Norman Lindsay Festival 2

In my previous post, on the Norman Lindsay Festival in the Blue Mountains, I omitted to mention all the fun things the Festival provided for the kids on Sunday, the kids day, including some very creative face painting. Yes, there were the usual cat faces etc but this was the first dog face I'd seen. Certainly the first Selby face.


This year the organisers had an event for adults onSaturday evening. This consisted of a panel chaired by long-time children's books editor and publisher Margaret Hamilton and with cartoonist Dave Hackett, mountaineer Lincoln Hall and myself talking about our lives and our books


Lincoln Hall (in green in the photo) was in the news a few years ago when he "died" on Mount Everest. At least he was left for dead but revived in the night and was eventually rescued. He's written extensively about this as well as other high-altitude mountaineering adventures.


I've always been fascinated by mountains and mountaineers. Here I am hiking with two friends in Switzerland at the age of fifteen. I'm on the right in both photos. (Tell me I haven't changed.) These days I'd rather enjoy the mountains from the warmth and safety of my loungeroom curled up with a book like Lincoln Hall's harrowing account of his near-death experience, Dead Lucky.

Norman Lindsay Festival

I never read Norman Lindsay's famous book, The Magic Pudding, until until I was an adult so I have no idea if I'd have liked it when I was a kid. But I'm grateful to Norman---who was a writer, illustrator, painter, sculptor and newspaper and magazine cartoonist---for writing the book because without it there wouldn't be a Norman Lindsay Children's Literature Festival. The festival is held every year at his home at Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and is now the Norman Lindsay Gallery & Museum which is run by the National Trust. This year I was invited, as was "Cartoon Dave" Hackett, writer Frances Watts and illustrator David Legge. Frances and David did their own special pirate song and dance number while talking about their new picture book, Captain Crabclaw's Crew. During a break between my talks, I got to handle "Princess", a diamond python. I didn't realise it when the photo was being taken but Princess was more interested in a branch of the tree above me than in me. Fortunately, her handler managed to unwind her and get her back down.

A welcome release

Authors' lives are not the most exciting lives. In my case, I spend a lot of time at my desk either writing or answering emails or just doing all the many non-writing things that have to be done. In the days before I finished writing Selby Sprung I realised that for three days I hadn't set foot outside my house. But the last week I got out and about.

On Tuesday I went to the opening of The Face of Australia, a portrait showby members of Portrait Artists Australia. the portrait that Jules Sevelson did of me is in the show and it was the first time I'd seen the completed painting. He did a wonderful job. If you're in Sydney you can see the show at NSW Parliament House. It's on from Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm until April 29th---and it's free. It would be a good time not only to see all the paintings in this show but to tour this lovely old building.

Last wednesday I was invited to speak at the Newington College Literature Festival . I had an audience not only of Newington boys but boys and girls from other schools. It was a lot of fun. Festivals are a great time to talk to kids but also to catch up with other authors and illustrators.

Books in Homes

There's a charitable organisation in Australia and New Zealand called Books in Homes. Their mission it is to give away new books to kids who might not have any books of their own in order to promote the love of reading and to improve kids' literacy skills. Publishers donate books to Books in Homes and the books are then given to the kids at a presentation ceremony with the help of a "Role Model". I'm a Books in Homes Role Model so I am sometimes asked to visit a school and to help give out the books. Recently I was at Alexandia Park Community School in Sydney where we gave away boxes and boxes of books. Here's a photo of me with, Ms Young, the wonderful librarian at the school and a few of the kids holding some of the books they were given.

My very own portrait

My good friend and children's book writer Moya Simons is married to a painter named Jules Sevelson. One day, not long ago, Jules asked me if he could paint my portrait. I'd never had my portrait painted before and I was delighted. He asked me what I liked to do when I wasn't writing and I said that I loved bushwalking, especially in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. I sat for Jules twice while he sketched and painted and here's the result. He said he wants to work on it just a bit longer to get the colours right but I think it's already a fantastic painting---and it looks just like me!

Selby Sprung again

I've just finished writing Selby Sprung, the 16th (and final?) book of the Selby series. I've been over and over the stories and now it's with my publisher, HarperCollins.

They will correct any mistakes and then send it back to me for further editing. Another copy of the manuscript is now with Allan Stomann, the wonderful illustrator of all the Selby books. He's been drawing Selby and his world for twenty-five years. Selby Sprung will be published in August.

Who can tell me what moth this is? It wandered into my house for just long enough for me to take a photo and then it flew away. I did a bit of a search of the internet and found out that there are about 22,000 species of moths in Australia. Of course this one might be a very common one so you might know it's name.

Writing Selby Sprung

I'm getting very close to finishing the sixteenth Selby book, Selby Sprung. And when I'm working hard, my office is as messy as my bedroom was when I was a kid. There are stacks of books and papers all over the floor. Jasper has found a new sleeping place, a file box filled with Selby stories. The papers in front of him are the drafts of the stories in the Selby book. I wonder if he reads them when I'm not watching.