Bath Kids Lit Fest weekend

In keeping with the Regency theme of our recent blogs,  Templar's lovely authors and illustrators had a great first weekend at this year's Bath Festival of Children's Literature. 

On Saturday afternoon it was a Graphic Novel Workshop with Emma Dodd and Kelly Gerrard (aided and assisted by Martin Brown, of Horrible Histories fame) and children, adults, librarians and Bath Festival volunteers got down to the serious business of making their own graphic novels.  This time Emma and Kelly also brought along some blank booklets for the children to really develop their ideas.  We had two hours and it flew by!  Amazing ideas as ever from the children - one had a brilliant pencil case hero, chasing after rogue rulers and evasive erasers.  Space, aliens, robots all appeared as their imagination showed no limits.

 Sunday morning at the beautiful Holburne Museum for a masterclass with Grahame Baker-Smith.  What a wonderful experience for all those who came along - again, a full house!  Grahame showed us his early sketches and notebooks for Farther, along with paintings and revealed how he used photo shop to create his magical images.  The adults were just as fascinated by his creative processes and we all loved looking at his original artworks.  We were also treated to a sneak preview of the new book, A Winter's Child - so looking forward to seeing it published. 

Around lunch time it was Dave Lowe's chance to show off Stinky - his genius hamster, but beforehand he had to have  a publicity shot of Stinky and the Puffin Club puffin called Stuffin ... think Stinky and Stuffin weren't too sure of each other.

Dave's event was a sell out - which is brilliant for an author  (he lives in Australia) with his first book just out.  What a delightful event - the children were in stitches over the antics of Stinky and came up with all sorts of ideas for what Stinky could do next.  Dave wasn't too sure about a football themed story, saying Stinky would make a rotten goal keeper ...

 And finally, it was Simon Bartram's turn to raise the Guildhall roof with his Bob's 10th Birthday event.  As ever, the children roared and shouted and pointed out every alien to a somewhat bemused Simon, who kept up the mantra that "aliens don't exist" for a while, until he got shouted down.

It was lovely to hear him read out The Moontree Mystery, with the last page making everyone go "aaahhh".

Thanks to all at Bath for their help and support - and as ever to team Templar for lots of laughs and fun.

HAYFEVER - stuck in the mud ... almost!

The Templar team turned out in force for this year's Hay Festival in the lovely town of Hay-on-Wye on the border of Wales and Hereford.  In the car with me (Jayne) this year were Emma Dodd and Kelly Gerrard - full of energy and wise-cracks and tucking into the Haribo emergency snacks, we made good time on Bank Holiday Tuesday.

Up bright and early on Wednesday morning - despite a low mist, there was none of the rain which had deluged down over the weekend before.   The Charlie and Bandit team were already in the Green Room and sampling coffee and cakes before their 11.30 am event - a graphic novel workshop.  Despite being in the Digital Tent, which had raked seating all the children and their parents (including Mariella Frostrupp and her brood) got down to some great drawing.

Emma and Kelly signing tent

A little later that afternoon the call went out for illustrators to help Korky Paul with his massive illustration marking 25 years of Winnie the Witch.  Emma and Kelly duly obliged!



Around lunch time a clutch of Duddles arrived and very excited they were too.  And that's just the children ....  Jonny's event that afternoon was a sell-out with around three quarters of the audience dressed as pirates.  Lots of ooo aaargh's in true pirate style accompanied Jonny's reading - and as ever, his roughly drawn pirate drew lots of laughs.

Ooooaaargh!

In the signing tent, Jonny had a dedicated helper - his daughter Daisy - giving out postcards to the children with books.






Harriet Castor and family had also arrived on Wednesday afternoon and were making the most of their first visit to the Festival.

Thursday was Emma's birthday and she celebrated with a glass of bubbly and not many 'bumps'.  Harriet's event was with William Osborne, who turned up in true Hay fashion (i.e. large black wellies).  It was tipping it down by now.  Again, a terrific audience - great questions and lots of interest in the Tudors and William's setting of Nazi Germany.



