The Latest News from Joanne
~ Recent Articles, Interviews and Reviews ~
Article in the Malaysia Star about the current trend for chocolateries- suggesting that Joanne's Chocolat might have contributed to their popularity.
Short piece about Joanne with details of the Essex Book Festival on the thisistotalessex website. Joanne is schedule to talk at the event in April.
Joanne has contributed to this recently published book, published as part of the campaign by Plan International. Click on the link to find out more about the book and the campaign.
Click Here for a feature on the book in The Guardian.
Click Here for a more details of the campaign on the Communication Initiative website.
Chocolat article in the Indian Financial Chronicle
It's nice to see that "Chocolat" is still inspiring people world-wide!
~ Joanne and Kirkwood Hospital ~
After helping to host a chocolate event at the Kirkwood Hospital in Huddersfield a few weeks ago, where she saw for herself how important the hospice is to the community, Joanne has recently become a patron of the charity.
On 20 January 2010 she officially opened Kirkwood's 15th charity shop at Peel Street in Marsden, Huddersfield. Joanne's schedule only allows her to support a handful of charities, but she was very enthusiastic about this one and would urge you to see for yourselves the work they do. (click here for their website).
~ January, 2010 ~
And a happy new 2010 to all of you, with especial thanks to all those who sent me messages of support, fanart, fanfic, letters, cards (and chocolate!) over the past snowy weeks, during which time I made it my mission to (a) seek out and consume every mince pie in the known universe and (b) to get to grips with the last book of Runelight, which I am now at last (thanks to my new, pie-fuelled energy) reasonably close to finishing.
This year sees the launch of two new books. Blueeyedboy (April 1st), at the Oxford Literary Festival and Because I am a Girl (January 18th), published in aid of Plan UK, to which I contributed a story called Road Song, written while I was in Togo with the group. Learn more about Plan here: www.plan-uk.org or read about the trip on my Blog. Better still, buy the book (Pre-order from Amazon or Waterstones) the proceeds of which go to Plan’s many projects, which have inspired such diverse writers as Irvine Welsh, Kathy Lette and Yours Truly to write about their experiences in some of the most underprivileged countries of the world.
It’s going to be a busy year. I can already tell this – and although I’m flattered that so many people are eager to know what I’m planning to work on next, I think I’ll keep it to myself -at least until after the new book comes out. Writing a novel sometimes feels like weaning a vampire baby, and it’s going to take a lot of red wine (my great-grandmother’s cure for thin blood) to bring me back to life again. And, of course, I still have Runelight; the sunny-day story to which I can turn when my rainy-day stories get too bleak.
~ October, 2009 ~
So it’s been a busy couple of months again. Blueeyedboy went to print last week, although it will be next spring before it comes out in the shops. I’ll be launching it first at the Oxford Literary Festival (Click Here for details ), then touring for a month or so – which is why I’m taking it easy now in anticipation of another busy year. Well, I say taking it easy. In fact I’m working hard on Runelight, which I’d love to finish by next spring, although I also have some other things to work on, including a screenplay about the last days of Montségur; a project that has been ongoing in one way or another for several years. I’ve had so many movie let-downs in the past that it has made me wary of pinning any kind of expectation on film projects, but this one has been so much fun that I really hope it gets off the ground.
It was the Frankfurt Book Fair earlier this month. My agent managed to sell Blueeyedboy to a number of foreign publishers (in spite of not having copies of the final draft of the book!), as well as discussing the Runelight graphic novel project, of which we should have more news later.
On the home front, Anouchka is at sixth-form college now, and enjoying it very much. She’s turning into a very good writer (though I rarely get the chance to read her work!) and after a stint in Editorial at Transworld last summer (as part of her Work Experience), is taking an increasing interest in the process of writing, editing and publishing. No surprises there, then. I still can’t get over the fact that she’s sixteen, and still growing. Last time I looked she was only nine…
If you’re looking for something fabulous to read or to buy someone for Christmas, you might consider Perfumes, the Guide by Luca Turin and Claudia Sanchez, now out in paperback with 400 new perfume reviews from the sublime to the gloriously bitchy. I thought the hardback version was astonishing, but this one’s even better. Oh, and you might also try Our Billie by Ian Clayton; the heartbreaking account of a parent’s coming to terms with the accidental death of his nine-year-old daughter, and which has to be the most tender and sincere depiction of parenthood I’ve ever read.
