London Book Fair

Hiya Chaps,
Last week was the London Book Fair, which I went to, so I thought I'd write a roundup post.
I was intending to write a post beforehand, but didn't manage it, so I'll just have to make do with this one :)

I managed to bump into a few people I know, and say a short hello, or even a fairly long hello, in a couple of cases, so that was nice.

It seemed to be a bit slim on the talk/seminar side of things this year, compared to last year. Or for things I was interested in anyway. But I did see a nice talk by Julia Donaldson about the Picture Books she's chosen for a promotion she's doing with Waterstones as Laureate. There seemed to be some interesting unusual ones, as well as some more common choices, so I think I shall pop in to a branch and have a good leaf through.

I also saw a talk with Patrick Ness, who's just published A Monster Calls, which has fab illustrations by Jim Kay. Very interesting talk about writing, and he seems a v. nice chap.
And the Walker stand had a copy I could have a look through.

Also on the Walker stand I noticed a copy of an Abney and Teal Picture Book, by Joel Stewart, to come out as a companion to the tv series on CBeebies which is a big hit in our house.

The Little Tiger Press stand was good as well, they always have lots of good stuff to see.

And, bit of a stop press highlight - on the Sterling Books stand was a copy of Watch Your Tongue Cecily Beasley, which is illustrated by me. Bit of a thrill to see it in real life, and I had a nice chat with the chap manning the stand too.
But here's a picture. A bit blurred inevitably, but you can see it ok.

It's due out in September, and, in case you're interested, it's available to preorder on Amazon here

But anyway, if you went to LBF as well, do let me know what you saw.