Now that we’ve been home for a few days, I’ve been reviewing the calendar, seeing what I’ve signed up for in the next 2 months. I try to keep an up to date schedule of talks, presentations and book appearances on my events page, but wanted to make sure the word is out here, too. In the next week, I’ll be giving 3 talks, all listed at the end of this post. First, I want to share an article about my work that just came out in the Nov./ Dec. issue of  Cape Cod Life Magazine. See the article online: “Life’s Canvas: Wonderous Wee World”.

The article was written by Mary Grauerholz, who seemed to get what I was doing from the start of our interview. During the photo shoot, 20-something Anthony Despezio jumped around my studio, clicking pictures of everything in sight. He paused at an original illustration from my first book, The Way Home, saying “This picture is from my book, I remember this elephant.” Apparently, he had the book as a child and didn’t make the connection until he saw the illustration in my studio. Of course, I had to share this with the story’s author, Judy Richardson. It was so neat to find out that a book we made over 20 years ago stayed with a boy who grew up to be a cool, creative young man.  This is the picture that triggered his memory, which is the emotional climax of the story, when Savi’s mother leaves her on the beach alone. To read the series about the making of The Way Home, click here.

The Way Home, page 18

Upcoming schedule of events:

Saturday, November 12th – University of Connecticut Children’s Book Fair, Storrs, Connecticut. Salley will give a slide talk about her work at 10:15 am. Original Illustrations from Pocketful of Posies are displayed on campus at the Dodd  Research Center through Dec. 16th. Sat., Nov. 12th only–gallery will be open from 12 noon to 3pm. Normal hours are Mon. thru Fri. 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Monday, November 14 at 4:30pm:  Falmouth Art Center, Falmouth, MA. Salley Mavor will talk to families about the creation of her books. Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, will be for sale.

Saturday, November 19th, 1:00-6:00 pm: Salley Mavor will be the keynote speaker at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (New England) ILLUSTRATOR DAY to be held at the Emma Blood French Auditorium (The French Building) on the New Hampshire Institute of Art campus in Manchester, NH. Information and Registration.

DECEMBER

Saturday, Dec. 3rd – Salley Mavor will have a booth at the RISD Holiday Sale, RI Convention Center, Providence, RI.

Saturday, Dec. 10th – 1:00 – 3:00 pm, Book Signing at the  New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA.

This past weekend my husband and I went to the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards ceremony at Simmons College in Boston. It was a wonderful event, with  the word’s nicest audience — children’s book people, librarians and teachers.

I accepted an award for my picture book, Pocketful of Posies and came home with this shiny engraved bowl. My name is even spelled correctly! I immediately filled it with some wee friends, as well as my mother’s old teddy bear.

As an award winner, I was asked to illustrate a cover of the The Horn Book Magazine, which will appear in their January 2012 issue. That same issue will publish this year’s award recipients’ speeches (including mine). Here is a peek at the illustration while I was working on it. I’ll show the finished product when it is published in the magazine in a few months. The magazine also plans on making it into a poster, which they’ll have available at meetings and conferences.

As you can see, I’ve formed the Horn Book title out of found objects and felt covered wire. I showed pictures of the process as part of my presentation at Saturday’s Colloquium at Simmons. I’ll be delivering the original to the photographer, Rick Kyle later this week and am looking forward to meeting him, since he did such a great job taking the pictures for my Posies book.

A great big thank you the Horn Book for the award and the opportunity to share my work on the January cover of the magazine!