Kolkata gallery Day 3

Eyes are an important symbol in Jasmine Skies... Through which

lenses do we view the world?

'May the Kali force be with you' - Anjali

Manu's Ambassador

Bathing in the waters of the river Hooghly

Queen Victoria's ample skirts 'Straddling continents' as Grandad Bimal says...

Is this dog 'Bacha?'   Let sleeping dogs lie!

Copywright Shelley King. Visit back for more photos taken by me in the coming days...

leading to a very important house in Jasmine Skies...

Cover Story - Photo Gallery Day 2

Kolkata Gallery 

My Aunt Marilyn in New Market

From childhood monkeys are my character Anjali's favourite animal. In Jasmine Skies my seven year old's monkey illustrations were accepted for publication!

Sun set over the Victoria Memorial

All of the photos in the this gallery were taken by Shelley King and have something to do with the story of Jasmine Skies...

The Cover Story

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Covertype /pattern by Kate Forrester and Cover Illustration by Paul Young.

A lot of people have commented on how lucky I am to have such lovely covers for my first two books. When I visit schools one of the questions I ask young people is 'Do you judge a book by its cover?' and the overwhelming answer is 'yes, it can make or break if we read a book in the first place'.

My character Mira is a 'doodler and a daydreamer' hence the lovely borders of the cover, but there is also a lot of  beautiful carving in Jasmine Skies, and these borders designed by Kate Forrester resemble some of these wonderful carved wood patterns.

I am amazed at the extraordinary creativity that goes into creating a cover. As a starting point my editor Sam Swinnerton asked me to send over some photos  that I felt would be interesting to use in the design.

If you look closely you may see how these influences ended up on the cover of Jasmine Skies. Other photos have siimply been an inspiration to my story.

Colour

New Market, Kolkata - a significant place on Mira's journey

Transport

These lovely photos were taken by Shelley King In Kolkata. Shelley's late father Kelly King was an extraordinary photographer. I think she's inherited his eye.

I'll post up a  few photos a day... they may even give you some teaser clues into the story!

Announcement - New Arrival!

Proud mum of Jasmine Skies, is recovering well, if slightly overwhelmed!

On Friday 2nd March at 3.33pm I welcomed my new arrival - Jasmine! It's a girl. She weighs 337 pages and  I've been told she looks beautiful (if just slightly on the orange side!) Family and friends were on hand to welcome her. I thought you would like to share in our news!

And then as if her arrival wasn't enough Jasmine was presented by the most wonderful review by Lucy Coats
In her blog Scribble City Central as part of her # FantabFri mythical creature series in which I write about Airavata; the celestial elephant God of the clouds.  http://bit.ly/yXDpWq.

'Sita's first novel, Artichoke Hearts, won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize last year, and is currently on the Carnegie 2012 longlist. When I read it, I was struck not only by its tender but unflinching depiction of the relationship between a dying grandmother and her grandaughter, but also by the vivid and unique voice of its narrator, Mira Levenson (then 12 years old). I was therefore delighted to meet Mira again in Sita's new book, Jasmine Skies, which I've been lucky enough to get my hands on early (it's out at the end of this month). 

 Mira - now two years older - travels to Kolkata to meet her grandfather's family for the first time. But there's a mystery.  Why haven't her mother and her mother's cousin spoken for so many years? What happened to estrange them all that time ago?  Why won't anyone talk to her about it?  Stolen letters throw up questions whose answers seem to lie in the tumbledown family house on Doctor's Lane - where she's not allowed to go.... 

‘Sometimes second books can be disappointing.  This one most certainly isn't.  In fact, I think it's even better than the first.  Sita's skill lies in making her reader really feel that intimate tug and pull of family relationships as well as the confusing ups and downs of teenage love, and in this book she also shows us facets of India not often seen in children's books.  I don't want to put up any plot spoilers, but I loved small touches like the practical solution the Kolkata mums find to the smelly loos at the dancing gala, which give this book the stamp of true insider realism. Mira is as tenacious and endearing as ever, and the tantalising ending promises what would be (for me) a welcome third volume in the series.  
Lucy Coates – Scribble City Central . March 2^nd 2012.

 

Rea and Ciara from Alexandra Park School were the first fourteen year old girls through my door. As Mira is fourteen in Jasmine Skies I thought it good Karma for them to have the first free signed copies of Jasmine Skies.

My elder daughters Maya and Esha-Lily holding our new book-baby Jasmine Skies in their arms!

In this book Esha- Lily (aged 7) makes her illlustrator debut with the most adorable monkey drawing. On March 1st she was lucky enough to have the wonderful Jane Ray visit her school for world book day. She wanted to tell her about her soon to be published illustration but was too shy.

Apologies...
I have not added to by blog recently on account of being a bit preoccupied with writing my book! However, I promise to add regular entries in the build up to the publication of Jasmine Skies on March 29th.


'Mad as a March Hare'  blogs I'm planning are:


The Book Trailer ... coming soon .


The debut launch of my book trailer will be on Macmillan's MyKindaBook website on March 16th. featuring Maya my daughter, Kathak dancer Neha Patel, Ronak Rajj, the eyes of many of my friends and footage of Kolkata. Camera man Shaun Cobley (Camera Man on 'War Horse' and ' The Iron Lady') With sound and original music by Julian Portinari. Edited by Epoch Films. It's a visual treat...

Give Away.... There is fleeting footage of an extraordinarily famous actress in the trailer. If you can:
name her and a film she's been in, I'll put your names in a 'correct answer Easter bonnet!' and the three first names I pull out will receive a free signed copy of Jasmine Skies. Deadline April 30th.

