It’s official! I have two new websites that are linked under one umbrella – or should I say tree? It’s taken months to get all the materials together for my new author site and to update my illustrator site, but I think it was well worth the effort.
It’s wonderful to have the sites ready in time for the launch of The Shadow Lantern on 1 May. I hope you’ll click here to check out my new landing page and navigate to both sites from there. Comments and suggestions are welcome!
UK readers, it’s only a matter of weeks until The Shadow Lantern is published by Templar Publishing! You can now pre-order the final book in the Blackhope Enigma trilogy online. I’ve made it easier for you by including some links here.
I’m pleased to announce that ace book blogger Serendipity Reviews is the first to reveal The Shadow Lantern‘s cover here. Once again, I’m thrilled with the fine work Tom Sanderson of The Parish has done with the design. I couldn’t have asked for more appropriate and classy covers for all three books!
It’s been a week since I said goodbye to The Shadow Lantern and wished it well on its journey to the printer. The next time I see it, the pile of papers that made up the proof copy will have been transformed into a bound book with another stunning cover. One small part of me feels a bit melancholy about finishing my characters’ stories, but mostly I am excited about the book launch and UK tour later this spring.
It still feels slightly unreal to have created three novels. If anyone had told me seven years ago that I would morph into a novelist, I would have laughed in disbelief. But the sudden urge to start writing The Blackhope Enigma was so strong, I knew I had to go with it. The process was never easy because I had so much to learn (and always will!) about crafting stories, but it was fascinating and fulfilling. Knowing so many young people (and adults) had enjoyed reading it really spurred me on. By the time I began planning The Crimson Shard, I was hooked on my characters and their stories. The sequel grew organically out the first book and as soon as I had finished it, I knew that there would be a third and final story.
I’ve always loved trilogies. There is something about the number three that is quite powerful and complete for me. I feel very proud of all three books and am looking forward to presenting The Shadow Lantern to the world in just a few months.
I just found out that The Crimson Shard, the second novel in the Blackhope Enigma trilogy (published in the US by Candlewick Press), has been nominated for the 2013 Teen Choice Book of the Year in the USA! Needless to say, I am totally thrilled to be on the nominations list with so many fantastic authors. The great thing about this award is that YOU can vote! And not just that, you can vote for your five favourite books of 2012 to be finalists (from the nominations or you can choose a book that isn’t on the list). Then you’ll be able to vote for your favourite of the finalists. Sounds good, yes?
You’ve got until February 13, 2013 to vote on the teenreads.com website. I hope you’ll vote soon!
Two weeks in and 2013 is looking pretty eclectic. Just the way I like it.
There hasn’t been any time for hibernating. I’ve just finished inking the interior illustrations for The Shadow Lantern and, any day now, the typeset script will come back to me for proofreading. By the end of this month, the book will be ready for reproduction and I will begin looking forward to the first of May, its publication date.
I’m also juggling a couple of other projects right now: a downright fun illustration commission that I hope to reveal later this spring and my two new websites. Yes, two. One will be about the writing side of things and the other will be about my art and illustration. Stay tuned for the launch date!
Throughout this year I’ll be presenting at various book festivals as well as leading some exciting writing and illustration workshops for young people and for adults. As each event is announced I’ll post information here and on my Facebook and Twitter feeds.
This looks to be a year of rich variety, change and experimentation. One of my favourite bands, I Am Kloot, is bringing out a new album soon and their song, These Days Are Mine, sums up the surge of optimism I’m feeling right now. Consider it my January anthem. (And you can have a free listen to the whole album here.)
Things have been go, go, go since I last wrote a post on this blog – which I am ashamed to say is many months! What’s been going on since I got back from Finland in April? Let’s see. I finished a first draft of a new book, revised it, did quite a few events around Scotland, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival, went to the USA, did a lot of paperwork, constant social networking on my Facebook page and on Twitter…You get the drift.
