THE PEARCE MEMORIAL LECTURE

I always associate hens with Philippa Pearce - she loved to keep hens and we did a book together in 1996 - The Little White Hen.

 

Philippa died in 2006 and the Pearce Memorial Lecture was set up in recognition of her great contribution to children's literature. Last year Michael Rosen was the guest speaker at Homerton College, Cambridge and today the steering committee met to plan the 2010 lecture which will be held at the Seven Stories Children's Book Centre in Newcastle with Michael Morpurgo the speaker. Next year the lecture will be back in Cambridge again and Philip Pullman will be the speaker. Follow the link to find out more about the lectures and how to book: http://www.pearcelecture.com/

BOOK SIGNINGS - AGONY & ECSTASY

Last year I had my most successful book signing ever - with a queue going across a school hall and out of the door. The trouble was I had two broken wrists. I'll not forget the agony and ecstasy of signing so many  books with arms in plaster.

Giving a signed copy of a book to your grandchild is very special and it's not hard these days to find an author or an illustrator to sign your book when good independent bookshops hold frequent author/ illustrator events. Here are a variety of signatures. Michael Rosen's:

Michael Morpurgo's with a little squiggle:

 

If you're lucky you might get several squiggles:

 Philip Ardagh adds a special authenticity stamp to his signature:

 

And something extra over the page:

Some illustrators like to do a little drawing

- that is if they haven't broken both their wrists.