Let the Book Week begin!

Woo hoo! Childrens Book Week has begun! I spent this morning at Belmont’s Ruth Faulkner Public Library with students in Year 6 and 7 and it was terrific fun! It’s SO GOOD to scare readers share with readers some of the legends behind the Japanese demons from my books. The kids had heaps of great [...]

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The Filth Licker on Facebook! Share your akaname and yokai links…

Hooray! Takeshita Demons: The Filth Licker is published today in the UK!! Have you got your copy?   LIKE ME! LIKE ME! Any yokai or monster trivia you want to share? Any cool filth-licker links to pass on? Check out the Filth Licker on Facebook (http://on.fb.me/filthlicker) and add your questions and cool demon facts to [...]

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Akaname, lick your heart out: The Filth Licker is here!

Woo hoo! Sometimes in this book-making business, I forget that we’re actually making a book. And then — and it always comes as a surprise, even when I am kind of expecting it — – a package arrives. Sits at my front door, all cardboard and plastic and customs declarations. I still don’t believe it [...]

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Reporting from the All Saints Literature Festival: it rocked!

Wheee!!!! I spent this week at the 2011 All Saints Literature Festival, surrounded by amazing writers and illustrators, blown away by the lovely volunteers and talented student helpers, and drooling at the beautiful grounds of the All Saints College (wow!). THANK YOU EVERYBODY FOR SUCH A GREAT FESTIVAL! It was SO MUCH FUN!!! If you [...]

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Yokai featured in Takeshita Demons

Subarashii! Yabai! Takeshita Demons Things are going super-well for Takeshita Demons at the moment. The Filth Licker is ready for pre-order in the UK and Monster Matsuri is in its 50-millionth-draft-phase, so getting where I want it (YAY!). If you have read Takeshita Demons you will know that Miku Takeshita and her pal Cait run [...]

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The Filth Licker: what do you think?

YAY!!! Check it out: the brand new cover for The Filth Licker, the second book in the Takeshita Demons trilogy… I’m thrilled to bits with it and can’t wait to see the other images that illustrator Siku has been working on. The Filth Licker was so much fun to write and this cover really reflects [...]

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I finished a second edit of The Filth Licker!

Woo hoo….   I’ve just send the latest version of Takeshita Demons II to my editor at Frances Lincoln Childrens Books, and I think it’s terrific! It was a rocking story even before Janetta gave me her feedback and ideas, and now, after a good going over complete with new exciting ideas, it’s even better than [...]

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Slime-licking demons, taiko drums, and a very wriggly baby

So it turns out one of the big things about publishing is that it takes longer than I ever imagined. Apparently Takeshita Demons will come out in June 2010, after being “unearthed” late April 2009. Translation: a fairly straightforward book takes longer to brew than a baby! I sit here 37 weeks pregnant. My book [...]

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