Wow can you believe January is nearly over? I can’t tell if it’s been really long or if it’s gone really quick. It’s always quite a tough time of year and this January has been extra tough so I am being kind to myself. A lot of the stuff that has made January a bit tricky has been personal, which I won’t go into here, so instead I thought I would concentrate on some positive bits of news for this monthly bulletin.
Starting with…. a cover reveal!!!
I’m so excited that my first book working with Simon James Green and the fantastic team at Scholastic will be out in May this year! The book is illustrated inside and I am just absolutely bursting will excitement to show you more… but not long to wait now! UK people can pre-order it here.
Next up, a retreat!
I had the pleasure of joining the Really Chilled Writing Retreat again this year. It really is what it says on the tin. It’s a relaxed retreat in an eco hostel in the South Downs near Portsmouth. It really was so relaxing that I didn’t even do any writing! As my book is out on sub, and I have A LOT of illustration deadlines to do towards, I just illustrated instead. But the creative, productive vibe and the lovely people makes it so worth it. And as I have young kids at home, allowing myself the time and space to concentrate for a full weekend was SO SO WORTH IT.
The next one will be in September, get in touch if you think you’d like to join!
Now… an art challenge!
To celebrate the publication of Ghosts of Mars, written by the brilliant Stuart White, with cover art by me, we thought it would be fun to host a #dtiys challenge!
The challenge is open to artists of all ages and abilities, and Stuart will pick a winner on 14th Feb, the day after publication day. The winner will get a copy of the book signed by Stuart!
The aim is to draw Eva, the main character in the book, in your own way, feel free to change her as much as you like.
Make sure you use #GHOSTSOFMARSDTIYS and tag @stuartwhitewm and @jen_jamieson so we can find and support you.
And looking towards to future.. Bologna Children’s Book Fair
Well it still feels like BCBF23 is 5 million years away but in fact its only about a month away! It is going to creep up so fast! If, like me, you are going for the first time and feel a bit bamboozled by it all, or maybe you don’t know many other people going, then FEAR NOT because we have a friendly, welcoming WhatsApp group already full with lovely friendly illustrators and industry people sharing tips, knowledge, worries, anticipation, food, flight and accommodation recommendations
Please get in touch if you’d like a link to the WhatsApp group, and in the mean time, here is a super helpful blog post written by one of the members of the group from a few years ago.
Thanks so much for reading, as always!
Hello! I will be at Bologna for the first time, too. Would love the link to the What's App group, if that's OK. I will be in the middle (actually, near the start) of a 5-week interrailing trip round Europe. I've booked to stay down the train line at Ferrara, as there were cheaper options there and also it looks really lovely, so if I get overwhelmed and can only cope with one day at the fair I will be in a nice space to explore.
My plan is mostly to just walk the fair and soak it all in, as I can't be carrying around postcards and portfolios in my little backpack.