Boris in the Story Tent at Adelaide Writers' Week

This Sunday (4th March), Adelaide Writers' Week will be hosting it's first annual Kids' Program. I'll be in The Story Tent at 11.30 am and 1 pm, reading some Boris stories, drawing some Boris pictures, and maybe even showing you how to draw yourself as a warthog. There will be a whole host of other great authors reading their stories too - Ursula Dubosarsky, Mem Fox, Phil Cummings, Boori Monty Pryor, Nicki Greenberg and Brenton McKenna. Please come along - it will be a wonderful day and I'd love to see you there. You can find all the details about what's on at the Story Tent here. And here's what else is happening on the day - from a Nest of craft to a Nylon Zoo!

Boris around the world

Sure, it may look quiet around here, but Boris has been busy.  Just the other day, he received a lovely bit of US attention courtesy of Betsy Bird, over at her Fuse 8 blog at School Library Journal. Betsy calls the Boris series "ridiculously fun boy books," which "follow in a long and worthy tradition of exceptional Australian early chapter books." Thank you Besty!  You can read her whole write up here.

And Boris has been travelling!  First stop, France - I'm very excited to report that all four Boris books will be coming out through the lovely people at Rageot.  And then it's off to South Korea, where Haseol Publishing will be releasing Boris and Ready, Set, Boris. 

Finally, here at home, there'll be two new Boris books coming out in 2012, called Boris on Show and Slow down Boris.  Look for some sneak peeks early in the new year.

Plop! on tour

Windmill Theatre's PLOP!, the musical show for pre-schoolers based on The Terrible Plop, is touring all over the country in October and November. You can find the tour details here.  And here is a new Terrible Plop activity sheet, all about snacking (which, come to think of it, is one of my favourite activities).

How to draw a chook!

Firstly, my apologies for not writing sooner!  But don't worry, I have been busy - with some picture books, including a new one with the wonderful Ursula Dubosarsky, and some new Boris books.  More info on those soon!

And I'm always busy with work for the fabulous School Magazine. A couple of years ago they asked me "How do you draw a chook?"  So I showed them.  And now I'm showing you, in the slideshow above.  Enjoy!

(Coming soon: How to draw Boris!) 

The Twittering Machine

Here's a blueprint I drew as a prop for a friend's performance piece.  The friend is Greg Cousins, aka Wingas. The piece is The Twittering Machine.  It's a marvellous Rube Goldberg / Heath Robinson-like contraption that Greg has transformed into a neat little performance.  It ran during the Adelaide Fringe to universal delight.  I'll let you know when it's next being staged, but in the meantime here's a little video.  Enjoy!