Winding down and looking forward to 2010!

I've had a busy year, illustrating and writing, and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished books early next year. First one to hit the stores will be a book I illustrated for Black Dog Books, written by Gabrielle Wang. It's called The Race For The Chinese Zodiac and we are looking at launching it in February 2010.

The next one to come out, also in February next year, is a lovely story by Krista Bell, called Peeking Ducks and published by Windy Hollow.

I'm also really excited to launch a series of four books that I have written for young readers about a fiesty young girl called Billie B Brown. These are published by Hardie Grant and will be out in April next year. I will write more about these in detail later on.

Lastly, I've finally got my new website up and running so have a look and let me know what you think.

A Thousand Words Festival

Martine Murray and I will be appearing at the Thousand Words Festival (see below) between 11.40 - 12.20 pm to chat about the making of Mannie and the Long Brave Day

Storytime sessions with Andrew Daddo, Anna Pignataro, Anna Walker,

Tony Wilson, Sally Rippin, Martine Murray & Dan Jerris

Talk and reading by multiple CBCA award winner Glenda Millard

YA fantasy panel with Michael Pryor, Jen Storer and Lili Wilkinson

PLUS book signings, generous giveaways, free Go-Go Class, competitions, craft activities,

and a special appearance by SANTA!!!

Cost: Author Sessions: $10 adult full day, $5 child full day, children under 2 FREE.

$5 young adult fantasy panel. Plenty of free activities too!

www.athousandwordsfestival.com.au

Saturday 21st November

10am – 5pm

The Abbotsford Convent

1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford

Family Fun Day

As Children’s Week celebrations draw to a close, a new initiative—Children365: celebrate them every day—will be launched at Melbourne Museum on Sunday 1 November 2009.

The concept for Children365 was developed after the tragic death of Darcey Freeman in early 2009. Following the loss of their precious little girl, Darcey’s mother and her family suggested an annual day to cherish all children. They asked the Alannah and Madeline Foundation to help make it a reality. The Alannah and Madeline Foundation initiative Children365 encourages all of us to cherish our children every single day of the year.

The Victorian State Government is proud to partner this initiative and by hosting a family fun day to launch the beginning of Children365. This day signifies the end of a week of celebrating children and the commitment to cherish and protect our children every day of the year. Melbourne Museum is supporting Children365 by generously offering FREE entry for all adult patrons on Sunday 1 November 2009. Concession and children 16 years and under are free every day.

ACTIVITIES AT THE FAMILY FUN DAY

A wide range of free activities will take place throughout the family fun day including – kite and puppet making workshops, chalk drawing, appearances from Premier’s Reading Challenge Ambassadors, sports and games, arts and crafts, entertainment and lots more!

The museum is open from 10am until 5pm. Most of the free activities will run from 10.30am until approximately 3.30pm (some will finish a little later). Andy will be speaking at 1.00pm. Some activities will be held outside the museum (in marquees such as the kite making), but most will take place inside. A full program of the day will be distributed to patrons attending the event and will also be available on our website from mid October.

Mannie and the Long LONG Brave Day

Mannie and the Long Brave Day is now out in the world. It was a long (and brave?) process, finding just the right style to suit Martine's text, so I thought I'd post some of the early sketches to give you an idea of how the book developed.

There is also a photo of the 'real Mannie' - Martine's little girl. I took heaps of photos of her and stuck them all around my studio while I worked to inspire me - but this is one of my favourites, sent by Martine when they were in Paris together.

I have included the illustration we ended up using for the cover (left), as well as another cover idea (above) the designer came up with using one of the illustrations from inside the book. It took a long time to find a style that everyone was happy with and I worked in many different mediums. You can see that at one stage Lilliput was going to be in pink gingham! In the end we decided on the pale watercolour wash because Martine and I wanted the book to have a classic, almost old-fashioned feeling.

Every book I work on I try out many different styles and techniques until I find the one that most suits the feel of the book. I will post some other examples of more books I am working on later on.