Harriet also had a little helper at the signing - her daughter Maud and a great job done by her too.













Setting off late Thursday afternoon - slight worry about getting the car out of the mud, weighed down as it was with crates of wine for the talent (Emma and Kelly) - we made it home safely.

Thanks again to Sophie and Rhodri for their great teamwork and another terrific Hay Fever programme.

Word Up! Festival

Three days at Word Up! the new South London children's book festival held in Dulwich saw Templar's Adam Stower, Emma Dodd and Kelly Gerrard and Simon Bartram play to sold out events. First up with Adam and despite a young fan knowing that the doggy was in fact a bear, and kept on shouting this out - Adam, as ever, was delightful with the children who just love guessing his drawings. The parents are pretty keen on him too!

That was on Saturday, then on Sunday - it was a Roman Rescue graphic novel session with Emma Dodd and Kelly Gerrard - and this being an area of very motivated children they really got stuck in with their graphic novel spreads - based on the Red Riding Hood scene - with Emma scaring herself with her own picture of the wolf. It was one of the children's suggestions that Red Riding Hood arm herself with a gun, but we are pleased to say that no wolves were harmed in this event.

Monday morning, bright and early had Simon Bartram in the main theatre at Alleyns School, which was the venue for the Word Up! festival. Very smart school - even have a Costa Coffee on site. Again, a packed house literally brought the house down with their excitement and shouting. A best alien fancy dress competition was judged - and following the X Factor lead we had best boy, best girl and best group winners.

Simon's writing and drawing workshop was well attended and some brilliant ideas were discussed, drawings done and a superb alien drawn by the children at the end of the session.

Thanks so much to Word Up! for inviting us - its was very well run and everyone enjoyed themselves.

A Roman Rescue Book Launch

Here at Templar we like nothing better than a good party and if there are togas involved all the better! Well, I should say we like nothing better than a good party except for a good book… ahem…

A Roman Rescue by Kelly Gerrard
and Emma Dodd

Last Thursday (20th Jan) the London Coliseum hosted a knees-up Roman style as we celebrated the launch of A Roman Rescue, a stroke of time-travelling comic book genius and the brainchild of popular children's illustrator Emma Dodd and gifted writer Kelly Gerrard. This talented duo first came up with the idea for A Roman Rescue whilst waiting to collect their children from the school gates. Initial hesitation ensued at the thought of venturing into the unknown of comic book creation but with the full support of Templar, Emma and Kelly soon clamped their teeth around the proverbial bullet and have come up with a whopper! Emma’s trademark chunky-lined illustrations have the characters spilling out of the pages and are a perfect partner for Kelly’s snappy and engaging dialogue.


And the party was no flop either!

Of course, togas and laurel wreathes were the obligatory dress code for the evening, although there were several differing opinions to be had on how to properly toga oneself… The do was held in the American Bar at the London Coliseum which boasts floor-to-ceiling wood panelling and antique mirrors that really lend the venue to its theatrical setting. And of course, what is a theatre without a performance?

Mixy's Roman rapping was a real treat!

The guests had a surprise gift waiting for them from Book A Poet rapper and poet Mixy who spends most of his time packing the heads of school children with rhythmical facts.
Especially for us, however, he had written both a fun rhyming verse and an educational rap, just to make sure our Roman facts were up to scratch… “Like me, kids,” he said, proffering his fun poem before switching to his serious notebook. “Now, learn something!” It was truly a memorable treat.

So, it looks like it might be time to come up with a new publishing formula for Templar: good book + good party = roaring success! How can we fail? Ok, so I might have over-simplified the process just a little… As a first escapade into comic book writing, however, A Roman Rescue certainly marks out Emma and Kelly as a flagship creative duo for Templar and we’re really excited about what the future holds for Charlie and his canine sidekick Bandit.

A Roman Rescue is available from 3rd March 2011. For more information click here.

Emma and Kelly's speech
Toga trouble...

The lovely display!

Emma and Kelly with their husbands
Emma and Kelly with Mixy

For more photos from the launch click here.