Skeletons Galore!

In Guadalajara, we temporarily left the book fair FIL and went to the office of newspaper Mural. In their photo studio 20 excited children ages 6-8 were waiting. First Kitty Crowther drew images from Scritch Scratch dip, clapote! (or Scric scrac bibib blub! as the Spanish edition is called, published by Corimbo), at the same time as the translator read the story aloud for the children.

In the book, the little frog is afraid of the dark and imagines a skeleton … After talking with the children about skeletons Kitty Crowther asked the children to draw  and decorate their own skeletons or skulls!

Impressions from FIL

Day two of FIL meant more interviews for Kitty Crowther. We also had a chance to meet with Eliana Pasaran from Fondo de Cultura Economica who showed the latest picture books from Mexico, Chile and Argentina. Several had participated in the picture book competition A la Orilla del Viento, such as Quénino más Lento! by Lucía Serreno and Irupé y Yaguareté by Mariana Ruiz Johnson.

The interviews continued …

… as well as impromptu signings:

Kitty Crowther in Guadalajara

At the moment, Kitty Crowther is in Guadalajara, invited by FIL, the largest spanish speaking book fair in the world, with over 600 000 visitors! A large part of Kitty Crowther’s first day at FIL was spent meeting the media. The interest in learning more about this year’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner is high! Here’s one interview already published on newspaper El Informador’s webpage.

Two Poka & Mine books, En el cine and El despertar have recently been translated into Spanish (published by Cuatro Azules) and since earlier Mi amigo Juan as well as Alors? and Scritch, Scratch dip clapote! (published by Corimbo) are available for the Spanish speaking children.

Kitty Crowther also had the honor of being the opening speaker of FILUSTRA, the book fair’s new forum for illustration. In front of an audience with many illustrators she spoke about being true to yourself as an illustrator, her inspiration and some of the themes she keeps returning to in her books.

Kitty Crowther opens FILUSTRA

This year, The International Book Fair in Guadalajara (FIL) introduces a new forum for illustration: FILUSTRA. With an ambitious two day program, FILUSTRA presents several interesting illustrators. Among them, Gabriel Pacheco (Mexico) and Arnal Ballester (Spain), both of whom are nominated to the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

Illustration of The town musicians of Bremen by Gabriel Pacheco:

Illustration by Arnal Ballester from the book Chamario, Ediciones Ekaré (2004):

Opening speaker is no other than this year’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award recipient: Kitty Crowther. Below is one of her illustrations from the book Scritch Scratch dip clapote! (Pastel).

FILUSTRA opens on the 28th of November in Guadalajara, Mexico.