SPIDER  has reached the shortlist for Falkirk Council’s RED (Read, Enjoy, Debate) Book Award which is judged by young people in each secondary school in the area.

Last week I had a lovely time visiting GOREBRIDGE Primary School in Midlothian who were enjoying a Scottish week. Primary 1 and 2 classes had been reading the Hamish stories and doing all sorts of Hamish related activities so they were quite excited about meeting Hamish himself!

Hamish is appearing at the THREE HARBOURS FESTIVAL in East Lothian. I am going to be speaking to an invited class at Port Seton Library on Wednesday 10th June.

Sally J Collins is exhibiting some of the original Hamish artwork at Prestonpans Library during the festival and  she will also be in the library, doing an illustration workshop with an invited class on Tuesday 9th June.   Sally will be appearing at the PORTSOY BOAT FESTIVAL doing her illustration workshops,  at the beginning of July, see http://stbf.bizland.com/2009/mchaggis.htm for more information.

Later in June I am looking forward to visiting Sunderland and the HYLTON RED HOUSE SCHOOL for a few days to lead a series of creative writing fun events with the young pupils who are moving up to the high school after the summer.  I will also be talking to them about the research involved when I was writing SPIDER and how I create my characters.

Hamish also made an appearance at the WORD festival in Aberdeen.

And at the end of the tour, on a sunny Sunday in May,  Hamish and the Whirry Bang came with me to Inverary Jail and Inverary Castle where we met old and new Hamish fans for storytelling sessions.

At the beginning of May Hamish McHaggis visited the nursery at the RBS Gogar, Edinburgh.   After meeting Hamish

the children had a peek at  the Whirry Bang, which was parked outside the nursery for the morning,

The  children had a lovely time, listening while I read some of the latest Hamish mcHaggis adventures,

and then they watched as Sally drew Hamish for them

Later Sally and I went on to the ’street’ an indoor  shopping and office area and outside the Blackwell’s  Gogar bookshop we met some  of the RBS staff and signed copies of the books.

Hamish McHaggis and the Clan Gathering, the latest book in the series,  was launched at Edinburgh castle, much to the delight of visitors -  and Hamish thought it was great fun, too!

It was very exciting to be in Edinburgh Castle to mark the launch of  the 9th book in the  Hamish McHaggis series.

McHaggises from all over the world decend on Coorie Doon for their own clan gathering in this new adventure.

2009 is Scotland’s Year of Homecoming, and  the Clan Gathering in July is one of the major events of the year.   Hamish and his Whirry Bang will be at the Clan Gathering in edinburgh and Sally and I will be there to read the story and show how to draw the characters.  See the events page for more details.

Delighting fans old and new, Hamish and his Whirry Bang  were there all day.  In  a special boat families joined me to hear the latest  Hamish McHaggis story and Sally showed them how to draw Hamish. When they returned from their ride on the wheel Hamish was waiting to meet the children.

I have travelled around the country in all kinds of weather and managed to get some writing done, too, at least making a start on my new teenage novel, although not as much of a start as I would have liked.  It keeps me on my toes moving from picture books to novel and back again.

In between all this rushing around there have been some slightly bizarre happenings.  At the moment we are in the midst of converting a vehicle into hamish McHaggis’s home made car, the Whirry Bang, and a talented lady called Anna is busy constructing a life size Hamish suit.  These will soon be appearing around the country at special events after the latest Hamish McHaggis book comes out in April.

It has taken me a while to get back to my website this year. I spent much of January and part of February on a return visit to Melbourne, where I was lucky enough to have a tour of the State Library and find out some of the amazing things they are getting up to there and especially finding out about their Young People’s services. If you can - have a look at this website for young people- and books (of course)  http://www.insideadog.com.au

the name comes from this quote..”Outside a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read. - Groucho Marx”

While I was away I also visited New Zealand and drove up to the Bay of Islands, which was beautiful, and then back to Melbourne where the heatwave was in full sway but left just before the terrible bush fires which cost so many lives. Coming home to SNOW was a real shock but I was soon very busy getting the latest Hamish McHaggis book ready to go off to print. It will be out on 1st April and is called
Hamish McHaggis and the Clan Gathering

I will be back soon to let you know more about the exciting year Hamish is going to have this year but for now i have to go and prepare for a busy week of school visits.

Hamish McHaggis is going to be having a great time this year with a new book out in April …………………………….   HAMISH McHaggis and the Clan Gathering ……………………….  which sees all the McHaggis clan coming to Coorie Doon. It has a real international feeling.  There are all sorts of things planned,  starting with the launch of the new book in April. So come back soon to find out more.

Sincere apologies if you have tried to contact me through this site and I haven’t replied. I discovered that some emails were being blocked and put in the ’spam’ bin.  I hope this won’t happen again but if you have contacted me and I have not replied please try again now.

Earlier this week I had a lovely afternoon speaking to the Erskine Writers.   A grand start to the year.

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