Tag: Fremantle Press

April school holiday events

I’ve got three events coming up this April school holidays.

Details below!

Apr 6 – Right Way Down book celebration

Come and help celebrate the release of Right Way Down, a brand new ⁠children’s poetry collection from WA authors.

WHEN: Saturday April 6th, 10:30am
WHERE: Rankin Gardens, car Hamersley Rd and Rokeyby Rd, Subiaco, WA
BOOKINGS: FREE but required, via eventbrite.

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Sally Tinker is back … in full colour!

Sally Tinker, the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve, is back!

She first appeared in my debut graphic novel – Brobot – released in 2016. The book was printed in black and white and just 112 pages long. Three sequels followed: Dungzilla, Gastronauts and Chickensaurus – each longer and more ambitious than the last – plus some full-colour short stories in The School Magazine. And that was it … or so I thought.

Then the wonderful team at Fremantle Press said, “Hey James … how about we rerelease the Sally Tinker comics in full colour?”

My instant and highly professional reply was, “heck yes!”

Then I looked at my diary and saw how busy I was already. I wouldn’t have time to colour them in. “Oh bottom,” I exclaimed in measured tones.

So Fremantle said, “what if we get some artists to help?”

And I remarked, “that’s a flippin’ excellent idea!”

So Freo asked an up-and-coming artist called Paulina Gamez to do the colouring, and the ever brilliant Rebecca Mills to redesign the covers. I reformatted the School Magazine stories to fit inside the new editions. And before we knew it, we had four revamped and beefed up graphic novels to release!

First up is Brobot on April 3rd, followed by Gastronauts on June 1st. Both feature new covers and extra stories. (No official release dates on the colour editions of Dungzilla or Chickensaurus, but rest assured they’re in the works). If you enjoyed Secret Agent Mole then you should love these comics too!

Pre-order your copies at the links below.

Brobot: now in colour!

Published by Fremantle Press, 3rd April 2024.
ISBN: 9781760993115 (paperback)

Buy online:

🌏 *signed copIES* – PAPER BIRD
🇦🇺 🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺 🇳🇿 BOOKTOPIA
🌏 FREMANTLE PRESS
🇦🇺 QBD
🌏 DYMOCKS

Gastronauts: now in colour!

Published by Fremantle Press, 1st June 2024.
ISBN: 9781760993122 (paperback)

Buy online:

🌏 *signed copies* – paper bird
🇦🇺 🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺 🇳🇿 BOOKTOPIA
🌏 FREMANTLE PRESS
🇦🇺 QBD
🌏 DYMOCKS

Hear me read Stellarphant on Nova with Nathan, Nat and Shaun

Yesterday I got to hang out with Nova Perth’s breakfast team and talk about my favourite part of the year, Children’s Book Week! I also got to chat a bit about the making of Secret Agent Mole, and read Stellarphant aloud on air (with running commentary from the team – you won’t find that in an audiobook).

Thanks heaps for having me in the studio, Nathan, Nat and Shaun! And huge thanks to Chasze the tradie for helping me out when I’d left my phone at home. Champion.

Click the link below to listen to the chat.


INTERVIEW
Book Week 2023 (mp3 file)
Nova 93.7 Perth Breakfast show
with Nathan, Nat and Shaun

Stellarphant on the 2022 White Ravens List

This is completely unexpected and wonderful news!

The White Ravens List is a prestigious international children’s book honour given to a select number of books each year.

From the official website:

Throughout each year, the language specialists at the International Youth Library select recently published books that they consider especially noteworthy. This >>premium label<< is given to books of international interest that deserve a wider reception on account of their universal theme and/or their exceptional and often innovative artistic and literary style and design.

This year, the >>White Ravens<< contain a selection of 200 notable children’s and young adult books from 53 countries published in 37 languages.

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My new picture book took 7 years to make

My new picture book Stellarphant is out in November this year. I’ve been working on it since 2014, so it’s been 7 years in the making.

That might not seem like much compared to Jurassic Park‘s ’65 million years in the making’. But it’s still a lot … but I digress.

Stellarphant 3D 500px square

I drew the first sketch for what would become Stellarphant on a whim in June 2014. I was sitting with my illustrator buddies in a cottage on Rottnest Island for our annual SCBWI WA Retreat, when I started sketching an elephant and a penguin in spacesuits. No reason why – it just came out on the page. I added some colour and there was the beginnings of a story. The image stayed with me, and I started trying to write something to go with it.

Continue reading “My new picture book took 7 years to make”