Edinburgh Book Festival!

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My first trip to the Edinburgh Book Festival! Wow, it was well-organised and huge fun too! We had a hotel near Charlotte Square so were just a quick trot down the street from all the action. Here’s me in the Imagination Lab with some very keen monster creators! They were bursting with ideas for weird and wonderful creatures and there were plenty of volunteers wanting to come up on-stage and have a go at some drawing. Very brave considering how many people were watching in the audience.

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We all worked together to make a monster that would appear in the next MONSTER & CHIPS book. Here’s me doing the final drawing. I always forget that I hold the pen in such a weird way!

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It means I draw on the board in a wonky way! That’s our creation, below left. Behold: Sluggybottom Ninjapants! Look out for him in MONSTER & CHIPS 3: Food Fright! It’s out next April.

Thank you to everyone for your help! Also thanks to Michael Merillo from the Scottish Book Trust for hosting and to the brilliant Sam White, my HarperCollins publicist, for all her help.

If you’d like to have a go at creating your own monster then you can download a PDF to draw on.

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Then on to some signing. Thank you so much to everyone who came along and queued for books! I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.

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The next day we paid a visit to Glasgow so I could sign some books in the Argyle Street branch of Waterstones – such a great display of children’s books. Bookseller (and theatre-maker) Sarah Bradley had been running a monster-themed story time that morning, coincidentally! Then we popped into Glasgow’s Museum of Art, a lovely old building:

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There was a fabulous display of work by French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle

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I couldn’t think where I seen her work before, then I remembered the spectacular fountains outside the Centre Pompidou in Paris. I love the colour and cartoony shapes. Those dancers really make me smile!