I was also working on a secret side project over the summer. I’d been thinking for some time about making a book trailer and had admired lots of ones that are out there, but I had no idea how to go about it. A casual chat with a filmmaker friend got us excited about making a short live action trailer in time for the September release of THE CRIMSON SHARD in the USA. Over the past couple of months, we created a one minute trailer. I’m going to write a longer post about the ins and outs of making one of these cinematic gems, but suffice to say it takes a lot of careful planning and attention to detail.
Today I put the trailer up on my new Vimeo and YouTube channels and I hope you’ll visit whichever site you prefer! The response so far has been so positive and wonderful.
My inspirational week started when I visited Villa Kivi overlooking lovely, frozen Töölönlahti Bay. This beautiful house is known as the Writer’s House and ever since it was built in 1890, it has been associated with literature. Famous Finnish writers and linguists lived and visited there until it fell into disrepair and the city of Helsinki bought the building and gave it to the Kivi-house Foundation in 1985.
Villa Kivi
Villa Kivi was renovated by the Kivi-house Foundation, which was founded to improve the working conditions of writers and to facilitate contact with their readers. The house has 14 workrooms for writers, a library, a festival hall and Lukukeskus, the Finnish Reading Centre, a bi-lingual centre for the promotion of reading on a national level. This being Finland, there is also a sauna for ten people!
I was lucky enough to meet with the Executive Director of Lukukeskus, Anu Laitila, who gave me an overview of how the Reading Centre supports author visits into schools and publishes book review magazines for children, young people and adults. I was very impressed with the support the Finnish government gives to writers, not least the stunning Villa Kivi. Anu was also very helpful in helping me set up an upcoming visit to a Finnish school.
Moomintroll!
When I was leaving the villa, I couldn’t resist snapping of photo of a slightly melancholy Moomintroll, from Tove Jansson’s Moomin books. The Moomins and their author are national treasure in Finland!
The next day I was pleased to meet Literature Officer Päivi Haanpää, who has been a pivotal part of setting up the programme that brought me to Helsinki, and well-known author Eppu Noutio for tea at the famous Kappeli cafe. We talked about everything from Scotland to social networking and once again, I was delighted with their warm welcome and special gifts of books and music.
Matias at the helm
On the same day I was excited to visit the Finnish Children’s Bookshop, which is only a few months old. Owner Matias Saarni is an energetic and dedicated advocate of children’s books and art, as evidenced by his sensitively designed shop. He has collaborated with Kuvittajat, the Association of Finnish Illustrators, to present exhibitions by contemporary artists in one part of the shop.
Exhibition area
I was heartened that Matias’ business is growing and thriving as customers discover his shop. I was also interested to see that there were hardly any titles in paperback. Finns seem to prefer their children’s books sturdy, even though it means the prices of books are high. It’s not unusual to see a picture book for 19 Euros.
Table for little readers.
One of my favourite aspects of the shop was this bridge to the reading area in the window. Yours truly will be in that reading area doing a Special Event on Monday, so stay tuned to find out what it was!
The bookshop bridge..
The view from Suomenlinna
The fog lifted and the sun came out this morning. For the first time, I saw Helsinki under crystal blue skies and realised how close it is to Suomenlinna. Helsinki is a low-rise city. The Russian Orthodox church pictured next to the two Viking Line ships is one of the tallest buildings on the skyline. I watched the trucks loading onto the ferries bound for Stockholm and could actually hear the clanks and bumps from across the water.
The quay at Suomenlinna
Suomenlinna is one of the quietest places I’ve been in some time. There are only a few cars, which one hardly sees, and the loudest noise I’ve heard is the toot of the ferry horn as it passes nearby. But over the last two hundred years, as a Swedish and then Russian military fortress covered in cannons and fortifications, it can’t always have been so quiet. I climbed around the shoreline, enjoying the warmth and listening to the crunch of the sea ice breaking up. I was intrigued by dark tunnel entrances and windows in stone walls, but left that exploration for another day when the snow and ice recedes a bit more.