"Mannie" has had some nice reviews so far. Here is a lovely one from the Sunday Age:

13 September.

When you were a child did you have (or wish you had) a Useful Box chockers with incredible items that might come in handy some time? Mannie has a special box filled with secret things and it's the perfect accessory for a girl with a yen for adventure. The intrepid Mannie coaxes companions Lilliput and Strawberry Luca into an expedition. They set off into the great unknown, stopping regularly to check the box for anything that will put the excellent back into their exploration. During their journey, repetition and delicious onomatopoeia abound, reminiscent of "We're Going On A Bear Hunt". Indeed, read this to an under-five and you'll see their eyes light up as they detect the patterns in the story. Two talented author-illustrators have collaborated for this tale. You can feel their friendship frolicking from page to page.

This one is from Australian Bookseller & Publisher:

And this one was from Magpies:

Blog reviews of Chenxi

I know I said I'd finished with 'Chenxi' - well, I have! I just wanted to post two 'reviews' I received from people during my blog tour. Here they are:

"I can tell you as an Asian that Sally Rippin nailed 1980s China/Asia. There was a point while reading the novel when I wanted to cry because I was so happy that although Sally is a wai guo ren, she captured 1980s China/Asia so honestly (both the good and the bad) but without being patronizing.
I want to read this novel all over again. I read the North American edition and I think I will be receiving the Australian edition in the mail soon. Sally says the Australian edition is different, so I want to read it." - Tarie

"Dear Sally,
I loved going on tour with you through your site. I am one of the many groupies of your book Chenxi and the Foreigner, and I loved how you took us on a journey to the book's very inception, Shanghai, 1980s, complete with pictures from your dad! What I loved most about your book was its ability to capture the heady delirious excitement of first love, and its rather sexy and complex ASIAN male protagonist. Most love interests in young adult popular fiction (as opposed to young adult literature, which is what your book is) are focused on portraying white middle-class boys that look like Ashton Krutcher with blonde hair. You portray another culture with great sensitivity and kindness. Thank you for a brilliant book!" - Alice

blog tour - that's it from me!

Well, I have come to the last photo I wanted to post on my blog tour. Many readers have asked me what happened to the 'real' Chenxi. Well, he is alive and well and working as a full-time painter in Austria. This is one of his more recent works and the painting I describe in my novel. For more about the 'real' Chenxi as opposed to the invented Chenxi (who I write about in my novel) you can read Tarie's great interview with me tomorrow, which is the last post of my blog tour.

Thanks to Joanna, the Book Muncher, Cindy, Greenbean and Steph for hosting me this week. And

thanks to everyone who has followed - especially Rach.

Hopefully see some of you at: intothewardrobe tomorrow!

And for the blogger who asked to see all the covers so far, here they are. There are two more versions to come from Germany and Belgium. It's always exciting to see how different they can be. I'd be interested to know

your favourite!

Blog tour Day Three

Here are a few photos of Shenyang, a small rural village in central China just outside of Xian - the city known for its Terracotta Warriors (or as my son used to call them, the Terracotta Worriers - what are they worrying about, Mummy?)

As a student, I spent two weeks staying there with the 'real' Chenxi's family and much of what I write about Anna's experience there mirrors my own. Like Anna, I was the first foreigner that many of the locals had seen and even a simple walk down the street would cause all kinds of commotion and uproar, much more extreme than the attention I received in Shanghai. And, like Anna, during my stay in Shenyang I had to endure the humiliation of the public showers, where I was praised by all the other women lathering up under the jets of lukewarm water for my whiteness and fatness - sure signs of prosperity!

'Xiao Pang Pang' or 'Little Fat Fat' was the nickname I earned myself in China. While this may have been considered a compliment by the Chinese, many of whom had lived through years of famine in the not too distant past, it was not exactly the kind of nickname a nineteen year old Australian girl had been hoping for. I had been hoping for something more along the lines of 'Slender Willow' or 'Shining Treasure' but 'Small Fat Fat' it was.

If you ask nicely, I might post a couple of photos of 'Small Fat Fat' and 'The Real Chenxi' later in the week. Then again, you might choose to avoid the disappointment. Neither of us are nearly as glamourous as Anna or the made-up Chenxi. :-)

This last photo is the bus we caught from Xian to Shenyang along with a few dozen live chickens strapped to the roof.