launches

Leave a comment Posted on Celebrations, launches, Picture books

A gorgeous Sydney celebration for The Fishmonger and the Pastry Chef!

We had such a beautiful launch on Saturday November 29 at lovely Gleebooks for The Fishmonger and the Pastry Chef, with all the wonderful people who came to celebrate with us: family, friends, fellow authors and illustrators, and readers!

Thank you to Rachel and all the team at Gleebooks for hosting us so warmly, to Marie and her team for the delicious macarons (which disappeared in record time!) to Steve from Hardie Grant for being there to cheer us on, to our gorgeous families and friends who turned out in force to support us, and to all the lovely readers who took our book to their hearts.

What a joyous welcome for The Fishmonger and the Pastry Chef!

Leave a comment Posted on Book talk, Celebrations, Illustrators, launches, New books, Picture books, Publication day

Publication day for the Fishmonger and The Pastry Chef!

Today is the publication date of The Fishmonger And The Pastry Chef, my new picture book with the wonderful illustrator Cheryl Orsini. Published by Little Hare (Hardie Grant Books), and partly inspired by my family history in the beautiful French Basque seaside town of Biarritz, it’s a very special book indeed. I can’t begin to say how much I adore the gorgeous visual world that Cheryl created around my text, weaving in her own beautiful, engaging threads of imagination and warmth. It’s been pure joy to work with her as co-creator!

Many thanks to our agent, Margaret Connolly, our publisher, Chren Byng, editor Johanna Gogos, and all the excellent team at Little Hare and Hardie Grant children’s publishing for your belief in this book and for helping to make it the most beautiful production ever.

Thanks also to the reviewers and booksellers who even in advance of publication have taken our book to their hearts–it is hugely appreciated! And here’s hoping The Fishmonger And The Pastry Chef will find its way into many, many hands and hearts, all over the country.

And if you’re in Sydney, do come and celebrate the launch of The Fishmonger And The Pastry Chef with us on Saturday November 29 at 2pm, at Gleebooks (Glebe). There will be sweet treats, stories and crafty things! RSVP to rachel@gleebooks.com.au

Leave a comment Posted on Book talk, bookshops, Celebrations, Events, launches, Picture books

Wonderful bookshop tour of Sydney!

Last week, I did a wonderful tour of Sydney bookshops with Lorena Carrington, fabulous illustrator and co-creator of our picture book The Giant. On foot, by train and by bus, we went to several of Sydney’s best bookshops, including, in the CBD, Abbeys, Kinokuniya, and Dymocks George St, plus Harry Hartog in Bondi Junction, Gleebooks in Glebe and Berkelouw in Leichhardt. Everywhere we received a warm welcome, and the culmination was a wonderful event for the book at the fabulous bookshop Better Read than Dead in Newtown, where the fantastic author Ursula Dubosarsky launched it into the world, our lovely publisher Anna Solding of MidnightSun Publishing attended, coming all the way from Adelaide, and a warm supportive crowd came to share the celebration with us! It was all so much fun and we are so grateful for all the warm support of booksellers, readers, and fellow creators for our gentle Giant!

Leave a comment Posted on A Secret Garden in Paris, adult fiction, cakes, Celebrations, launches

Lovely local launch!

Such a wonderful local launch of the book yesterday, in the very congenial atmosphere of Cafe Patisserie Armidale! Lovely engaged crowd, lots of books sold by Reader’s Companion, delicious petits fours, flowers, chilled wine, great atmosphere, a bright sunny day–all the ingredients for a fantastic event which launched my book in the most enjoyable way!

Many thanks to Enora, Nathan and all the staff at Cafe Patisserie, to Michelle at Reader’s Companion, and to all the lovely people who came to celebrate with me!

Leave a comment Posted on A Secret Garden in Paris, adult fiction, announcements, author talks, launches

Two lovely events coming up for A Secret Garden in Paris!

I’m really looking forward to two wonderful events that are going to be held in November, one in Armidale, one in Sydney, to celebrate the release of my new Sophie Beaumont book, A Secret Garden in Paris.

The first is the hometown launch, in Armidale, on Saturday November 9, at 2pm, and it’s going to be at the gorgeous Cafe Patisserie, where last year we had a fabulous launch for The Paris Cooking School. As with last year, our great independent bookshop, Reader’s Companion will be there to sell books, and there’ll be French wine, and other drinks, and little garden/spring inspired cakes created by Nathan at Cafe Patisserie, it’s going to be a lot of fun! Invitation is below the text of this post–all welcome!

The second will be held in Sydney, at Five Dock Library, on Thursday November 21, starting at 5.30 pm, and the fantastic Sydney independent bookshop, Better Read than Dead, will be there to sell book. There’ll be light refreshments, a talk from me about the book, and then book signing! All very welcome! The event is free, but you need to register here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/author-talk-sophie-beaumont-tickets-956990011887

Leave a comment Posted on adult fiction, Book talk, bookshops, cakes, Celebrations, Events, launches

Gorgeous local launch for The Paris Cooking School!

Had an absolutely wonderful time at the absolutely gorgeous local launch, in my home town of Armidale, of The Paris Cooking School , which was held at beautiful Cafe Patisserie Armidale, in collaboration with fantastic Reader’s Companion. A big, warm, lively crowd attended, champagne(the real thing!) flowed, gorgeous mini strawberry tarts and mini eclairs created by master patissier Nathan Walker disappeared like lightning, and many many books were bought! was very busy signing and chatting to all the lovely people who came, some who I know personally, many others who don’t know me but were intrigued by the sound of the book, which they had heard about from the local press, radio and word of mouth!

Thank you so much to Nathan and Enora from Cafe Patisserie, to Michelle from Reader’s Companion, and to everyone who came. You made it such a superlative event and I am still on cloud nine about it!

Leave a comment Posted on announcements, author talks, Book talk, collaborations, Creative life, Events, illustrator talks, launches, New books, Picture books

Looking forward to the launch of Satin on Tuesday!

I’m heading off to Sydney in a couple of days, and one of the highlights will be the official in person launch of Satin, next Tuesday, March 14, at 4pm at the gorgeous Better Read than Dead bookshop in Newton. Lorena and I will both be there, to read from and talk about the book, sign books, and meet readers! Everyone is very welcome, we’d love to see you there! It’s a free event but the bookshop would appreciate it if people can register if possible(though of course you can also just turn up, if you run out of time) Here’s the registration link.

We’ll also be celebrating Satin through school visits, organised by the wonderful people at The Children’s Bookshop. And calling into city bookshops to say hi. It’s going to be a great week!

And those reviews just keep coming–we had another couple of lovely ones very recently, here and here. Seems readers are really taking Satin to their hearts, which warms our hearts, too…

Leave a comment Posted on Book talk, Celebrations, launches, New books, Picture books, Readings

A little taster of Satin in anticipation of the launch

In anticipation of both the official release of Satin on March 1, and its launch in Sydney on March 14, I’ve done a short video reading of the first few pages of the book. Hope you enjoy!

And if you’re in Sydney on Tuesday March 14, Lorena and I would love to see you at the launch, 4pm at the fabulous Better Read than Dead bookshop in Newtown. We’ll be reading and talking about the book and signing books of course too! Please register at this link(the launch is free, of course, but you can if you like also order the book prior to the launch). Hope to see you there!