Farewell 2012

I will always have fond memories of 2012. It was a funny year in some ways - a year in which I didn't work on a single book, but was busy in other, exciting and distracting ways. A good year.


Much work done for Naxos Records, illustrating apps (a first for me, notoriously wary of anything digital!); many school visits all over Britain and even nine schools in Spain; two books safely sent out into the world: Katie and the Starry Night and Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker.

It was a year when I became Sinbad, Vincent van Gogh and Godfather Drosselmeyer. A year filled with music - family illustrated concerts with four splendid orchestras, including The Orchestra of the Music Makers from Singapore and the Docklands Sinfonia. A year of festivals, from Hay to Cheltenham to Pop Up to Edinburgh to Bath. And a year of carefully made plans - some of which I hope will bear fruit in 2013

Thanks to everyone who has been part of the exciting projects undertaken. Is there a single highlight? Perhaps...

I think the most extraordinary moment was receiving a parcel from a 8 year old musical genius, Edward Tomanek - I visited his school in Cambridge and gave him a copy of my book Tales from Russia (his ancestral country). In return he composed a piece of music for me: The Gratitude Waltz, and sent the score and a recording of the piece played by himself... you can only imagine how touched I was!

So, yes... a good year! And tomorrow - I'll unveil plans for 2013!