Fortifications and cannons
Even Suomenlinna Church, built as a Russian Orthodox garrison church when Finland was controlled by Russia, has old cannons forming an eccentric fence around it. The church doubles as a lighthouse for sea and air traffic.
Suomenlinna is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s such a great privilege to be here, attuning myself to the island’s rhythms and watching it shed its white winter coat day by day.
Suomenlinna Church
Sometimes you arrive in a new place, knowing absolutely nothing about it, and you are guided, as if by magic, to where you want to be. One of the first things I hoped to see was a bookstore. But a chance visit to the tourist info office meant that I found a brochure about a children’s book cafe that’s been set up in cooperation with World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. What caught my eye was the jubilee exhibition of Little Golden Books published in Finland by Tammi Publishing. Little Golden Books have been published here since 1952 and there are 188 titles in the series.
The Tammi Golden Books jubilee exhibition at the Children's Book Cafe at Annantalo.
The cafe is light and airy, with a giant walk-in book and nicely presented spreads on the walls, plus a carpeted reading area with soft furnishings. I had a funny feeling of deja vu while I was looking at the illustrations. I grew up with Little Golden Books and there are plenty of Finnish editions with internationally-known characters I recognise. The artwork has a gentle “retro” feel and yet there is something timeless about it.
A peek inside the giant book in the display.
Unfortunately there wasn’t anyone available to speak to about the exhibition, which I would have liked to do. I wondered what some of the commentaries next to the spreads said, but in the end the illustrations were eloquent enough!
Some of the artwork from the books.
My next stop was the famous Academic Bookstore, which has a fantastic collection of books in several languages. If I were living in Helsinki, there would be no shortage of English-language books to choose from in this flagship store designed by Alvar Aalto. I was attracted to three small towers made out of the covers of old books. One had electric lights inside and another had paintings on one side. When I asked whether I could photograph the installation, I was told I should come back in an hour when the person who’d made the towers would be there himself.
An hour later the bookstore was packed. Because I don’t understand Finnish, I was not sure what the event was. A quartet of men in tuxedos was singing on a small stage next to the installation. Then a guitarist accompanied a jolly man with a flute who sang a ditty in English. The next thing I knew that flutist was seated onstage being interviewed about his children’s books. I had admired one of the books earlier because of its striking illustrations – and here was the author. He turned out to be Esko-Pekka Tiitinen and the book is The Drops of Life, which will be published in the USA on April 1.
Did I get the photo of the three towers? No. There was too much going on, too many people. But I didn’t mind. I’d been in Helsinki for less than 24 hours and I’d already seen an interesting exhibition and attended a lively book event in a “happening” bookstore.
Children's author Esko-Pekka Tiitinen with his installation at the Academic Bookshop, Helsinki
UPDATE! Serendipity intervened over the past week and Esko-Pekka contacted me out of the blue. It turns out he’d been invited, as one of a group of Finnish authors who appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last August, to meet me while I am here, but wouldn’t be able to make it. Instead he invited me to come and photograph his installation at the Academic Bookshop and here he is in front of my favourite painted tower. The bookshop asked him to create the installation, which is made from old water-damaged books, as part of their 150 year anniversary. That’s what all the musical entertainment was for last time I was there.
We had a good chat over a coffee and cake, comparing notes about what we do. Esko-Pekka’s been writing for many years and has had the good fortune to collaborate with both his sister, Tuula, and his 23 year old son, Nikolai, who both make beautiful illustrations. I was struck by one of his comments about Finnish children’s books. He had observed that they were darker than books from the UK and Japan, for example, and were more like books from Poland or the Czech Republic. This was perhaps because eastern European countries had lived in the shadow of the USSR and the stories and art reflected this.
Esko-Pekka gave me four lovely books to take back to the Scottish Book Trust and, of course, we got the mandatory snapshot in!
Esko-Pekka and me
The other nice news is that I’ll be getting a little guided tour of the Children’s Book Cafe next week. I’m sure this will give me a great insight into how the cafe came about and where it is headed.