James Foley makes children’s books for children who read books. If you’re a child and you’re eating his books, you’re doing it wrong. His books include the Secret Agent Mole graphic novel series, the S.Tinker Inc graphic novel series, and the multi-award winning Stellarphant. James lives in Perth with his wife, 2 kids, and a labrador. He is a massive Marvel movie nerd and comes from a long line of queuing enthusiasts. Follow him on socials ( @jamesfoleybooks ) or at www.jamesfoley.com.au .
This one comes from a session at the State Library of NSW last weekend. I was joined by my author-illustrator bud Sean E Avery (creator of Frank’s Red Hat and Friendly Bee) who provided the live illustrations!
We had some fantastic ideas from the kids in the audience; check out the story below.
‘MEG WYNNE THE PIG-UIN’
Sunday October 26, 10:30am-11:30am
In which a half-pig, half-penguin called Meg Wynne – who spends most of her time diving underwater to catch cabbage fish – decides to chase her long-held dream of flying through the sky.
I ran some improv storytelling sessions at the Awesome Arts Festival this week – where the kids came up with the ideas, and I illustrated them live! Huge thanks to all the amazing young storytellers who came along and offered up madcap characters, preposterous plot points and epic endings.
Session 1: ‘Luca the Heartbroken Toaster’
Wednesday October 1, 11:15am-12:15pm
In which Rosita, the sea star-girlfriend of Luca the Toaster is kidnapped by the evil Captain Bob, the intergalactic Butter Pirate. Captain Bob is called a Butter Pirate not because he steals butter, but because his body is a chunk of butter. Captain Bob flies off into space in his ship, the Blendar 1, with Rosita in a cage beside him.
I’ll be in Sydney at the end of October with my author-illustrator bud Sean Avery, and we’re taking over the State Library of NSW!
SESSION 1: SPONTANEOUS STORYTIME
Join James and Sean for a laugh-out-loud session where the kids are in charge. Bring your weirdest and wackiest ideas for stories, because they’ll be mashing them up into the funniest Franken-tale you’ve ever heard — which James and Sean will illustrate, live!
Suitable for ages six and up, but all welcome.
DATE: Sun 26 October TIME: 10:30-11:30am WHERE: JB Fairfax Learning Centre, State Library of New South Wales AGES: 6yo+ (for families) TICKETS: $10/child (adults free) BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite
SESSION 2: CHARACTER MAQUETTE WORKSHOP
Are you ready to learn secrets of character design from two of Australia’s best children’s illustrators? Join James and Sean for a fun workshop where you get to design your own book character, then build them in 3D using colourful clay.
Suitable for ages 8–12.
DATE: Sun 26 October TIME: 12noon-1pm WHERE: JB Fairfax Learning Centre, State Library of New South Wales AGES: 8-12yo TICKETS: $10/child (adults free) BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite
Join me for a laugh-out-loud session where the kids are in charge. Bring your weirdest and wackiest ideas for stories, because we’ll be mashing them up into the funniest Franken-tale you’ve ever heard – which I will illustrate, live.
DATE: Wednesday 1 and Friday 3 October TIME: 11:15am each day WHERE: Education Room, State Library of WA, Francis St, Perth AGES: 6-12yo BOOKINGS: essential via trybooking
Oct 4: Comic illustration workshop (for kids) **SOLD OUT**
Join this workshop where I’ll show you how to create characters, use speech bubbles, sound effects, panels and backgrounds to create your own comic stories.
DATE: Saturday 4 October TIME: 1-3pm WHERE: Conference Room, Wanneroo Library and Cultural Centre, 3 Rocca Way, Wanneroo AGES: 7-14yo BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite – **sold out, but there is a waitlist**
Oct 11: illustration workshop (for adults)
Want to learn how to illustrate picture books? Join me in this session to find out how. Suitable for ages 16+.
Topics include:
Research
Planning (storyboards and dummy books)
Media testing and final artwork
Characters
Point of view, image boundary, colour, medium, line quality, font, composition
Words vs pictures
Preparing a portfolio and submitting to publishers.
