Tower Bridge and its exhibition of This is London by Miroslav Sasek

I promised more about Tower Bridge in my last post so here it is.
Several of us children's authors and illustrators from CWISL were lucky enough to be invited to the opening to an exhibition of  Miroslav Sasek's 1959 children's book, THIS IS LONDON in an exceptional site - the top of Tower Bridge.

When I first moved to the East End I spotted this mosaic view of Tower Bridge on a school near me.

Next time I crossed Tower Bridge I was on my bike, and had to wait for the road to sink back to a horizontal, after a ship passed underneath it.

Waiting  by the north tower, for Tower Bridge road to right itself.

I never dreamed that a year or so later I'd be inside it, high up on one of the Walkways looking over the Thames across London as dusk descended (sorry about the bad photos but it gives an idea!)

Hard to imagine the Tower Bridge Walkways were once open to the sky,
and a place for illicit rendez-vous.
Now there are screens upon screens to view inside and out, 

including enlargened panels of Sasek's THIS IS LONDON.

Sasek is one of my favourite illustrators.  I'm so glad his books from the 1950s and 60s have been reprinted the past few years.   He has a rare gift for bottling the visual essence of a city and its people, and avoiding cliché.  The work is beautifully measured across the white of the spreads -  minimal, sharp and funny.

I had hoped to see original paintings here - but learnt they were dispersed or lost after his death.  If anyone knows where one is, please let me know!  You can see more illustrations and find out more about the mysterious Sasek here.

In any case, it was an interesting display.  

It's hard to give a proper sense of it so see it for yourself if you can.  

The Sasek exhibition is on for a long while and Tower Bridge is open every day.

Bring kids and/or sketching gear and a better camera than mine!

There's a large map of the covers of all the books Sasek illustrated across the world.

On my way down I saw where I'd waited on my bike for Tower Bridge road to come down.
Hard to imagine this road lifting!

Tower Bridge shining behind Thames barges near Wapping 

Varoom from Nobrow's Flying Eye to Bayard's Tralalire

March went by fast, as a harsh east wind blew over London. Where to start?
Well I've just finished the tweaks of the tweaks, adapting an old project of mine from the Draw Along Tales for Bayard's Tralalire magazine to come out this summer for kids to 'participate' in with 4 felt pens.  These are the almost finals on my wall at my home studio.

Nearly the final version of my draw-along Trois Petits Cochons for Bayard's Tralalire

Final tweak was to remove the belt on the straw-sucking, lazy little pig (yellow) and turned him into a hoodie!

I came up with the Draw Along Tales for play on paper and screen,  just before a spate of family illness after late 2008.  When I looked up again a year or more later, after my ma's funeral and all, I found that Nosy Crow came out with their first app of the Three Little Piggies so my draw-inside version stayed inside my drawer. My idea had actually come from another pun - "draw the curtains quick!"

©Bridget Strevens-Marzo roughs for Draw Along Tales - 3 Little Piggies.

But nowhere's room for even more versions of tales in the App and doodle book worlds.
So ahem - if you're a serious publisher interested in seeing more of my Draw Along Tales project I and my agent at Hen & Ink are all ears!

My intention for the Draw Along Tales is to be usefully rough, to give kids the open-endedness to intervene and complete the story with all kinds of mark-making.
So interesting that Viv Schwartz  talks about being "usefully awkward"

 in my first 'report' as contributing editor for Children's Books for Varoom.  Thanks to Derek Brazell for inviting me to be part of this cool and interesting quarterly about illustration big and small!

Illustration Rules in the AoI's latest VAROOM! 

