I have always ‘done’ funny. Both as a reader, and a writer. As a child, I snorted through every page of every Dr Seuss, laughed until I cried at Russell Hoban’s inspired creation Aunt Fidget Wonkham-Strong in her iron hat cooking mutton sog, and the mere mention of the East Pagwell Canal from Professor Branestawm […]
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Hi! And thank you for asking us to join you on this blog. So here we are: the mother/daughter team behind the Wendy Quill books – working EXTREMELY hard. Mina May is slaving away on her iPad whilst I am doing VERY IMPORTANT writerly work: You see, because Mina May is only eleven, people are always asking […]
Read moreMy stories are a bit like a fairy with bunions. They are fantasy but they have their feet in the real world. What I really love is making startling, spooky or paranormal things happen in the ‘real’ world that we all know and recognize. When I started out with Dax Jones in the very first […]
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Sally Prue, author of Song Hunter , on the very beginnings of art and creative thinking, including her experience of visiting the British Museum exhibition on Ice Age Art . (This is an expanded version of a piece first posted on Sally’s Song Hunter blog .) Making up stuff is important. No, really: life and death important. Writing a story or painting a picture may […]
Read moreHappy April Fools’ Day everyone! Today is all about silly jokes, hilarious pranks, japes, larks, and general tomfoolery, and so in the spirit of all things jocular, I thought I’d share some ideas for suitably rib-tickling reading. Charlotte Armstrong, Marketing Executive Wendy Quill is a Crocodile’s Bottom This book is guaranteed to give you the giggles, no matter what your age […]
Read moreThe Bologna Children’s Book Fair is now in full swing. From Monday to Thursday this week our rights team have scheduled meetings every 30 minutes from 9.00am till 5.30pm with children’s editors from around the world. It’s our chance to showcase the OUP titles that we are planning to publish over the next year or […]
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Celebrating the publication of The Rachel Riley Diaries: The Life of Riley , Joanna Nadin shares what she wanted to be when she grew up! I never wanted to be a writer when I grew up. That is to say, it didn’t occur to me that writing was a “real” job, much less one that I would be capable of, or derive enjoyment […]
Read moreHistorical fiction author Marie-Louise Jensen introduces us to the hidden world of smuggling – the backdrop to her latest novel Smuggler’s Kiss. Isabelle is rescued from drowning by the crew of a notorious smuggling ship, and finds herself in a world of adventure, romance, and a thrilling fight for justice. Researching smuggling is a tortuous […]
Read moreJulia Golding joins us to explain why the Arthurian myths and legends provided such fantastic material for her heart-stopping new fantasy adventure trilogy, Young Knights Strange and terrible things happen to humans who come in to contact with the Fey. Kidnap. Enchantment. Time Travel. War. These are just a few of the options and—as traditional storytellers have realized—fantastic material for […]
Read moreGeraldine McCaughrean , Tim Bowler , Sally Prue , and Gillian Cross are four incredibly talented and inspirational authors who we are very proud to have on our list. With all four authors having new titles published this spring, an ideal opportunity arose to gather this awesome foursome, so we challenged them to a four day roadshow of events across the U.K. and […]
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