Hello! It's been a while, so I thought I'd share some good things with you all; things I've been up to, things I've loved reading, and exciting things on the way…

Things I've been up to…

Author visits! Lots of these - in schools (including my first special school), at festivals, conferences, The Shakespeare Globe (gorgeous!) and The British Library (wonderful!). I've especially loved leaning into more storytelling at my events this year and am planning/hoping to do more of this in the future. I've also loved creating zines with young people in workshops, so hope to do more of this too. If anyone is interested in booking an author event, please do get in touch through my website.

A photo from my most recent workshop, yesterday at The British Library, where families created a Baba Yaga zine with me and a Baba Yaga puppet with Les Enfants Terribles.

A house with chicken legs, created by a student in Leeds for their GCSE art project.

Things I've loved reading…

How the Rivermaid Grew Her Tail by Jessica Wilson, illustrated by Sophie Bass, is a superb collection of West African and Caribbean Myths, with beautiful lyrical writing and glorious vibrant illustrations.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher is a dark fairytale novella, for adults, that has such a brilliant premise. I don't want to give anything more away - if you love dark fairytales and haven't read this, just find a copy and give it a try!

My Trade is Mystery by poet Carl Phillips contains thoughtful and thought provoking meditations on the writing life. At 112 pages it's a short but nourishing read, and the audiobook narrated by the author is a wonderful listen.

On Morrison by Namwali Serpell is a brilliant collection of essays exploring Toni Morrison's work, book-by-book. Deep and enriching, yet accessible, I'm learning so much about the aesthetics, literary forms and techniques that Morrison used and why; and this has set me off on a mission to read all of Morrison's books in order (I'm currently on the third, although I took a detour to read all of the children's books she wrote with her son, Slade, too).

Exciting things on the way…

It's less that two weeks until A Year of Fairy Tales publishes, in a gorgeous gift edition with ribbon bookmark, beautifully illustrated in full colour by Elisa Paganelli, I am so proud and excited for this book!

There are a couple of special editions available too! The Waterstones special edition has a darker colour cover (pre-order here)...

And the independent bookshop special edition has gold sprayed edges (ask your local indie about this one, or pre-order a signed and personalised copy here)...

AND, if you pre-order ANY edition, from ANY shop, and send proof of purchase to [email protected], they will send you a set of gorgeous limited edition prints featuring some of Elisa's artwork from the book:

The last thing I'd like to mention is that I joined Substack and have been enjoying reading the longer form pieces you get on there compared to most other social sites. I'm planning on popping some pieces of my own up there soon, so if you're interested, come and find me there at this link (don't be confused by the profile picture of a seal, it really is me and I shall get this updated at some point!).

That's it, big thanks for reading, and sending you all my best wishes for the incoming autumn,

Love, Sophie x