters to people who enclose a SAE, but we made exceptions for the UPU coupon people, since they really had tried to pay for the postage.

With the help of the lovely George (see his post below), I also categorised a large stock of books from the archive. These are all now sitting happily on some shelves outside the main studio, so that people can wander past and pick up a book for inspiration. It was fascinating to see the range that Templar publishes, as well as how some topics for children are timeless and keep coming up again and again. I also started a ‘reference’ section, with encyclopaedias and anthologies on topics ranging from Ancient Egypt and animals to pirates and poetry. We enjoyed displaying some of the books to attract attention, as well as assembling the concertina books to show off their structure.

Overall I’ve really enjoyed the past two weeks, and can’t believe how quickly the time’s gone by! I’ve loved getting to know everyone here and feeling like part of the team, and hope to return for another placement in the future…(I’ll bring more cake!)

Easter reads!

Escape from the cold biting winds this Easter to a more regent time with Stephanie Burgis' Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson series. 

All three adventures are currently only 99p on Kindle - what better way is there to spend a bitter Easter weekend than to curl up with Kat's magical story?

Book 1: A Most Improper Magick

Book 2: A Tangle of Magicks

Book 3: A Reckless Magick

Read more about the series in this guest post with author Stephanie Burgis:
http://templarpublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/stephanie-burgis-guest-post.html

Gemma O'Neill on St. Patrick's Day

 In the aftermath of St. Patrick's Day, Oh Dear Geoffrey author, Gemma O'Neill talks to us about her St. Patrick's Day traditions and how growing up in Ireland has influenced her work

Hello there! It’s my pleasure to be a part of the Templar blog again and this time it’s to tie in with St. Patrick’s Day. Incase you didn’t know, I’m actually from the tip of the North Coast in Ireland!

I absolutely love St. Patrick’s Day. It’s one of my favourite days of the year, if not my favourite. It’s right up there with Christmas, Easter and birthdays. Since childhood it has always been an eventful one. I always used to go to Portstewart (my neighbour town) with my family to watch lots of very brave people jump into the sea dressed as leprechauns, shamrocks and all sorts of other wonderful costumes.

As an adult it has always been a whole long day to catch up with my oldest friends at the local pub. It means a lot to me and it’s definitely a lot more special than the average day. It begins with Irish stew, we’re all dressed in green and it’s one of those days you really don’t have to feel guilty about taking a break from work.

Apart from when I studied Illustration in Falmouth I’ve lived on the North Coast of Ireland my entire life. It’s a really beautiful spot and I’ve always spent a lot of time outdoors because of that. If I could live on the beaches I would!

The outdoors and nature have definitely had a really huge influence on my work. Even as a child nothing made me happier than rolling out the blank side of wallpaper the full length of the garden and drawing all day long in the sunshine (if we were lucky enough to have sunshine!) Designing and crafting mini zoos strangely took up a big part of my childhood too.

My art teacher at school must have shared my interests in nature as he set lots of nature based projects. I worked on an African themed project the year before my GCSEs. Then my GCSE projects focused on local harbours and packaging design with a bird theme. Nature also dominated my A-levels and my art and design foundation year focusing on forests and the seaside again.

If I’m outside I’m actually a lot more likely to have a camera in my hand than a pencil. I’d much rather be exploring, but a camera still manages to capture what I see, without losing too much time. I really enjoy taking photographs though. It wasn’t until my degree that I realised all the textures I’ve been focusing in on with my camera all these years are the very textures I use subconsciously in my illustrations!

 I recently moved to Portrush, just across the road from one of my favourite beaches, so I don’t see nature taking a back seat with my work anytime soon. Infact, the sea is playing a big part in a current project! I’ve been very lucky to be able to move to one of my favourite places and it’s my first home away from home outside of university too! It’s also the first time I’ve had a proper little illustration studio of my own.

I’m so excited to see the work I produce in such a lovely part of the world over the next year.

Visit Gemma's website or follow her on Twitter @GemsONeill to keep up to date with all her projects