Cover reveals

3 Comments Posted on Authors, Book talk, Cover reveals, fairy tales, forthcoming books, Illustrators, Publishers

Revealing the gorgeous cover of French Fairy Tales

Absolutely delighted to be able to reveal the gorgeous cover of my forthcoming book, French Fairy Tales, illustrated by the wonderful Lorena Carrington, to be published by Serenity Press in late October this year!

The book is a collection of five French fairy tales which I’ve chosen, translated and retold. Each means something special to me, and they come from different parts of France, including those where my family originates. Some are stories that have never been translated into English before, and some you might think you know well but which in these entirely newly translated and retold versions will, I think, surprise, and hopefully, delight you!

This project has been a dream of mine for a long time, and creating the retellings was such a pleasure. I am just so thrilled that Serenity Press not only loved them, but also paired me with such a fantastic artist as Lorena, whose extraordinary illustrations, inspired not only by the stories but by her own visits to France, so astonishingly bring to enchanting visual life the magic of these beautiful tales.

 

 

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Announcement and cover reveal for The Snowman’s Wish

I am delighted to reveal the gorgeous cover of The Snowman’s Wish, my picture book with the amazing illustrator Ronak Taher, which is being published by wonderful Dirt Lane Press in July 2020. Isn’t it a stunner!

Margrete Lamond of Dirt Lane Press has written a lovely post about the book on the Press’ website blog–here’s what she said, below, but you can also read it on the Dirt Blog itself, as well as news about other great Dirt Lane Press projects for 2020.

From the Dirt Lane Press blog:

Our first book for 2020 is The Snowman’s Wish

Once upon a time, author and general Renaissance Woman Sophie Masson woke up with a story fully formed in her mind. She wrote it down and it ended up on our desk. Very few edits later, and some stupendous illustrations later, The Snowman’s Wish is ready for print and, pending the right advance orders (yes, feel free to advance order … we will waive postage on single-copy purchases), will burst onto the shelves of the world in July 2020.

The story is poignant, a little sad, but also the ‘right kind’ of sad, because it also offers hope and beauty. And what beauty … the illustrations are luminous and vibrant and vivid like no others, and such a powerful complement to the elegance of the text. Here is what Emerita Professor Robyn Ewing wrote about the book:

“A rich and joyful exploration of the beauty of our natural world as experienced for the first time, and an assurance that sometimes wishes do come true, to give us much needed hope.”
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Cover reveal for A House of Mud!

I am absolutely delighted to be able today to reveal the gorgeous cover of A House of Mud, my picture book with the fabulous Katrina Fisher, to be published by Little Pink Dog Books in July 2020. Isn’t it just wonderful!

Here’s the blurb:

Building a mudbrick house is an adventure for everyone—Mum, Dad, kids and even Tess, the family dog! Heading out to the block to help make bricks, seeing their house take shape week by week, the children decide that Tess needs her own house too…

With warmth, sensitivity and liveliness in words and pictures, this book recreates the fun–and work!–of a special family experience, building your own unique house.

On the Little Pink Dog Books site, you can also see a few beautiful images from inside the book.

This is a very special book for me, as it’s inspired by our family’s real-life experience many years ago of building our own beautiful mudbrick house (which my husband David and I still live in), by hand, from scratch, and using clay from our own block. And our three lively young children and lively young dog Tess were very much involved at many stages of what was quite a long process (somewhat speeded up for the purposes of my text, of course! )

The book itself has had a long gestation–much longer than the house itself in fact 🙂 It first saw life in an earlier form as a short story in The School Magazine (which was illustrated by the lovely, sadly missed Kim Gamble) and which I then later rewrote and edited and tweaked several times till it was just right as a picture book text: or so, I am very happy to say, thought the wonderful Peter and Kathy Creamer from Little Pink Dog Books, who loved it as soon as they read it. And they found the perfect illustrator in Katrina, who has conjured a beautiful, touching and fun visual narrative–look forward to showing readers a couple of samples from the pages once they are ready!

Here below are a few photos from the actual family mudbrick building experience…including, of course, the children, Pippa, Xavier and Bevis, now of course all grown up–and Tess, who lived a happy long life but who passed on quite some years ago and is now immortalised in this book…

Leave a comment Posted on announcements, Book talk, Cover reveals, historical fiction, new editions, novels

Fabulous new cover for a well-loved book of mine!

I am thrilled to reveal here the fabulous new cover for a brand new edition of one of my most popular  and long-lasting books, The Hunt for Ned Kelly. Published by Scholastic Australia, The Hunt for Ned Kelly was first released in 2010 and in 2011 won the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Over the years it has gone through several reprints and editions, including book club editions, has sold very well and continues to do so, and appears in lots and lots of libraries too. I absolutely loved writing this book and am really happy that it has been so successful and reached so many readers! And now, nine years down the track of first publication, the book is to be re-released in August this year, newly clothed in this fantastic, eye-catching, Sidney-Nolanesque cover by Scholastic designer extraordinaire Chad Mitchell. Isn’t it absolutely gorgeous!

If you want to know more about the story of The Hunt for Ned Kelly, you can have a look at my You Tube trailer for the book, or the Scholastic teachers’ notes for it. There’s also a lot of reviews around online.

And below, for interest, is the original book cover–striking too, but I think this new one is in a different league altogether!

