Ever since The Princess and the Foal back in 2013 when I travelled to Jordan I have always been everywhere that I write about. Spain, Italy Moscow and Iceland, the Kaikoura coast and Berlin. Not this time. New Zealand went into lockdown before I could make to London, Paris and the Camargue region in the South of France, which is the location for my new book, The Forever Horse. All the same, the rough draft is now done and the book is due out in October! Here is a sneak peak at the cover.
My daughter has been begging me for a kitten. I kept saying no. Because I am boring obviously! But when I knew we had to be in lockdown I changed my mind – because what could be more fun than being stuck at home for weeks on end with this little guy? His name is Ferris and he is the BEST! (And if you read Mini Whinny Goody Four-Shoes you will get that joke). Anyway, he is so much fun it is hard to get any work done. And he’s soooo fluffy. We aren’t able to ride our horses in lockdown so Ferris is getting all the four-legged love right now….
Had a great day with the kids at Parnell Primary this week talking about my books and epic adventures based on true stories. I was able to give them a sneak peek of the new book, The Fire Stallion, which will be out in October and is set in Iceland. This is me in Iceland in research mode – wearing a minus thirty degree puffer jacket and still freezing! It’s incredible that the Icelandic horses live outside year round, often waist-deep in the snow, and never ever wear rugs!
The International Kids Lit Quiz is totally and utterly my favourite event on the book calendar. This year I did a workshop with the bunch of global clever clogs who were in town to compete. In our creative writing session at the National Library we focused on writing heroes and villains and the work produced was truly extraordinary. The next day the grand final took place at St Kents and it was a nail biter right down to the wire as the Australians who were in Ninth place at the end of the first half surged back to win it! Then on to the grand gala dinner that night where representatives from each team talked about their favourite books – such a great night! A huge thanks to the Wright Family Foundation and Wayne Mills and his team Julie, and Gerri, who make this such a fantastic world-wide event!
Workshopping heroes and villains at the National Library
It is always so exciting to be able to finally hold a copy of my new book in my hands. I got the first advance copy of The Thunderbolt Pony last week and now today I am off to Sydney on tour! So excited! I can’t wait. The Thunderbolt Pony is an epic journey with earthquakes and OCD, a very brave girl called Evie and her feisty gang – a cat called Moxy, a dog named Jock and her beloved grey Arabian pony Gus. I can’t wait for you to read it – it’s going to be in the shops on September 25!!
Had a lovely day visiting schools in Christchurch today and then went for a walk in the botanical gardens! I will be signing books on Thursday 3rd of November at Scorpio Books in Hereford Street at 4pm!
This is Moby the Ohaupo School cat who greeted me in the staff room when I arrived with a baby rabbit in her mouth that she had just caught! Naughty puss! It was clearly a cry for help because she wanted some milk – which she promptly got in exchange for handing over the rabbit who was shaken but unharmed!
Thanks for the fun visit Ohaupo!
Thank you to the lovely Maddison who brought me flowers at the book signing in Whakatane!
In Hamilton East today where the ice cream store next to Books For Kids had created a special ‘Diamond Horse’ flavour to celebrate the new book! Ihapera Esson (pictured here with her cone and the third year straight she has had her book signed by me!) gave its coconut goodness the thumbs-up!
The “Speed Date an Author” event today in Nelson was awesome. All the students today were amazing and the girls from Nelson Prep – pictured here with me – blew me away with their writing abilities! Every one of them knocked it out of the park with amazing creative work. To be in a room with so many potential genius authors was an honour ladies…