Hope I helped as a small cog to help spin the wheels of Flying Eye, the innovative comic book publisher Nobrow's new and exciting children's book imprint.
(I think it's hopeful and significant that publishers historically from opposite ends of the children's editorial spectrum, Nobrow and Usborne were the only UK publishers showing and networking at the paradise for children's imagery and illustration full stop, of the 2012 French Children's Book Fair in Montreuil, Paris

Yet another March writing job and another honour.  I was invited to be the first featured illustrator for the new, daily updated online magazine for children's publishing people, Words & Pictures.  It took me a ridiculous amount of time to put together but I've let the cat out of my overladen bag, and shown some work I did in a previous life.

But it's not been all about work.  Just had the most wonderful time looking at one of my favourite 1950s illustrators on the top of Tower Bridge but it deserves it's own post.  Coming next!

Making tracks - Senlis, Paris, then Dulwich Books, for World Book Day

Exciting things happening on the work front,  and several deadlines have meant no time to blog in the last month... No excuses, and now it's Mini Racer time again.

Later this week I drive from London to Paris via my old Senlis home. I'll be running some story and book making workshops for 4-8 year olds in the Victor Hugo Bilingual school.

Only a short pit stop in France, as I'm due back in London next week, to give another workshop for children on World Book Day at Dulwich Books, on Thursday March 7th at 11am.  Award-winning Dulwich Books  is celebrating 30 years of business. Read all about it here! on pages 16-18  in the glossy magazine, Living South including this interview with me.

In short, I'm making tracks all over shop - brooom brooom!

RIng out the old...ring in the new!

Oops - must take the last of the Christmas cards down!
It's not too late to cheer you into a peaceful and inspiring 2013.  (Hey in France you can do that at least until January 31st!)

my corner of Courtyard studio on a dark winter's night

Now what was I doing? Back to the drawing board, and my old books.
My old dad who was an artist, used to say if you want new ideas, go to old books.

Joyeux Noel to all! Felix nadal - Merry Christmas and here's to a 2013 full of delightful surprises!

Ian Beck at Just Imagine - with thanks to Nikki Gamble and Sue Eves!

No Facebook this morning, I said to myself, otherwise I'll never get started before midday.  So glad I didn't listen to my better self!   Turned out that fellow author-illustrator and SCBWI-er Sue Eves had passed on an invitation on FB to an event at Just Imagine - for TONIGHT!
I'm so glad I braved the wintry evening to Liverpool Street Station and the train (only 30 min. after all!) to a warm paradise for kids book lovers in Chelmsford.  I'm just back now and  very grateful to Nikki Gamble of Just Imagine for setting this up, and to Ian Beck for coming from Richmond, even further afield than me and Sue Eves.

records of the evening: the elegant and animated Ian Beck rapidly squeezed into my sketchbook and a signed copy of his latest chapter book

What fascinating work and stories Ian Beck had to share with a small circle of us lucky illustrators!
He began by showing us some of his earliest illustrations for The Radio Times and covers for Bowie and Elton John (alias Elsie) - including the famous album cover to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.  We were given tantalizing glimpses of several rare private press books he had illustrated including The Summer House, inspired by an extraordinary Lutyens house in Varengeville, which in turned inspired Jeannette Winterson to write a novella, The Dreaming House.  Ian Beck's own blog shows the house, and many more goodies besides.
Ian shared some of his sources of inspiration - how the series of picture books starting with Home before Dark started from wheeling his child home one windy evening.
He talked about all kinds of collaborations,  including with a certain David Fickling when he was starting out as a young unknown editor, with Philip Pullman and his vision of a cover for Puss in Boots, and more recently Ian talked of how he had used Photoshop to create misty layers behind the silhouettes in Pullman's retelling of Aladdin and his Lamp.
Ian talked of dispiriting rejections too and going back to the drawing board and cutting out key characters, and having to restitch everything.
Applying his imagination to different media from illustration to novel writing and poetry, his persistance is inspiring.  He doesn't shirk the re-writes and refinements that come from working with editors and art directors as precious mediators.
A tremendous tonic - thank you again Ian Beck!

