books – Page 4 – Daisy Hirst

ALPHONSE launch: biscuitmania at Gosh!

My second picturebook, ALPHONSE, THAT IS NOT OK TO DO! was launched on April 20th at London’s most splendid comics shop, Gosh! by a crowd of very lovely people and an unreasonably delicious new instalment in the Emily-Wilkinson-bakes-my-books saga (see here, and here, and here, and here for Emily’s page).

I arrived in a tiswas, thinking, “AIEE, what if no one comes?” followed by, “AIEE, what if someone comes?” and, “AIEE, biscuits stuck in traffic! What if people come mainly for biscuits and get justifiably enraged?” But those nice comics folks calmed me right down with tea, and got me started on signing The Heap.

I was overwhelmed by so many friends and relations coming along to celebrate Alphonse, and that was before the biscuits and Natalie and Alphonse arrived to make sense of it all – sitting down centrepieceishly in the space between all the books and drawing their giant pig (which was eaten and magically regenerated two times! And then decisively consumed in our third attempt).

Thanks so much to everyone who came, and to Gosh! and Walker Books. If you couldn’t make it but would like a signed book, I think Gosh! may still have part of The Heap.

Monsters in residence at Mainstreet Trading Co.

Last weekend I went all the way to Scotland to paint a window and fill it with cardboard monsters – now there’s a thing I never could have imagined I would do. The window belonged to Mainstreet Trading Company, a beautiful book (and cake and soup and many thing) shop in St Boswells. I arrived with fourteen brushes, three kinds of tape, two kinds of glue, two kinds of string and four rolled-up paper monsters, feeling fairly daunted by the idea of making a window display worth bringing someone to Scotland for.

First I had to mount the monsters on cardboard (running out of both kinds of glue) and cut them out with a scalpel.

Then I convinced them to stand or hang in the window (thanks to both kinds of string).

And (now in a panic about having used up most of the day without actually PAINTING THE WINDOW), I sort of managed to get the smaller Alphonse to eat a copy of the actual book.

Finally I got around to using two of my fourteen brushes, and Mainstreet’s window pens, to help Natalie and Alphonse decorate the window. I did some of the drawings with my left hand, as I did for the monsters’ drawings in the book, and perhaps I should’ve done left-handed painting – except I think I’d still be there now (it took six and a half hours as it was)

and it was important to leave time for signing books and eating cake. Okay actually, I didn’t, so I had to eat my cake in the taxi, but it was Mmmmm. In fact, it wouldn’t be so bad to still be there now.

Sheffield Children’s Book Award shortlist

I’m very happy to say The Girl with the Parrot on her Head has been shortlisted for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award! It’s especially exciting as the prize is judged by children, voting through schools and libraries. Here’s Sheffield Libraries’ tweet:

Now for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award Picture Book shortlist – Fabulously quirky mixture of funny & heartfelt! pic.twitter.com/VTfyxeZMux

— Sheffield Libraries (@SheffLibraries) March 31, 2016

The winners will be announced in November.

Out now: ALPHONSE THAT IS NOT OK TO DO!

My second picture book, ALPHONSE THAT IS NOT OK TO DO! has just been published by Walker Books in the UK, and in seven other languages too (please see books page for details of translated editions).

Original screenprints for sale

Online gallery Children’s Book Illustration have started selling some of my original screenprints. Six prints for The Girl with the Parrot on her Head (from the same editions as the prints used in the book) are available now – including a few of the soon-to-be-seasonal scootering spread.