Totem characters: Animal, celestial, mythical

The sun shone, the speakers WoWed us with their insights, the authors revealed a myriad of twists and surprises about their writing and plot processes and there were comedians, poets AND a magic duck, with music into the night and let's not miss out the dance frenzy in the Disco Shed! A packed schedule at the Primadonna Festival with so many smart people: Sonia Purnell, Kit De Waal, Louise Doughty, Luke Jennings, Jude Kelly, Katy Brand, Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, Sandi Toksvig, Catherine Mayer and music from Shingai and Sink Ya Teeth I could go on... But I laughed the most when entertained by the mesmerising Ada Campe. 

Meanwhile, here's some photos of the fantastic totems made at my Phoenix Island event.

Primadonna festival!

Only a few more days and then the fun begins with Totem making at Laffitts Hall at the Primadonna Festival. Come and join in!

Primadonna Festival 30th August-1st September

Primadonna Festival is for everyone interested in literary delights! There's an amazing line up of authors, speakers, poets, writers and performers. Panels of experts discuss everything from AI to gender to writing biographies. There will be workshops for the budding writer and comedy to entertain and of course there's music. Live bands and many other activities for families. I'll be running a workshop event called Phoenix Island. All ages welcome to get involved in a creative discovery...just what does live on Phoenix Island?? We'll be in sunny Suffolk and more information can be found here:

New for 2019

You're Not A Proper Pirate Sidney Green! is a proper adventure by talented author Ruth Quayle and published by the much admired Nosy Crow.
There are many action-packed double spreads throughout which gave me a chance to play with a slightly graphic style.
Familiar as I am with drawing Pirates and parrots, this story was another challenge to illustrate as I wouldn't say drawing diggers and racing cars are my strong point! So I was a little worried when a digger was to feature on the cover and then a racing car on the back! I'm sure there will be some digger experts to guide me when I take this book to school classrooms over the coming year. Look out for those comparisons later!

Dragon included in nominations by the amazing St Helens Libraries

And lastly.. but by no means least ... the final book in our #StHelens #SchoolsLibraryService #BookAwards 2019, 5+ category is ...

There is No Dragon in this Story by @LouCarter240 & illustrated by @DebbieAllwright 😀#BASH2019 pic.twitter.com/Ot7uG7T2HI

— St Helens Libraries (@STHLibraries) September 18, 2018

Perfect translation

There's something so very satisfying about the perfect translation. Especially when that language can express even more concisely the sentiment of the story. What fantastic titles! 
Princess Swashbuckle sails to Portugal and France...

Princess Swashbuckle Activity Pack

A suitably Swashbuckling and free activity pack is available here to download!
Test your skills with fun puzzles, spot the difference and dot-to-dot. Colour, sprinkle sparkle and decorate Princess Swashbuckle's dress as she leaps to the Grand Frog's Ball.

Princess Swashbuckle launches August 8th!

Adventurer and ship's Captain, Princess Swashbuckle, gathers a loyal crew for surprising missions on the high seas in author Hollie Hughes cleverly crafted story.
I loved creating the characters in this book - and there are plenty! - even though we begin with froggy characters we soon leave the palace in Frogland to encounter all sorts of animals in far off places. Offering skills and friendship on their journey, Princess Swashbuckle steers her crew on a new course. This is no frilly princess stuck in a tower waiting to be married off to any ol' frog prince. She has a vision....!

Free books for eager readers

I'm supporting Bookgiving Day 

Every year 1000's of books are donated on bookgivingday to international children's charities, refugee sites, school libraries, nurseries and community halls. 

It is a simple and wonderful gift that can brighten any space and give delight to any child. In past years I've given to doctors/dentist waiting rooms, nurseries and cafes.

I have more books to give away this year! If you know of a library, school or cause please get in touch. I have lovely picture books, novelty and early readers in english. ALSO hardback foreign editions I would gladly pass on in most european languages!

Please contact me by 14th February 2018 via the blog comments or tweet me @debbieallwright for worthy recipients.

Thank you.

Springing into 2018...

A bold and independent Princess has big plans...

leaving admirers for adventures new...

The music is about to liven up!

Dragon's Story Time!

Sit back and enjoy...

Dragons get bad rep?...no more! @LouCarter240 and @DebbieAllwright 's hilariously clever #thereisnodragoninthisstory https://t.co/uvWpmG5iqm

— Books Alive! (@Booktreereading) September 29, 2017

Shortlisted!

Fantastic surprise to learn that There Is No Dragon In This Story is included in a very short short list for the Ysgol Bae Baglan Book Awards 2018!

Well done to all our shortlisted authors/illustrators @DebbieAllwright @LouCarter240 @_JimField @Rachel_Bright2 @DuncanDraws @dc_litchfield pic.twitter.com/ar504QPKTq

— YBB Book Awards 2018 (@YBBookawards18) September 20, 2017

The Night Pirates tour

I'm very excited that the new Night Pirates theatre production has received such great reviews in The Rose Theatre London! and now they've set sail to tour venues across the UK. Theatre venues and time info here.

