events – Page 4 – James Foley

Sydney Writers (and Secret Agents) Festival

I recently spent a packed couple of days at the Sydney Writers Festival Family Day! Here’s a couple of highlights.

A spy infiltrates the Festival…

As part of a panel on Junior Fiction, Adrian Beck and I had a spy-off. The objective? Blend in and make your way to the stage without being seen, using any means necessary.

This here hombre was served humble pie as his last meal, with bullets for dessert, as I went up against Serena Geddes, Heath McKenzie and Charmaine Ledden-Lewis in an Illustrator Battle. Congrats to Charmaine (AKA Lead-Pencil Lewis) for being the quickest draw in the inner-west. Special thanks to our excellent MC (and chief cat wrangler) Adrian Beck.

James’ Big Bookshop Tour – the sequel

I managed to spend some free time on my recent Sydney trip visiting bookshops with my friend (& carpool bud), author Cristy Burne. We managed to get to 12 bookshops in one day, and I visited 21 in total.

School holiday cartooning workshop (online)

Join me for an online cartooning workshop this school holidays!⁠
⁠
Learn how to draw characters from my new graphic novel series, SECRET AGENT MOLE. (NB: if you did the workshop last holidays, you’ll be learning how to draw all-new characters!).
⁠
PLUS go in the draw to WIN signed sketches from the session! ⁠

Tickets are only $5 per family, and half of all proceeds go to Room to Read – a wonderful international charity that builds libraries and creates books for children in the developing world.
⁠
This is an online workshop and will be held via Zoom. You’ll get the zoom link via email once you register. ⁠
⁠
Suitable for kids aged 7-10. ⁠
⁠
DATE: ⁠Sat July 15th⁠
⁠
TIME: ⁠
9am – 10am (WA) ⁠
10:30am – 11:30am (NT, SA) ⁠
11am – 12pm (AEST)⁠
⁠
WHERE: ⁠online (zoom)⁠
⁠
TICKETS: ⁠$5 per family. ⁠Register here.

Upcoming events, June-Sept

I’ve got some fantastic events coming up:

the Perth Supanova Comic Con;
the Littlescribe Mini-Writing Festival;
storytime workshops at The Lane Bookshop;
an online cartooning workshop; and
three launches for Secret Agent Mole, book 2!

Details below.

June 24-25: Supanova Comic Con, Perth

In a surreal and welcome turn of events, I’ll be a guest author at this year’s Supanova Perth!

FREE online cartooning workshop!

Join me for a FREE online cartooning workshop this school holidays!⁠
⁠
Learn how to draw characters from my new graphic novel series, SECRET AGENT MOLE … ⁠
⁠
PLUS go in the draw to WIN one of 5 signed copies of book 1: Goldfish-Finger! ⁠
⁠
This is an online workshop and will be held via Zoom. You’ll get the zoom link via email once you register. ⁠
⁠
Suitable for kids aged 7-10. ⁠
⁠
DATE: ⁠Fri April 21st⁠
⁠
TIME: ⁠
9am – 10am (WA) ⁠
10:30am – 11:30am (NT, SA) ⁠
11am – 12pm (NSW, VIC, QLD)⁠
⁠
WHERE: ⁠online (zoom)⁠
⁠
BOOKINGS: ⁠Essential! ⁠Register here.

See you at the Sydney Writers Festival

Sydney, I’m coming back for the Writers Festival at the end of May!⁠

I’ve got four sessions, all FREE: ⁠

FRIDAY 26th⁠ MAY

10:30am: Secret Agent Mole, Hornsby Library ⁠
(bookings essential)⁠

SUNDAY 28th MAY (Family Day)⁠

11am: Junior Fiction Spotlight
(with Adrian Beck and Jasmin McGaughey)⁠
⁠
12:30pm: Storytime Clubhouse⁠
⁠
3pm: Illustrator Battle
(with Heath McKenzie, Serena Geddes, Charmaine Ledden-Lewis and Adrian Beck)

Head to the Sydney Writers Festival website for more details.

I can’t wait!! See you there.

