My studio is in a Leederville complex called The Ward, and on Nov 25th we’re having an open day!
Come see where I work and what I’m working on next. I’ll have prints from ‘The Last Viking’ for sale too.
Plus you’ll get to meet all the other amazing artists here: filmmakers, photographers, illustrators, painters, textile workers… it will be awesome.
Come down and say hi! We’ll be open from 2-5pm.
More info at Artsource’s website.
The Last Viking has won the Hoffman Award in the 2012 West Australian Young Readers’ Awards.
The Hoffman is awarded to the highest-ranked book by a West Australian creator (in this case, 2 creators!).
It sure is an honour to have kids pick and then vote for their favourite book. Thanks to all the WA young readers who voted, we couldn’t be happier.
One of the best parts of school visits is seeing the great ideas that schoolkids come up with. Here’s a bunch of viking god and goddesses, designed by students during children’s book week this year. 
God of Wind, by Tom 
Isabella the Goddess of Patterns, by Maddy 
Bothgolong, God of Fire, by Rohan 
A portrait of Thor that also folds up into a paper plane, by Christian 
This guy looks familiar… The God of Literature, by Catherine 
And finally, Optimus Prime, by Brayden. It’s not a viking god but it looks really cool.
Norm and I were stunned to see the following Viking-inspired artwork from year 2s at Guildford Grammar in Western Australia.
There’s Viking helmets, self-portraits with rune-encoded titles, and longships all over the place! It’s no wonder they won an in-school Children’s Book Week competition for best classroom decorations.
Well done year 2s. This really made us smile 🙂
It’s August, which means Children’s Book Week is fast approaching. If you’re a teacher, maybe you’d like to use The Last Viking for one of your classroom displays. Here’s some examples that Norm and I have seen since the book came out.
In the example above, teacher Trevor Dent guided his students from Gidgegannup Primary in making a Viking ship display for the heARTlines Children’s Literature Festival 2011. The centrepiece is a ship painted on to card with a cloth sail. Students have illustrated characters from the book and their own original Viking warriors.
The picture below is a display from Year 1/2 H at Penrith, NSW. They coloured viking ships, swords and shields, and translated their names into runes along the bottom of the display.
Below are two photos from a year 3 classroom at Rosalie Primary School. I visited them for their biennial writers’ festival and contributed some drawings. The foam lettering and cardboard viking ship were used in their assembly item (seen playing on the smartboard), in which they acted out the entire book! They performed an inspired closing number- ‘One-Eyed, One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater’. Odin and Thor would be proud of their stellar efforts.
And finally, here are some illustrations by the same talented Rosalie Primary School year 3s. These are pasted to the front and inside of a thank you card the students presented to me. Norm got one too. We were gobsmacked at the creativity in this classroom (which probably has a lot to do with their fantastic teacher, Mrs Goods).
One other activity I like to do with students is Viking character design. I talk a little about the Viking gods and what each god or goddess was in charge of. Then I ask the students to imagine that if they were a Viking god or goddess, what would they be in charge of? Then I ask them to draw that character.
There’s more Viking-themed classroom resources on our Resources page. There’s blackline masters for colouring in, a ‘How To Read Runes’ worksheet, and links to activities on the web.
The Teachers page gives you some ideas about how to link The Last Viking in with curriculum, and provides a handy overview of this blog and sorts some useful posts into ready-made lists for you.
Norm and I love seeing the work that students make in response to The Last Viking. If you have any pictures of your own Viking displays or artwork and would like to share them with us via your blog, we’d love to see them- send us a link!
The Last Viking has won the 2012 Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ (SCBWI) Crystal Kite Award.
This is a members’ choice award. Writers and illustrators from each region voting on their favourite title for the past year.
Congratulations to all the other Crystal Kite winners around the world! And many many thanks to all the Australian and New Zealander SCWBIans for choosing our book; it’s very humbling to have your support.
Brilliant brilliant news…
The Last Viking has been listed in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards 2012!
- Notable Book, Picture Book of the Year category, CBCA Awards 2012
- Shortlist, Early Childhood category, CBCA Awards 2012
The Last Viking has also been shortlisted in the 2011 Aurealis Awards for Australian fantasy, science fiction and horror creators.
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.
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).
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:
Then on Sunday Norm and I will run two separate sessions at the same time.
You can find the full program here.
James Foley 