The Cover
How photos of Kolkata (and my shawl - above!) contributed to the cover design.  Illustrations by Kate Forrester and Paul Young

Musing on Fate
How March the thirteen is a significant day (My Birthday) and Miras and why my real aunt Mira seems to have been part of this story.

DJ Research
How Nihal Arthanayake DJ for Radio 1 and BBC Asian Network helped me with the research for my Kathak-dancing, dubstep-mixing character Priya.

Strange but true..How an extraordinary real life coincidence is woven into the fabric of Jasmine Skies.

Letters in Jasmine Skies
Why I still write letters to my Kolkata cousin, even though we also facebook, email etc.


And don't forget to check out and leave comments on:

Where Jasmine Skies is to be Book of the Month in the lead up to publication on March 29th...

News - November 2011

ARTICHOKE HEARTS ON CARNEGIE LONG-LIST
I was so delighted to get a call from my editor Sam Swinnerton last week asking me to look up who was on the Carnegie Long-list. I could not believe my eyes when I saw Artichoke Hearts. This has been a year of asking people to pinch me to make sure I'm not just imagining things (a hazard of being a writer). What an honour to be placed among such brilliant writers. I spent half a day looking at who was on the list dating way back to the 1930's. Check it out. I now have loads more books to add to my Christmas list for myself, my children and all my nephews and nieces.
http://bit.ly/tbLqr8


BOOKED UP BOOKS HIT SCHOOLS
It's so lovely to come to my email this morning and find out that the free books have arrived with year Seven in schools up and down the country thanks to the Book Trust's excellent scheme. Thank you to all of you who chose Artichoke Hearts. I am so delighted to hear that you are enjoying it and it's particularly wonderful that some of you have been told off by your teachers for not wanting to put it down and get on with your lessons!

You can post your comments and reviews on this site, MyKindaBook http://bit.ly/9jk28u  and also the Book Trust's site. http://bit.ly/cEgOt6


JASMINE SKIES
I'm starting to get 'Butterflies in my belly' (like Mira!) about Jasmine Skies my next book to be published by Macmillan in April 2012.

The cover is a real treat... a beautiful sunset palate and Mira's been at it again, with her doodle pen! There are pimped up converse, Jasmine flowers, a kingfisher, saris, ear phones, old letters and Mira and a mysterious boy running across a crazy Kolkata street.




THE TRAILER
I met actress, singer and director Renu Arora to talk about making a book trailer for Jasmine Skies...Since I've started writing it there's only ever been one soundtrack for this book..... 'Summer Breeze' sung by The Isley Brothers has been 'blowing through the Jasmine in my mind!'  But if Mira's DJ cousin Priya has anything to do with it...there'll be a drop into dubstep somewhere along the line!

http://bit.ly/3q6V6F

Hazelwood School Story Circle

In the Story Circle
A visit to Hazelwood School 11 October 2012

"Thank you very much for an amazing workshop yesterday-so inspirational- not only for the children! This morning parents came up to me and thanked me for inviting you as their kids were full of writer's energy when they came home from school yesterday. Touch of your magic! I also encouraged children and year 6 teachers to write reviews and post them on the Mykindabook website."

Justyna Powrie - Head Of Literacy Hazelwood School

It's always a pleasure visiting young readers and writers to talk about the process of writing. On Tuesday I had a very special morning with the year six children of Hazelwood School, Palmers Green. The visit  was arranged by my neighbour Stephanie's daughter and grandaughter. They were visiting one Sunday just after Artichoke Hearts had been published, and Stephanie asked me if I would drop in to talk about my book. Stephanie is the kind of special grandmother (like Josie in Artichoke Hearts) who arranges these sort of interractions for her grandchildren. Stephanie's granddaughter Megan then read Artichoke Hearts and championed the book at Hazelwood school.

Megan has now moved on to Secondary School where I'm told that other children are choosing Artichoke Hearts as their "Booked Up" scheme book for year seven.

At Hazelwood I was greeted by The Head of Literacy Justyna Powrie who has a passion for encouraging children's creative writing. It seems that grandparents are very important inspirational characters in the lives of many young people. As part of the writing workshop children wrote character portraits of people who inspired them, and many of them chose their grandparents... 'because they have the time to listen to me'  'because they spoil us'... 'because my Granddad has the best stories ever!'

We talked about symbols like the Artichoke Heart charm and  the children picked their own symbols to capture the spirit of their inspirational characters. These included a paintrbrush, a butterfly, a woven basket (this from Justyna belonging to her grandmother in Poland) and a bow and arrow from Iran that's been owned by four generations of the same family and is now residing in a house in Palmer's Green. We talked about what histories the objects must have lived through and, if they could speak, what stories they would tell.

I also took in my story box, in which I place the ingredients of my stories, while they're in the mix. I asked some of the students to guess what the next story might be about. Among other things they picked out an intricate wooden carving of a jungle I bought in Kolkata two years ago and a pair of ornate slippers with bells on them. Both of these objects now firmly belong to the characters in my next book Jasmine Skies to be published by Macmillan in April 2012. 

As I walked out of the school I felt priveleged to have met this young group of creative writers and their teachers. I feel that being in contact with readers of the books that I'm writing is an essential part of my work; one aspect seems to feed the other in a circular journey.

Towards the exit of the school I noticed that a corner of the playground covered by an all weather canopy had been developed into a story circle with a throne like 'Story Chair' and benches in spirals laid out around it. It got me thinking what a gift it is when teachers are so passionate about their subject (like Pat Print in Artichoke Hearts and Justyna Powrie at Hazelwood school) that they inspire children to join the story circle.