Last weekend was the annual SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) conference in Winchester, which was as ever educating and inspiring. I’ve volunteered with SCBWI for very many years now, initially when I was in Japan, and, since my return to the UK, with the British Isles chapter. Apart from supporting Anne-Marie Perks on the illustrator’s committee I co-run our network in East Anglia with writer Helen Moss, and edit the Friday (illustration themed) pag

Here are some details of an event I’ll be running in Tokyo in August with SCBWI. Please do come along if you’re able! SCBWI Tokyo Illustration Day with John Shelley: Breathing Life Into Your Pictures Power up your pictures! Give your illustrations vitality and zest! This SCBWI Tokyo Illustration Day featuring illustrator John Shelley will focus on techniques that children’s illustrators use to create resonance in their work and will explore how visual psychology works to co

Recently I was in Paris to run a workshop at the SCBWI France Conference and attend the Salon du Livre Jeunesse (Children’s Book Fair) in Montreuil. It was actually touch and go whether I’d get there at all, as services on both sides of the English Channel were crippled by severe winter weather. My Eurostar train was cancelled, passengers for all journeys were left in a first-come-first served queue that stretched almost outside St.Pancras Station. After a two hour wait I was

Yesterday was the first British SCBWI Sketch Crawl event in London. A group of ardent children’s book scribblers descended on the Natural History Museum, and later moved on to the Victoria & Albert Museum. A report will be on the SCBWI Illustrator’s blog shortly, but here are all the drawings I came up with. As the organiser I was prepared for people turning up without drawing equipment, so I lugged a lot more materials than I would normally have needed. Here’s what I carried

The four days of the Book Fair were the usual roller-coaster of ups and downs, hopes, lessons, delights, disappointments, inspirations, resolutions and finally, exhausted satisfaction. Here are my personal highlights, on the Facebook Bologna Connections page you can find a lot more photos and videos. I noticed many small independant producers from the UK that I’d not heard of before, often focusing on mass-market commercial or educational material. There seemed a clear dividi

Back from the delights and inspirations of Bologna. The books, the events, the meetings, the socialising, the food… where to begin? Yes, Bologna was good this year, skedaddling away to Italy was a tonic to my work and outlook, a week of frenetic activity in a city and Book Fair that never ceases to inspire and encourage. Publishers seemed quietly optimistic compared to the gloom of last year, I sensed a real tone of confidence in the air from all around. For me Bologna was go

Last weekend I was invited to run a workshop at the British Isles SCBWI Conference at the University of Winchester. This was the second year for the event but only the first time I’d been able to attend. It was also the first time to see the British Isles membership together, though I recognised several faces from other events such as Bologna or the Society of Authors CWIG Conference last year. As I write, the web promo is still viewable on the SCBWI British Isles Website. Ot

As a repeat of a successful exhibition last year, SCBWI in Romania organised a second illustration show Imaginary Journeys combining work by name international illustrators with Romanian artists in Cărtureşti Bookshop, Bucharest, and once more kindly invited me to participate. The show was widely covered by the media and opened on 4th October. there was a big reception on 8th October, and the show was eventually extended 2 days beyond the planned closing date to the 17th. The

Looking towards the end of the year, I’ll be giving a talk at the British SCBWI 2nd Conference for Writers and Illustrators Cover to Cover, and all the magic in between – the making of a children’s book which will run on 21st and 22nd November this year at the West Downs Campus in Winchester. There are a lot of good speakers and it promises to be an interesting weekend for faculty and attendees alike. My break-out session will be “Power Portfolio’s – Learn the secrets of buil

My work for children’s literature is currently being showcased by SCBWI British Isles, having elected me the current Featured Artist. The website spotlight runs until July. Many thanks to the organizers. #scbwi

The Book Fair SCBWI had a stand at the Fair for the first time this year, and it was a marvellous base of operations for us. Being worn out by the Conference I was quite happy to take things steady at the Fair. I had nine appointments with publishers, but spent a lot of time at the Stand as I had two showcases to run, two portfolio reviews, and two hour long 5-minute portfolio critiques – SCBWI kept me pretty busy. SCBWI Stand in Hall 26 There was always something going on at

Every Bologna is different they say, and so it proved this year. It was the second time I’d been to the Book Fair, the last visit being in 2004. Then I was merely a visitor, this time I was associated with the SCBWI Stand. Because of my recent disrupted circumstances for a long time I wasn’t sure I’d even be able go, but the organizers were very understanding and accomodating, not least the main organizer, SCBWI International head, and friend Erzsi Deak, to whom I extend my d

I’ve recently returned from the Bologna Book Fair, where I was one of the speakers at the SCBWI Biennial Conference. This was scheduled a long time ago, and despite my change in circumstances I was loathe to cancel, as it gave me something solid to focus on during this period of adjustment. I also needed to seriously re-connect with publishing in the West! I’ll post a report if I’m able, but for snapshots of the proceedings go to the organizer Erzsi Deak’s Facebook page. In a

I’ve just returned from Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, where SCBWI Tokyo RA Holly Thompson and myself co-ran a two and a half day workshop for children’s book writers and illustrators. We set off on this trip not really knowing what to expect due to communication hiccups during planning, so ended up taking a lot of material with us to cover all possible angles. We flew in on Thursday, one day later than scheduled as our flight was postponed over 30 hours due to severe wind conditio

Everything about this trip was a first for me – first trip to the Philippines, first time using Power Point, and first time running a Workshop. Fortunately the smooth professionalism of SCBWI Philasia and the British Council more than compensated for my inexperience. The morning after my arrival I met organizers Beaulah Taguiwalo and Nikki Torres for breakfast at the Malayan Hotel, together with Beaulah’s sons Mark and Homer. Then we drove to the British Council to check thro

Tomorrow I’m off to the Philippines to host a presentation and workshop in Manila for SCBWI. Surprising to say, although I’ve overseen many such events given by other writers and artists here in Tokyo, I’ve never actually guested at one myself before. Prior to this the longest I’ve ever spoken for was 15 minutes in Paris a few years ago, as I’ve never run school visits either, this will be for all intensive purposes a debut speaking engagement (in English at least). I’ve spok

I really wish I was going to Bologna this year, I missed it last year through other commitments and fully intended to make up for it in 2007, but as the SCBWI Conference has been postponed until next year I’ve decided to wait too. Nevertheless if anyone reading this is planning to attend the Fair, I thought I’d post a selection of some of my diary notes from the 2004 Show. Never before seen online! Please excuse the scribbled quality of the sketches, they were all made at the