Author: James Foley

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 .

Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards, 2012

Brilliant brilliant news…

My debut book The Last Viking, written by Norman Jorgensen, has been shortlisted in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards 2012!

We scored two mentions:

Notable Book, Picture Book of the Year category
Shortlisted Book, Early Childhood category

I’m very surprised and very chuffed. It’s one of those cliches… ever since I was a kid, I dreamed that one day one of my books would have the shiny CBCA sticker on the cover- and now it’s happened, hooray! It’s a great honour and a great affirmation. Congrats Norm! And thanks to the CBCA 🙂

Last Viking shortlisted for 4 awards

Norman Jorgensen and I received great news this year regarding our children’s book, The Last Viking. It has been shortlisted for 4 awards!

the 2012 Western Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards
the 2012 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature
the 2012 Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Crystal Kite Awards
the 2011 Aurealis Awards for Australian fantasy, science fiction and horror creators

It’s a great buzz to be nominated with Norman, and also to be nominated alongside illustrators that I look up to.

Award nominations

Hi everyone,

Norm and I have some excellent news to share for 2012. The Last Viking has been shortlisted for three awards!

2012 Western Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards

2012 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature

2012 Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Crystal Kite Awards

It’s a great honour to have The Last Viking listed alongside books by Australian and international greats, like Shaun Tan, Bruce Whatley, Alison Lester and Chris van Allsburg.

New illustrations finished

I’ve just finished the illustrations for a new children’s book that I wrote a while back. It’s called ‘In The Lion’ and will be published by Walker Books in the second half of 2012. It’s a black comedy for kids and that’s all I’ll say for now… I’ll put some more info on the homepage throughout 2012- in the meantime, here’s a little sneak peek.

Top marks for bookmarks

As part of this years Premier’s Summer Reading Challenge (supporting the Multiple Sclerosis Society), students from across the state were invited to design a bookmark. The judges included Bosko the Reading Challenge mascot and myself. As it was Movember, I was sporting a 3 week-old moustache at the time of judging.

We had many many entries to get through…

…but we eventually decided on two winners- Kaden Prowse from Swanbourne Primary School and Taylor Anderson from Newman Primary School. Congrats you two!

Professional Development session for librarians and teachers

As part of the Term 4 exhibition at the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre, I’ll be presenting a PD session for teachers and librarians on Fri Nov 18. Details below.

GREAT AUSTRALIAN PICTURE BOOKS TO USE IN THE YEAR 4-7 CLASSROOM
Presented by FCLC Director, Lesley Reece
and Illustrator James Foley

See picture books come alive before your eyes as you work with the original illustrations and discover the stories behind the books. Explore exciting and invigorating ways to use quality Australian books. You’ll find the day inspirational and gain unique insights from the presenters.

Friday 18 November 2011
9.00am – 2.30pm
Suitable: Year 4 – 7 Teachers, Teacher-Librarians and Pre-Service Education Students

Session 1
Presenter: Lesley Reece
Flood by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
Water Witcher by Jan Ormerod

Session 2
Guest Presenter: James Foley, Illustrator
James will demonstrate and then guide you through creating a comic strip story. These strategies are guaranteed to enhance your students’ narrative and visual skills. Comprehensive handouts included.

Session 3
Presenter: Lesley Reece
The Great Bear by Libby Gleeson and Armin Greder
plus a selection of FCLC staff’s favourite for this age group.

Cost: $140 (inc GST)
Morning tea and light lunch included
Booking is essential.
To register, please phone 9430 6869

Last Viking outpost in Fremantle

The Last Viking has set up camp at the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre for Term 4 2011 and Term 1 2012.

If you’re a teacher, bring your class to see copies of preparatory sketches, character designs, clay models, final pencil work and colour prints. Call the Centre on 9430 6869 to see if you can book a time.

If you’re a member of the public and would like to see the artwork, then the Term 1 2012 Open Day is your best bet. A date has not yet been confirmed, but when we know, we’ll post it on the blog.

The Lit Centre ladies have done an amazing job putting the exhibition together- Norm and I were ecstatic to see it, me especially. It was surreal to see my work on the walls of the Centre, where previously I’ve been able to see the work of my picture book heroes.

The Lit Centre is selling copies of The Last Viking and many other amazing books in their well-stocked bookshop. They’re also selling limited edition signed prints of Last Viking artwork, and prints from other great Aussie artists (including my favourite, Shaun Tan).

James and Norm at FCLC open day term 4 2011 — James and Norm at FCLC Open Day, Term 4 2011

Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival

One of the best things about making a book is getting to travel for writers’ festivals- it’s a brilliant perk. You get to visit places you’ve never been before, chat with other authors and illustrators, and meet your readers.

Speaking of which, Norman and I will be visiting Geraldton later week for the Big Sky Festival!

The festival is organised by the hard-working staff at Geraldton Regional Library, and runs from Friday Sept 9 – Sunday Sept 11.

Norm and I are running a few sessions together over the weekend:

Friday, 9.30 – 10.30am, Geraldton Library (youth session, talking about The Last Viking)
Friday, 1.30 – 2.30pm, Our Lady of Mt Carmel in Mullewa (youth session , talking about The Last Viking)
Saturday, 10.15 – 11.15am, Geraldton Universities Centre (talking about the collaborative process behind picture books)

Then on Sunday Norm and I will run two separate sessions at the same time.

Norm‘s session is called “Appealing to a Young Audience“…
and I’m running a workshop called “Comic Books: making words and pictures work“.
They’re both from 11am – 12noon at Geraldton Universities Centre.

You can find the full program here.

HeARTlines in Mundairing

Although Children’s Book Week is over for another year, the fun ain’t over yet – because the HeARTlines Festival is just getting started.

This biennial festival celebrates children’s literature and book illustration, and is held at the Mundairing Arts Centre in the Perth hills. This year HeARTlines is dedicated to the memory of the festival’s founder, WA author Louise Schofield. Louise was an incredible woman and it’s an honour to be a part of her festival this year.

I’ll have original artwork from The Last Viking on display in the exhibition, and prints for sale too… the exhibition opens tonight (Friday 2nd September) and closes Sunday 9th October.
I’ll also be running a school holiday cartooning workshop during the festival – here’s the details:

Friday 7th October
10am-12noon
Ages 9-13
Cost: $15 ($10 for members of the Mundairing Arts Centre or Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre).
Call (08) 9295 3991 to book your place.

The goodbye scene

There’s a scene in Last Viking where Josh arrives at Nan and Pop’s house, says goodbye to his mum and dad, and watches them drive off. Sounds simple enough. It took Norm and I a few goes to get it right.

The text and pictures would have to achieve a number of things- introduce Nan and Pop, introduce the setting, and show Josh’s close relationship with his Mum and Dad. The text and pictures couldn’t show Josh’s parents leaving in a way that implied they were dumping him so they could go away for the weekend together… it had to be sensitive.

The first and second goes didn’t achieve these things :p