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Celebrating our home town in a new picture book

I am delighted to announce today a project that’s had to be kept under wraps till now: the picture book Join the Armidale Parade, text written by me, gorgeous illustrations by talented local illustrator Kathy Creamer, and published by local publisher Little Pink Dog Books. Look at the gorgeous cover! Commissioned by Armidale Regional Council, Join the Armidale Parade is a fun picture book for children and families, celebrating the beauty, diversity, colour and vibrancy of our hometown of Armidale, in northern New South Wales.  My story, told in bouncy verse, is focussed around a little girl whose family has recently moved to Armidale, and who takes part in its colourful annual parade, held in the autumn. And Kathy’s created the most fabulous illustrations, full of fun, humour, joy and plenty of Armidale landmarks and references:-) It’s a book that can be enjoyed by both locals and visitors, and even those who may not know Armidale but can appreciate the fun and warmth of a festival parade. It’s, I think, the first time that a picture book for children has been set here.

Although I was brought up in both France and Sydney, and my husband David in the UK, we have lived in this region for a long time now, built a house and brought up three children here. Although I’d had a few short pieces published before I came to this region, my writing career properly took off here, and all my books have been written here. I’m delighted to have been able to collaborate with Kathy, Little Pink Dog Books and Armidale Regional Council in Join the Armidale Parade, a book that pays tribute to a beautiful, creative and friendly town.

The book will be published on May 1.

 

2 Comments Posted on announcements, Art, Cover reveals, New books, Picture books

Cover reveal for On My Way!

I am thrilled to be able to reveal the gorgeous cover of my forthcoming picture book with the fabulous illustrator Simon Howe, On My Way. The book will be published by Scholastic on June 1.

Here’s the blurb:

On my way to school, Mumma, guess what I saw? A pig chasing a wig! A goat rowing a boat! 

A delightful story about all the extraordinary things you can see on your travels.

I jut loved creating this fun story, and adore Simon’s magical illustrations!

Full cover below.

 

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Cover reveal for There’s a Tiger out There!

I am thrilled to be able to reveal today the gorgeous cover of my picture book with the fabulous illustrator Ruth Waters, There’s a Tiger out There, to be published by Little Hare in July. The fantastic design is by Hannah Janzen.

The story, which is set around a pair of siblings–an older sister, a younger brother–and a tiger, the power of play, the imagination, and of love–first came to me in a dream, and it’s been a dream too to see my text morph as I worked on it with the wonderful editor Alyson O’Brien, and then so exciting to see it take shape and flesh and colour and such glorious vibrancy in the wonderful details of the visual narrative created by Ruth. Look forward so much to seeing it out there!

Here’s the blurb:

There’s a tiger out there/and her paws are so big

There’s a tiger out there/and her teeth are so sharp

There’s a tiger out there/and she’s about to pounce.

Run!

 

 

1 Comment Posted on Book talk, children's fiction, Cover reveals, Fiction, New books

Cover reveal for War and Resistance, my 2019 novel

I am thrilled to be able to reveal today the full cover of War and Resistance, my historical novel for older readers, which will be published by Scholastic Australia in February 2019. That year will mark 80 years since the outbreak of World War Two, and my novel is mostly set in the early years of the war, from early 1939 to late 1941, with an epilogue in 1950, and spans the globe, with sections set in New Zealand, Australia, France and Germany. (You can read a short blurb of the novel on the pic) .And one of the things I’ve loved about writing this novel–a novel that means a great deal to me–is that with it I was also given the opportunity to revisit characters from an earlier novel of mine, also set in wartime, only the war before that one–1914(Scholastic Australia, 2014), which was told from the viewpoint of Louis Jullian, a teenager at the time. And now, in this new one, his daughter Sasha is trying to follow in his footsteps…Looking forward so much to the publication of this book!

 

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Cover reveal for Black Wings, my adult historical novel

I am thrilled to reveal the beautiful cover of Black Wings, my adult historical novel which will be published in October by The Greystones Press in the UK. Can’t wait! Here’s the basic blurb(there will also be a fabulous cover quote by the lovely Kate Forsyth, which will be revealed later!)

It’s 1788 in the Vendée in western France, and change is in the air. Reform 
is being talked of in the great world beyond, in Paris, and even the peaceful village inhabited by Jacques Verdun and his friends – aristocratic painter Edmond de Bellegarde, his beautiful cousin Flora, and young farmer Pierre Bardon – seems touched by new possibilities. But as events both in Paris and in the local community start to gather pace, as revolution breaks out and the traditions of centuries start to break down, friendships will be severely tested in the most unexpected of ways. And when pitiless civil war comes, who will be left to testify to old feelings, and old loyalties? 

 

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Thrilled to be included in A Boat of Stars!

Delighted to announce that I’m one of the authors included in a gorgeous new poetry anthology for children, A Boat of Stars, edited by Margaret Connolly and Natalie Jane Prior, which is coming out with Harper Collins in February 2018. At left is the gorgeous cover, with illustration by Stephen Michael King. I am thrilled that no less than seven of my poems were accepted for the anthology! And I am doubly thrilled that my poems will be illustrated by some of Australia’s most fantastic illustrators. Very exciting indeed! You can read more about the book on the Harper Collins website.