Next month I’m touring in Hungary, and I’m also doing a talk at Sheffield’s Off the Shelf festival (Click Here for dates), so I look forward to meeting some of you there.
Oh, and for all the Runemarks fans still waiting patiently for Runelight – I’m enclosing a little Halloween present here: it’s a chapter of the new book, unedited and in the raw, but which hopefully should give you a taste of things to come…
~ September, 2009 ~
So finally, I have finished all but the final edit and copy-edit of my new novel, Blueeyedboy. It’s scheduled to come out in April 2010, but already the publicity and marketing departments at Transworld are revving up in preparation. I have a new editor, Marianne Velmans, who is working very hard on my behalf, and a new jacket designer, Jeff Cottenden, to replace Stuart Haygarth. Although I’m very fond of Stuart’s iconic jacket designs (remember the nest with the little gold eggs on the cover of Chocolat?) I have to say I love Jeff’s work. He will be working his way through the whole of my backlist, too; so all the people who complained that their book jackets don’t match will have the chance to buy a new set!
Runemarks fans (my daughter included) will be glad to know that I’m now working hard on Runelight again. In fact, as a thank you to everyone for your fan fiction, fan art and notes of support, I’m posting an extra section on runeshapes and fingerings, so that you’ll know how to physically cast the runes as well as simply write them down. And next month, for Hallowe’en, I’ll also be posting up a section from Part 1 of the book as a taster for all those who really can’t wait…
Meanwhile, blueeyedboy now has a MySpace of his own.
As far as I know, this is the first time that one of my characters has come to life to quite this extent, and I'm not sure I'm altogether comfortable with the idea! You'll find him quite unpredictable, and I apologize in advance if he says or does anything to upset you!
On the other hand, if you'd like to visit his blog, feel free to check it out. It's at:
www.myspace.com/blueeyedboyatbadguysrock
~ June 2009 ~
These past couple of months have been curiously busy for me, in spite of the fact that I’m not actually promoting a new book this year. Last month I was particularly sorry to have lost my editor of the past ten years, Francesca Liversidge, to Transworld cutbacks (damn recession), although my new editor, Marianne Velmans, is being incredibly supportive at a time that must be tough for her, too.
On the home front: Anouchka turned sixteen on June 1st, has finally finished her GCSEs and is going to sixth-form college next September. Where the hell did those ten years go?
On the work front: I’m onto the final cleaned-up draft of Blueeyedboy, due out sometime next spring, although I’m now very happy to be back on Runelight again, still a long way from completion, I’m afraid (people keep warning me to keep my books shorter!), but shaping up quite nicely. I’m especially grateful to all those who contributed to my Runemarks fanfic/fanart competition – your entries and comments were just the motivation I needed to get started on the book again. I hope you liked your books and runecharms. I’ve posted some of the best stories and artwork on the site, and I’ll be posting up details of the latest developments as they occur.
Recently there has been interest in a Runemarks graphic novel, or series of novels, and Cinzia di Felice, a very talented Italian artist (check out some of her work here: www.cinziadifelice.it) has been drafting out some pages. I really like what she’s doing – I’ve always wanted to do a graphic novel with someone – and I’d love to see a publisher pick this project up.
So far, this is some of what we have – the character sketches still need some work, especially Loki (Anouchka has very specific ideas about Loki, and refuses to compromise in any way!) but the colour layouts are fantastic, and I can’t wait to see the rest.
I’ve also been playing with lulu.com, mostly to construct a photo-book for Anouchka’s birthday, but I’m beginning to see other possibilities, too. My young (and extremely talented) friend Andrew Losowsky has recently had published a fantastic little book that began as a project on lulu.com (read about it here: www.doorbellsofflorence.com and www.losowsky.com), and his story should give hope to as-yet-unpublished writers everywhere.