Kevin took his first big trip this week, up to the Manchester area. If you've ever wondered what an author book tour might look like, here's one of them! As you can see, our star of The Legend of Kevin is a bit of a show-off and very much wanted to make his first-ever television appearance. So we humoured him and took him to the the CBBC ( Read more... )

Last weekend Philip Reeve and I got to go to the amazing PUG-THEMED Manchester Children's Book Festival! I'd been excited for MONTHS about seeing my favourite pug, Benny Bean:


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Do you have those occasional moments, when you're looking in the mirror and you realise you have blue hair and sparkly gloves and look like Dame Edna, that you think, how did I ever start doing this? If you'd told me I'd be doing things like this, even ten years ago, I never would have believed you.


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Wow, Manchester Children's Book Festival has gone mad for Sea Monkeys! And it's culminating in a glorious Sea Monkey explosion this weekend! Check out all the stuff happening at this Saturday's Family Fun Day.


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Hey, look at the huge hat I got for the Tots 100 # BlogSummit! Ha ha, I wish. When I arrived to give a talk at the studio venue, it looked like a Google office playroom or something, with lollipops and toys everwhere, I loved it.


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On Sunday, Stuart and I visited the Manchester Art Gallery and The Lowry museum. I'm hoping to do some drawings based on stuff I saw there. Here's my attempt at some grim northernness. Suits me, I think.


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When I went to Manchester, I wasn't sure if anyone would be free to meet up, and I didn't know anyone there very well, except a little bit from the Internet and comics conventions, where we hadn't had much time to talk. So I was slightly nervous when I blogged I'd be at the pub at a certain time on Thursday night, if I'd end up with only one ( Read more... )

Today was my first-ever visit to Manchester's Media City, to go speak on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour. Super exciting!!! Before I got a studio, I spent my first ten years in London working from home, and I listened to Radio 4 CONSTANTLY. A lot of my understanding of Britain has been shaped by Radio 4. I listened to everything, Gardener's Question Time ( Read more... )