James’ Big Bookshop Tour

I just got back from an interstate bookshop tour to promote my new graphic novel series, Secret Agent Mole.

I visited 66 bookshops in 3 states in 8 days.

It was ridiculous and busy and a total blast!

After sleeping for three days straight (I wish) I put together this video.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James Foley author/illustrator (@jamesfoleybooks)

Thanks to all the bookshops that welcomed me and let me sign their copies of Secret Agent Mole. You are all champions! Support local and grab a signed copy from these awesome stores:

Perth, WA

Secret Agent Mole, book 1 is declassified as of today!

My new graphic novel series Secret Agent Mole is finally out in the world as of today! Book 1: Goldfish-Finger is available wherever you get your books, (including the latest Scholastic Australia book club catalogue).

We had the WA launch last weekend at the Perth Festival family day, in the beautiful grounds of the Fremantle Arts Centre. Somehow our venue reached capacity, and we sold a massive stack of signed books! Thanks to everyone who came along. Here’s some pics from the morning.

My wife launched her new book at the festival, too; it’s called Say Hooray and it’s illustrated by Rebecca Mills. Renae and Rebecca and I were gifted with the most incredible hand-painted gingerbread biscuits made by local bookseller Kristy Diffey. Check these out:

They were almost too good to eat … almost. Thanks so much, Kristy!

A huge thanks to the team at Scholastic for making this book with me – thanks Andrew, Sharon, my editor Laura Sieveking and our brilliant designer Hannah Janzen. It’s turned out so great. Now, on to book 2!

Book launches in Freo & Sydney

The WA launch of Secret Agent Mole isn this Sunday Feb 26 in Freo! Plus I’ve added a Sydney launch on March 9. Details below.

Feb 26 – Secret Agent Mole, Freo book launch (FREE)

Hot on the heels of his multi-award-winning picture book Stellarphant, WA local James Foley is back with a brand-new hilarious graphic novel action series.

Join us at the Perth Festival Family Day in Freo for the laugh-a-minute launch of Secret Agent Mole, book 1: Goldfish-Finger.

This is a FREE event!

DATE: Sunday Feb 26th, 2023
TIME: 9:30am
VENUE: Fremantle Arts Centre, Upper Lawn, 1 Finnerty St, Fremantle/Walyalup, WA
(NB this is an accessible venue)
AGES: all ages
TICKETS: FREE. You can rock up on the day or pre-register here.

The Perth Festival ‘Family Day in Freo‘ will also feature Craig Silvey, Cheryl Kickett-Tucker, Jayden Boundry, Matt Agnew, Renae Hayward, Rebecca Mills, Kelly Canby, Jared Thomas, Campbell Whyte, Sarah Winifred Searle, Cristy Burne and HM Waugh.

March 9 – Secret Agent Mole, Sydney book launch (FREE)

Join me at Gleebooks in Glebe, Sydney on Thursday, 9 March, at 4:30 pm for their first children’s event of the year in their temporary new home. They’re having a big house warming party to welcome you all to their cool new space! We are also partying to celebrate Australian Reading Hour and the release of two new books: Secret Agent Mole by me, and Pearly and Pig and the lost city of Mu Savan by Sue Whiting.

This a free event with snacks, mischief, activities, drawing, prizes and a whole lot of fun with James and Sue. Please RSVP so we can cater accordingly!

DATE: Thursday March 9th, 2023
TIME: 4:30pm
VENUE: Gleebooks, 181a Glebe Point Road, Glebe, NSW
AGES: all ages
TICKETS: FREE. Please RSVP here.

Come to my book launch in Freo!

My new graphic novel series Secret Agent Mole is released on March 1!

Help me celebrate at a book launch in my hometown of Fremantle. Details below.

(P.S. Sydneysiders and Melburnians, stay tuned for details of events in your necks of the woods).

Hot on the heels of his multi-award-winning picture book Stellarphant, WA local James Foley is back with a brand-new hilarious graphic novel action series.

Join us at the Perth Festival Family Day in Freo for the laugh-a-minute launch of Secret Agent Mole, book 1: Goldfish-Finger.

This is a FREE event!