SCBWI Winchester conference to Salon du Livre Jeunesse, Montreuil, Paris

The buzz from SCBWI Winchester conference is still ringing in my head:  Debi Gliori's heartfelt keynote speech and workshop,  Eric Huang's enlightening explanation of Transmedia, hosted and reported on here by Nick Cross,  useful branding tips from author Justin Somper and PJ Norman of Author Profile, performance training from school visitor extraordinaire Steve Hartley, author-actor Mo O'Hara, and finally the best ever group book launch hosted by the inimitable  Lin Oliver co-founder of SCBWI.

Three days later I was on a (thankfully restful) train to Paris, preparing for more buzz at the Salon du Livre et de la Presse Jeunesse, the French national kids book fair.

Hilarious comic illustrator, author and cartoonist friend Sally Kindberg who is also published at Bloomsbury, came with me -  an ideal travel companion.
We lodged close to the fair thanks to another friend, the illustrious Doug Cushman, fellow author and illustrator at Hen & Ink.

When we arrived Doug was painting a watercolour of an owl in his Paris studio.

A couple of hours later Sally and I went to the grand opening of the French kids book fair.   

Sally took a pic of me in my spotty jacket.  I'm holding a pile of bumpf about the fair.  Imagine over 300 children's publishers showing their year's output and more, in stands across two huge floors.  Well over 150, 000 visitors brave the trip into Montreuil, an eastern suburb of Paris to look at books and attend events for kids and publishing pros. 

I'll confess I  blogged last year too, enthusing about this mecca for illustrators, authors, kids and book lovers.  I just can't resist going on about it!  What is it about this particular children's book fair that stands out from any other?    

One big difference is that kids can attend, not just the industry pros.  

They come with their parents or schools armed with a few euros.  They queue up to watch illustrators and authors sign their books.  There's a buzz around books which older kids notice.  Yes, it's cool to look at books.

Another feeling you get strongly here is real pride in the produce.  It speaks for itself. There's not so much glitzy corporate marketing and hard sell.   Yet it's a fair that seems to help even the smallest publishers survive.   From the huge variety of books and inventive formats it seems they can afford to take risks and publish the books they love.   This year it was great to see Nobrow come from London who also take pride in publishing stand-out books.  

Sally loved this beaked tight rope walker on the wall of a publisher's stand.
Wish we had noted the book it was from - anyone know? 

The opening night is not all about bribery with food and drink..

Little girl and appetizers at one send of the Tourbillon stand

wine and tasty canapés at the Bayard stand -
where there was a real buzz this year...

Aside from incredible standard of art in French kids books, and the daring formats and subjects, there is more than enough to entice children, parents, librarians and booksellers into buying mounds of books before Christmas...

A book of historical maps to make kids love maps forever

one shelf in the BD (comic / graphic novel) section

Telling kids stories of  WW2

from publisher Rue du Monde 

for teens, a newspaper-like fantasy in pictures

"What are swear words?" asks this article in a Bayard kid's magazine
(Not sure such graphic visuals would be tolerated in some other countries I can think of!)

 The day after I took Sally to my French publishers, Bayard.  They've moved to a huge modern building south of Paris in the suburb of Montrouge.  It's a long walk from the book publishing end to the magazine end of the building.  As we got to the offices of Belles Histoires and Tralalire,  I noticed a couple of old posters I'd done a while ago were up on the walls.  

Notice the washing line of illustrations up in the Belles Histories / Tralalire offices!

And here is Sally again, with Marianne Vilcoq, an illustrator herself and the hard-working Belles Histoires art director - just before we took off.    

My only regret is I didn't have time to catch up with more friends in Paris.  Still Sally and I had a hilarious  meal at L'Atmosphère by the Canal St Martin, with some of the other Hen & Ink authors and illustrators,   Jeanne de Sainte Marie,  Sarah Towle,  Mina Witteman from Amsterdam,  and also a recent SCBWI member, Jion Shebani whose portfolio I had admired a few days before at the Winchester conference.