Being yourself by Eloise Williams

‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.’ Oscar Wilde. I’ve always had problems with fitting in, whatever that means. Throughout my early life I bent myself this way and that to try to be interesting, likeable, the person everyone wanted as their friend. I’d do my best to be confident, outgoing and funny whilst really […]

We Were Wolves: Combining story-telling and illustration

By Jason Cockcroft I grew up reading comics. They were my biggest influence until I was around fourteen. This was before modern sophisticated colour printing became affordable to publishers, but I found something particularly emotional and dynamic in black and white work created in pen and ink that I didn’t recognise in colour illustration. Wonderful […]

Q&A with Simon Farnaby

A fantastic set of questions posed by the lovely folk at Hachette to hilarious writer, Simon Farnaby! What is The Wizard in My Shed about? It’s about a wizard- well, he’s actually a Warlock, which is a bad wizard- called Merdyn the Wild.  When we first meet him in the story, he’s on trial in the Dark […]

Q&A with Sara Holland

A huge thank you to Sara Holland for answering our questions about HavenFall and the newly published Phoenix Flame! Her answers are fantastic and we are so thrilled to feature them as part of our Myths, Magic and Mayhem celebrations. Written by Sara Holland, Cover by Peter Strain The atmosphere and imagery involved with your […]

Myth and the Masquerading Magic of the Mechanism

by Anneliese Avery When I set about building the world of The Celestial Mechanism, for The Nightsilver Promise, I knew that I wanted to create a world full of wonder. A world where destiny was set in the stars of the Celestial Mechanism and, just like the planets and stars of this clockwork universe, every person […]

Oobleck, Nunu, and Magic Pebbles

By Jon Agee Jon Agee, perhaps needs no introduction, especially for those with a keen interest in word play and picture books. His latest book, The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau, was originally published in 1988 but is making a comeback for a new generation of reader. Read on for a fantastic piece from Jon! […]

Magic, Myth and Mayhem

By Tim Tilley Myths and magic have inspired Tim Tilley to add these elements to his own book, Harklights. Currently Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month, this is an enchanting story filled with wonderfully magical moments. Growing up, I have always loved stories with myths and magic, so it was inevitable that myths and magic […]

Welcome to the imagination-where myths, magic and mayhem collide

by Shauna Darling Robertson The Federation’s National Share a Story Month theme of myths, magic and mayhem is right up my street, and my poetry collection, Saturdays at the Imaginarium, is full of all three! The book explores and celebrates the power of the human imagination, which has fascinated me since I was a child. […]

Mystery Writing with Sophie Cleverly

A wonderful guest blog from mystery writer Sophie Cleverly!! The Violet Veil Mysteries began on a dark and stormy night… I know, we’ve all heard that one before. But in this case, it was about a decade ago, and I was lying in bed trying to think of ideas for new stories. For some reason, […]

Paris Cat

A Joint Blog with Author Dianne Hofmeyr and Illustrator Piet Grobler MYTH, MAGIC AND MAYHEM ­– PARIS CAT by Dianne Hofmeyr Story encompasses all three… so what a delight FCBG have chosen to celebrate National Share a Story Month under this banner. Every story ever written is part MYTH, part MAGIC, part MAYHEM. Modern stories […]