Roald Dahl Museum - Writer-in-Residence

I'm very pleased that I'm going to be Writer-in-Residence at the lovely Roald Dahl Museum for the next few months.

I'll be working on a book of my own - and perhaps I'll get a chance to sit in Roald Dahl's chair, which is now in the museum, along with all the other objects from the shed where he wrote his books.

I'll also be spending some time in the museum's archives. I've already had a look around and seen some of Dahl's notebooks, letters and early drafts, which are absolutely fascinating. I also saw two Oompa-Loompas lying on top of a cupboard, wrapped in bubble-wrap. They were the models made for the Tim Burton version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and are oddly creepy.

I'll also be visiting five schools in Buckingshire and working with several different classes, talking to them about my books and Dahl's, and working with them on their own stories.

I'll be doing several events at the museum, some alone and others with Garry Parsons, who illustrated The Dragonsitter. Please come along if you can. And if you can't, you should try to visit the museum another time - it's a wonderful place.

Letters

I often get wonderful letters and emails from readers. Yesterday a parcel arrived from Leicestershire, containing a bundle of letters from children who I met at Melton Mowbray library earlier this year.

These letters are decorated with some great drawings, and I can't resist posting a few of them here: 

Salford Children’s Book Award

The Island of Thieves has been shortlisted for the 2013 Salford Children’s Book Award along with six other fabulous books. I'm very proud to be part of such a distinguished shortlist. 

  

Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2012

I'm very pleased that The Dragonsitter has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize as one of the "funniest books for children aged seven to fourteen".

The other shortlisted books are listed here; the winner is going to be announced at the beginning of November.

Cheltenham Festival

I'll be doing two events at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Sunday 7 October. In the morning, I'm running a workshop on writing adventure stories - full details here - and in the afternoon, I'll be in discussion with Anthony McGowan and Andy Briggs:

Sunday, October 7, 2012
4.45-5.45pm

If you love adventure come and meet three amazing writers of action packed stories. Anthony McGowan has re-imagined the classic Willard Price animal adventures for a new generation of readers in Leopard Adventure, Josh Lacey’s (Josh Doder) latest Grk story follows Tim and his beloved dog Grk to Italy in Grk and the Phoney Macaroni while Andy Briggs traces Tarzan's footsteps in search of the world's most deadliest hunter and a kidnapped ape in The New Adventures of Tarzan: The Jungle Warrior.

Dragonsitter reviews

Two more reviews of the Dragonsitter. The first is from the Telegraph and is by Martin Chilton:

The Dragonsitter, based around a series of emails that ping back and forth between Edward Smith-Pickle and his Uncle Morton Pickle, is short, sharp and funny. The story is by Josh Lacey - also known for writing the excellent A Dog Called Grk series under the name Joshua Doder - is about the pickle Edward and his family get into when they agree to babysit a dragon.

The illustrations by Garry Parsons add to the fun as the dragon causes mayhem, eating everything from cold spaghetti to the pet rabbit Jemima. The emails get ever more frantic (one has the subject headline URGENT!!!!!!!!) as Edward pleads: "You could have warned us about his poo. It smells awful."

All turns out well and, as with so many situations in life, chocolate provides the answer.

The next is by Melanie McGilloway in Armadillo:

This is a cracking read for newly independent readers, so perfect for children aged five and above, but it will also work very well as a read aloud, and a shared read. 

Pseudonymous Books

I've written about my top 10 pseudonymous books for the Guardian - and about my own decision to use an assumed name for my first book, which I have since regretted.

"When I was wrote my first book, A Dog Called Grk, I was working for this very newspaper, writing and editing reviews for the books pages. I didn't want people to get confused about who I was or what I did, so I thought it would be sensible to have two different names, one for books and the other for journalism. I invented a new name for myself: a pen name, a nom de plume, a pseudonym."