UK & Ireland Domination Tour, Part 1

The trip so far: I landed on Thursday late morning at Heathrow, where I was met by a driver holding a sign with my name on it. This is how all flights should end, with someone holding a sign with your name on it, don’t you think? Better still a loved one, I suppose, but barring that, this was pretty sweet. Said man drove me to my hotel, which was right next to Paddington Station (our take-off point for the next morning). I had a long walk from there, down to Oxford Street, and back through Hyde Park. Here I am rocking two pairs of glasses in Hyde Park (the readers needed to be close at hand to study my map every couple of blocks because I am geographically challenged). In the evening I went to a local pub and had bangers ‘n mash and a pint. Forgive this photo. It really did taste better than it looks. The next morning I was up bright and early to meet Sarah, the lovely publicist from Andersen Press. Before we caught our train I begged her to let me take her photo with a certain famous bear. We took the train to a little town called Yatton and headed to a Quaker school called Sidcot, where I gave a talk to about 150 kids. This particular visit came about thanks to their ex-librarian, Wendy Worley. When Wendy was on holiday in BC a couple of years ago, she read “Word Nerd.” She enjoyed the book and e mailed me to tell me, and we stayed in touch. I said I’d visit her school some day, and voila! It was a great afternoon.

With Wendy, Alistair the book seller, and Andrea (current librarian)

Then it was into a cab for the hour and a half long journey to Cardiff, Wales for the YLG16 conference. After checking into my massive room at the Mercure, I got out for a walk, and saw Cardiff Castle. I also learned a few words in Welsh. Then it was time to get ready for a drinks reception for Andersen Press’s fortieth anniversary, where I met my wonderful publishing team of Klaus Flugge and Charlie Sheppard. Charlie is my UK editor and I adore her. Klaus is the man who started Andersen, and this was my first time meeting him. He is an incredible individual, with an amazing backstory. You can read a little more about Klaus here. After drinks we got to see short speeches by the Kate Greenaway and Carnegie Medal recipients, Chris Riddell and Sarah Crossan. I had a chance to speak with Chris later, and he was lovely and charming. I didn’t speak to Sarah but I can tell you that she is rather beautiful and has very toned arms.

Afterward there was dinner with all of the YLG16 participants. This was great fun. Here I am with Amy, who was voted School Librarian of the Year. I also got to meet Phil Earle, who’s an author himself, and works in publishing. He was an early champion of “We Are All Made of Molecules” and I was so happy to meet him in person! And now, today, I’m prepping for a talk I’m giving to all of the librarians at the conference, called “You Can’t Choose Your Family.” I’ll be honest – I’m super nervous. I’ll let you know how it goes later. Afterward I’m hopping on a train with Charlie for her parents’ house in Yorkshire, and tomorrow (my day off) she’s going to take me to tour Haworth parsonage, where the Brontës grew up – a lifelong dream of mine!

Ta-ta for now …