February 2010 Archives

Perth has been excellent.  Unbelievably hot (seriously, Thursday was 42C, 107F), but a very friendly, well-organised Festival with good, smart crowds.  A pleasure, even in the heat.  Everyone's funny and nice and helpful.  Not a bad part of the world at all, eh?

Plus, I took a boat ride out to Rottnest Island and got some Indian Ocean snorkelling in.  It's not a bad life.

I came back to the website to see a whole ton of new commenters, far too many to thank individually, so just to say that yes, indeed, I do read them all and appreciate them all.

Off to Melbourne tomorrow for a number of events, including Thursday at the Centre for Youth Literature, with Isabelle Carmody (though I think it may be sold out).  More to come, but I catch a very early plane...

Thursday, to be precise, my first events at the Perth Writers Festival, followed by visits to quite a few places in Australia and New Zealand.  I'll be visiting quite a few schools, doing more than quite a few interviews, and will be doing a large number of public events that anyone can come to, so check out my Events page.

Can't wait to finally meet all you fantastic Australians and New Zealanders who've been writing in over the past two years!  Maybe even see some of you on Thursday.  In the meantime, a very, very, very long plane journey awaits.

So a bon voyage welcome to the new commenters Psyche, Zari and Aimee, and I'll see the rest of you down under.

I'm leaving for Australia and New Zealand on Monday, so the updates here could slow down a bit pending travel time, wireless availability, a lack of desire not to come out of the sun...  But I'll be meeting quite of few of you in person anyway, so that'll more than make up for it.

Yesterday (it was done a bit early because of that very trip), I recorded an interview for The Sunday Feature programme on BBC Radio 3 to air on 21 March (don't worry, I'll remind you).  This one is presented by Louise Doughty, who did the interviewing (and produced by Beaty Rubens, who was lovely, too), and will be entirely about YA fiction, with interviews with other writers and a teenage panel of readers.  Should be great fun; I'll keep you posted.

And finally, a whole host of commenters to welcome:  Becky, Haley, Sophie-Anne, Ghausia, Najee, Kris, "Kilian", tks (writing tips here), Zead, Sarah Lily (I do indeed read them all), and Michael (who had no misspellings anywhere).

So exclusive, apparently, I need exclamation points!  But, yes, here it is.  The US cover of Monsters of Men.  I think it's pretty excellent and looks great lined up next to the other American covers.  Kudos to Candlewick, my lovely US publishers.

To have a look (and compare and contrast) at the UK cover, take a look here.  As soon as I have other covers from around the world, I'll share them, too.

And hello to the newest commenters:  Jeri, Ghausia, Ronan, James (you can always write me letters care of my publisher, whose address will be in the book, cheers!), Caroline, Ronan, and Diane (not a teen, but very welcome)

The panel event last night at the London School of Economics Literature Festival went really well, despite the last-minute withdrawal of our chairman (who also pulled out at the last minute last year; there may be a lesson here), so I ended up chairing.  There were great questions from a number of schools who came and terrific meeting the teenage writing competition entrants afterwards at the reception.  An excellent event.

I've also heard today that the official release date of the French version of The Ask and the Answer will be out in France on 16 April.  It's called Le Cercle et la Fleche (The Circle and the Arrow), and I'll have a cover up here as soon as I can.

And speaking of covers!  I'll have an exclusive first look at the American cover of Monsters of Men (that link is to the UK cover) on Monday!  Keep an eye out.

And finally, big hello to all the new commenters (I leave the website for a day or two and come back to zillions).  Deep breath for hellos to:  Courtney, Sadie, Stephanie, Elizabeth, Morgan (try this link, Morgan), Leslie, Michael, Najee (hi back to the Philippines!), Brin, Indigo, Jason, Tasha, RiotRave, Eric, and Emily.

I've added one more New Zealand event, in Auckland, to my Australia / New Zealand itinerary, on the evening of 12 March, at a school in Epsom.  Bookings through Jabberwocky Children's Bookstore.  Be great to see you there.

And don't forget if you're in London this week, I'll be appearing at the LSE Literary Festival discussing "The Future of Teen Fiction" with Mark Walden (of H.I.V.E. fame) and Alex Scarrow on Thursday, 11 Feb.  It's free, but you'll need to request a ticket here.

And finally, hello to the new commenters:  Maude (the French version of Ask will be called Le cercle et la fleche and looks to be out in April), Megan, Danielle, Lara and Stef.

The "really cool" thing that I referred to as part of my tour of Australia and New Zealand has been confirmed: I'm going to be on TVNZ's Good Morning programme!  What fun, eh, live TV?  I'll be appearing the morning of Thursday, 11 March, and I'll also doing a public event later that day.  I've added both to my Events page and hope to be confirming a Wellington event soon, too.

I can also announce that the German version of Monsters of Men will be called Das brennende Messer ("The Burning Knife", and not to be confused with The Knife of Never Letting Go) and will be out in October!  They've done a great job in Germany.  Can't wait to see it.

Don't forget I'll be appearing at the LSE Literary Festival on Thursday, 11 February (next week).  It's free, but you'll need to request a ticket here.

And hello to all the new commenters:  Denise, Amber, Ann, Ellen, Damla, Lauren, Ness and Isabelle (yes and no, Arcade Fire's a good starting point...)

Yesterday's interview on Waterstone's Twitter page @Waterstones was great good fun.  Lots of great questions, and they've laid them all out nicely today on their Facebook page if you'd like to see how it went.

I've also updated some of the Australia/New Zealand schedule, including adding (at last) an event in Wellington, NZ.  There should be more to come for New Zealand, too, so stay tuned!

And a quick hello to the new commenters:  Jesse, Angie, Emma, Emily and Matt (Mr) Bakewell.  Cheers!