Looking for a way to beat the back to school blues? Bring your little adventurers along to our swashbuckling story! https://t.co/EXDm9ORPx0 pic.twitter.com/d5JD3rDDpG

— The Night Pirates (@NightPiratesUK) September 17, 2017

Dragon Art Exhibition

Victoria Art Gallery in Bath is currently hosting an exhibition of children's book dragon characters, featuring many well known authors and artists, there's an incredible variety of artwork to view. All sorts of Dragon story related events running through until 8th October. There is even a Dragon Egg Hunt game to follow via a specially created app! I have a couple of original works showing from my latest book:There Is No Dragon In This Story

Who is your favourite illustrator in our Here Be Dragons exhibition? 🐲 pic.twitter.com/ER3pfVZzit

— Victoria Art Gallery (@VictoriaArtBath) September 6, 2017

There Is No Dragon In This Story: Hero spread

Spectacular production of The Night Pirates!

So much to enjoy about this lively show! There are dance routines, singing and actions for the audience to join in with. The atmospheric sets and costumes are as if the pages had jumped right out of the book, which is just amazing for me to see! The characters have similarly sprung to life and there are wonderful new developments here - some with their own songs, a favourite is Capt'n Patch and his objections at having to grow up, very funny. It was a real treat, the rough tough grown up pirates and their snore-grump attitude and especially seeing the responses from the kids to get involved with the actions and dance.

The Night Pirates @Rosetheatre gets x4👍from our wee reviewers! The adventure continues until this weekend https://t.co/iwbGYv8WJA ⚔️💎⚓️☠️ pic.twitter.com/S6EqAMJoOz

— UrbanExplorer (@UrbanExplorer) September 11, 2017

The Night Pirates for September 2017

The Night Pirates Workshop and Performances!

NEW! #ThumbsUpItsThursday #TheNightPirates Interactive storytelling sessions! Thursday 31 Aug John Lewis Kingston: https://t.co/jhOTpceavR pic.twitter.com/xq0Gb5iXc9

— Rose Theatre (@Rosetheatre) August 21, 2017

Forward and Back

there be Dragons...

Yes!! Aside from those Dragons in Game of Thrones - I eagerly await series 7 - My latest book with prominent red Dragon will be published in the summer of 2017. There is no Dragon in this story written by the new and dynamic author, Lou Carter. A story within stories, jiggling with delight amidst many familiar characters and one determined Dragon. More smoke signals nearer the publishing date.

A last few meaningful moments from 2016 here....

Many extraordinary people and organisations have been working towards supporting refugees and raising awareness about asylum seekers. Without doubt this year will be one that has shown all too many tragic scenes of families on treacherous journeys to safer lands. Some of these journeys have been documented and illustrated with great poignancy. The Vietnamese - Australian artist, Matt Huynh created these dramatic scenes to tell Nam Le's story in The Boat.

In the recent London Illustration Fair I saw the exhibition Where do we go from here?Amazing line drawings, works made by Nick Ellwood as he spent time in the refugee camps of Calais over the winter of 2015.

One of my fellow studio mates has been busy founding a new fund raising mission for refugees, originally through Calaid and now in the wake of clearing the Jungle in Calais the funding continues wherever food and clothing can be distributed in Europe. The fund is called The Kindness Tree and my small part in this was to design the logo. The Kindness Tree is made possible by creating collection trees in schools throughout the UK. See the little video for more info! I hope to post more about this project next year.

Just to add to the good work, here is a story illustrated by the very talented Sydney based artist Nancy Liang. I've long admired her work which here demonstrates an immersive way of telling Junko Morimoto's story, a survivor of Hiroshima in Junko's Story.

There have also been some triumphs on bringing our attention to old forgotten stories, such as the event organised by a friend about the Ladies Bridge or Waterloo bridge in London. Built by female construction workers during the second world war and here documented. 

Isabel & I as part of the hands across the Ladies Bridge

This year I visited the Bologna Book Fair! Never have I experienced so many kilometres of books! Simply overwhelming and inspiring I will never be the same and yet might return in 2017.

Joohee Yoon

Joohee Yoon

  

So alive

So dead!

So many people

There was much hilarity and fun in big knickers for Hooray for Knickers with the author(s) Jill Lewis aka Jill and Alison ( we also made Don't Read This Book ).

Cirencester Literary Festival

There was hide and seek when Lola visited our studio and resident dog Betty went into hiding!

I built a cardboard treasure chest...

and there were those many school visits

I collected some words that might see me through 2017...

Happy New Year!

Book Mark Competition

I am very excited to visit One Tree Books in Petersfield Friday 8th April to judge their book marks competition!
The shop window already looks dazzling with all the brightly coloured bookmarks on display.
Please come and see for yourselves.

A Fantastic Dragon v Dinosaur review

Thank you Mudwaffler A brilliant blog bursting with the latest picture book reviews and gorgeous artwork. Click on the link.

A Happy New Shiny Year

Let's doff our caps adieu to 2015 and welcome in the New Year.
It certainly was very busy and I failed to post much on the blog- again! 
Without further ado here's some sketches of a forth coming book which features a rather emotionally explosive character, King Grumpy.
I loved drawing him and as the story unfolds, we appreciate the reasons for his tantrums... 


Don't get your Royal Knickers in a twist in 2016!