DATE: Saturday 11 October TIME: 12:30-4:30 WHERE: Conference Room, Wanneroo Library and Cultural Centre, 3 Rocca Way, Wanneroo AGES: 16yo+ BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite
Oct 24: Mantle Conference for Teacher Librarians, Newcastle
I’m presenting at this year’s Mantle Conference in Newcastle, along with superstars Deborah Abela, Sean E Avery, Charlotte Barkla, Megan Daley, Kate Foster, Lara Cain Gray and Kirli Saunders. What a line up!
Sally Tinker, the world’s foremost inventor under the age of 12, is back with a new adventure in invention. When Sally’s nemesis hatches a fowl and poultry plot – turning chickens into dinosaurs – there’s no room for the lily-livered. The chickensaurs are let loose, and Sally and co will need all their pluck to return the world to its rightful pecking order.
Wonderful news this morning: Happy Barry Capybara and Toffle Towers book 1 are both on the REAL shortlist! The REAL (Reading and Enjoying Australian Literature) shortlist is used by three children’s choice book award programs around Australia: the KOALA awards in NSW, the YABBAs in Victoria and the KROCs in the Northern Territory. Congrats to everyone involved in the shortlisted books! And a huge thanks to the library staff around Australia who volunteer their help with awards like these. Get reading, kids – which are your favourites?
A couple of weeks ago, I took a fantastic trip over east to help launch my new picture book, Bigfoot vs Yeti!
I got to visit wonderful bookshops, meet readers, and catch up with friends. When I got home my heart was full and the rest of me was completely exhausted!
Launches
The Sydney launch was at Gleebooks in Glebe, organised by the amazing Rachel. Can we get a life model decoy of Rachel for every state? She’s one of those invaluable champions of children’s literature who keeps the industry ticking along. There was also a real life bigfoot who looked a little like celebrated Sydney-based children’s book creator Mick Elliott.
Sally Tinker – the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve – has built a growth ray. But when she tries resizing a slice of pizza, she accidentally enlarges a dung beetle to scary proportions. As the hungry beetle rolls itself a dung ball large enough to crush an entire town, Sally races to shrink down the monster before it’s too late!
And in the bonus storyOne Small Step for Mammoth, Sally and her team are off to Mars! Rav is taking scientific experiments; Charli is taking a vegetable garden. And baby Joe is taking … a woolly mammoth? Where on Earth did he get a woolly mammoth, and how is it going to fit in the overhead compartment?
If you’re in Sydney or Melbourne, please come along to a book launch and help me celebrate these two new releases.
March 29 – Sydney, NSW
I’ll be in Sydney at the end of March to celebrate the release of Bigfoot vs Yeti and the new colour edition of Dungzilla! Join me at Gleebooks in Glebe for a ridiculously fun double book launch.
DATE: Saturday March 29 TIME: 10:30am WHERE: Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, NSW REGISTRATION:rachel@gleebooks.com.au
April 4 – Melbourne, VIC
Melbourne friends, please come along to help me launch my new picture book Bigfoot vs Yeti, plus the colour edition of Dungzilla!
DATE: Friday April 4th TIME: 6-7pm AEDT WHERE: Readings Kids, 315 Lygon St, Carlton VIC RSVP:essential, via trybooking
Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday to celebrate the launch of my new picture book!
Bigfoot Vs Yeti: A Love Story had a fun-filled send-off featuring a cryptid Olympics, craft activities, Karen Irwin and a real life Bigfoot! Several snowballs were slung and many morsels were munched.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped out: Fremantle Press for organising, The Literature Centre for hosting, New Edition for book sales, Karen Blair for ably launching, Deb Fitzpatrick and Sam Hughes refereeing, and Renae Hayward for the hardest job of all: kid (+ James) wrangling 😘
Best on ground goes to Dave Foley for donning a gorilla suit on a very humid day 👏👏👏
Check out some video from the WA launch in the insta post below.
James Foley 