“Deleted Scene” from The Red Shoes and Other Tales. At the request of our publisher we changed the violence in the page below to an off-panel cutting of the feet in the final version of the book. Sometimes showing less is just as effective.
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| ‘Shiny New Red Shoes’ launch talk chaired by Melanie Gibson |
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| One of our three Family Zone events at the Westmorland Shopping Centre |
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| At the Page 45 book stall… |
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| Steve Bell talk |
In other news, we are afraid that the winners of the festival’s “Draw a Ballerina” competition have been cursed: brother and sister Alec and Nicky Anderson won a copy of The Red Shoes and Other Tales graphic novel and a pair of red ballet shoes.
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| The prize for the ‘Draw a Ballerina’ competition |
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| The Red Shoes have come to life! |
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| She can’t stop dancing! A curse? |
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| Nicky Anderson’s drawing |
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| Alec Anderson’s drawing |
Yesterday we gave a talk to book festival directors from around the world, about our work and also about graphic novels (including the Scottish scene).
It was part of Momentum, the Edinburgh Festivals International Delegate Programme delivered through a partnership between British Council Scotland, Festivals Edinburgh and Creative Scotland.
Also speaking were Adele Patrick and Sue John of Glasgow Women’s Library (were the event took place), Jean Cameron of Glasgow Life, Bob McDevitt, programmer of Aye Write! Glasgow’s Book Festival, and Glasgow Poet Laureate Jim Carruth, and it was great to hear about their work.
It was also fantastic to meet such an interesting group of people. Huge thanks to Emma Turnbull at Creative Scotland who invited us to speak.
All pictures courtesy of Glasgow Women’s Library Facebook page.
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| Exclusive Advance Edition of The Red Shoes and Other Tales |
The book itself is beautifully printed and comes in a hardcover quarter-bound edition (that’s with cloth all around the spine), and has a gold printed spine. We’re really delighted with the way the finished book has turned out. Many thanks to our publisher Papercutz!
The official release date for the book is October 13th in the US and November 1st in the UK.
Also, a very limited quantity of signed giclée prints and greeting cards will be available at the Edinburgh International Book Festival bookshop. The giclée prints are mounted in a black frame and wrapped in clear plastic sleeves, the greeting cards come with envelopes. All are available at affordable prices. The printing and print finishing is absolutely top notch, thanks to Pennybatch Gallery’s attention to detail and high quality materials.
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| The Red Shoes and Other Tales signed giclée prints and greeting cards |
Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews have both written great reviews of The Red Shoes and Other Tales, to be published on October 13th 2015 by Papercutz.
Publishers Weekly says: “Hope, joy, and pain intermingle in these dark, alluring stories, which may leave readers thinking of Andersen as a precursor to modern horror.”
Full review here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-62991-283-7
Kirkus Reviews calls it: “A darkly pensive read, perfect for chilly fall evenings.”
Full review here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/metaphrog/the-red-shoes-and-other-tales
This year, as Patrons of Reading at Northfield Academy, we had the pleasure of working on an exciting project, organised by librarian extraordinaire Mandy Wilson.
The project involved art and science teachers, and S1 pupils were set the task of creating comics about Great Scottish Scientists. Scotland has a rich history of invention and, for a small country, a surprisingly large number of famous discoveries to its name.
Allan Burnett (author of “Invented in Scotland”) delivered a talk to inspire the pupils, who then each gathered information on a scientist, engineer or mathematician of their choice.
We then delivered sessions with groups of pupils to help them get started on researching and developing their own comic, which they later finished working with the art department.
The pupils were encouraged to use photographs as reference or even for use as part of a collage, mixed in with their own drawings.
Mandy has created this excellent film about the project.
We then selected three of the best comics which where photographed to create the three short videos below. The soundtracks were produced by S1 pupils.
The whole project was made possible thanks to the Scottish Book Trust Live Literature Fund.
