By: John Mark Boling,
on 4/10/2012
English poet William Wordsworth once wrote, "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." Wordsworth, who was born two hundred and forty two years ago this month, is just one of the hundreds of writers and artists that we celebrate in April during National Poetry Month. Since 1996, the month long holiday has brought
By: John Mark Boling,
on 12/3/2010
And kid of all ages are absolutely delighted by the mischievous rhymes and delightful illustrations of LET'S HAVE A BITE: A BANQUET OF BEASTLY FEASTS, by Robert L. Forbes (illustrated by Ronald Searle).
And a wonderful way to make the gift of a book a lifetime keepsake is to have it signed (or personalized!) by the author. If you're lucky enough to be in Palm Beach, Santa Barbara or Montecito over the next few weeks, you have a great chance to get Mr. Forbes to inscribe a personal message in this beautiful book.
Check out Mr. Forbes' web site or Facebook page to stay up to date on all of the latest happenings with this wonderfully whimsical book. A few to mark on your calendars...
December 7: Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens 3rd Annual Literacy Day
During their Annual Festival of the Trees, I will be reading here.
253 Barcelona Road
West Palm Beach, FL
From 10AM
December 8: The Channel City Club in Santa Barbara, CA
I will do a reading at their annual Holiday Luncheon, 12:30-2, including a book signing.
2:30 A reading at the Story Teller Children’s Center, Santa Barbara
December 9: The Crane Country Day School, Montecito, CA
2:15-3 A reading to students.
December 15: Palm Beach Book Store, PB, FL
5:30 Book signing until 7pm
2011 Lots of events in the works, such as a reading at the Princeton Club in New York, a Southern swing , a return engagement with the Creative Writing classes at Boca Raton’s Spanish River High School, a reading in Rome, more schools, and Easter Day with many kids in Palm Beach at the annual egg hunt. Stay tuned!
By: Betsy Bird,
on 10/11/2010
With Noonoo and Nada and Nell…
No. Wait. Scratch that. But I have been to a couple of marvelous parties as of late. Under normal circumstances I don’t mention them all that often, but this week I’ll make an exception. [Note: If you don’t like party posts, avoid this one at all costs. Even if it does involve Lemony Snicket on a merry-go-round built for two . . .).
The two parties were very different, but of great interest to all parties involved. The first I will mention was the party held last week to which all Kidlit Drink Night attendees were invited. Mr. Robert Forbes (yes, THAT Mr. Forbes) was kind enough to invite us to attend a little soiree at The Forbes Gallery here in New York City. Why would he want grimy children’s literature people mucking up his space? Well, Mr. Forbes recently published a book of children’s poetry called Let’s Have a Bite, illustrated by the illustrious Ronald Searle.
Now, I had never been to the Forbes Galleries. Truth be told, I had no idea that they were (A) open to the public and (B) awesome. In point of fact, they are both. And if you happen to be interested in visiting (which I highly recommend) I would suggest that you do so before November 22nd. You see, until that moment in time the galleries have a magnificent selection of toy soldiers, toy boats, and old Monopoly games on display. And what a display! There is an art to their presentation. A skill to the little hidden rooms in which you will locate them. To top it all off, there was a retrospective of Searle’s from the last 40-50 odd years. Should you be nowhere near New York right now, much of that same work is visible in this recent interview he conducted:
And what of the book itself? Well, a special side room exists in the Galleries of the work Searle did for Mr. Forbes’s newest. The two collaborated back in 2007 on a similar book called Beastly Feasts. Both books contain poems with accompanying illustrations. In what I imagine must be very much the spirit in which Mr. Searle works, Mr. Forbes served us lots of tiny food made out of the very animals featured in the poems. Grilled octopus, turtle of some sort, as well as a little cheese fondue that was liable to tempt you into thinking that you’d never had anything quite so good ever before (a little mouse appears in each of the paintings in Mr. Forbes’s book).
As for Mr. Forbes himself I was rather expecting him to look like his portrait here:
By: John Mark Boling,
on 10/7/2010
Robert L. Forbes, author of LET'S HAVE A BITE! A BANQUET OF BEASTLY FEASTS, hosted a party last night to celebrate the launch of his book. A wonderful time was had by all as guests dined on snacks featuring the mischievous creatures from his whimsical books.
Here are a few photos of the author himself and the wonderful decorations--lifesize blowups of the delightful Ronald Searle drawings that accompany his poems. Start your Christmas shopping early with LET'S HAVE A BITE!
By: John Mark Boling,
on 8/27/2010
While Robert L. Forbes' delightful book of children's poetry LET'S HAVE A BITE! doesn't officially hit shelves until Sept. 16, a few lucky bloggers and media people have already gotten copies. Glad to see they're enjoying the fun rhymes and wonderful drawings by Ronald Searle as much as we are!
Naida at The Bookworm has one of our first reviews for this title, which she read with her 10-year-old daughter.
With rhymes like Hugh the Emu, The Rhino's Wine, The Inchworm Sprint and Flick the Fly, coupled with great illustrations to match, Let's Have A Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes makes for a fun book to read to the kiddies in your life.
... I really liked this funky collection, and my daughter(10) and I read them together. This one would make a great gift as well, especially if you're looking for something a little different than your everyday children's nursery rhymes.
By: John Mark Boling,
on 6/30/2010
The Overlook Press was excited to be a first-time exhibitor at this year's ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. 13,000 librarians in a huge conference center in our nation's capital--what's not to love?
We were excited to have Robert L. Forbes, author of Let's Have a Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes there with us, signing copies of his new book for the show's resident rock stars--children's librarians.
If you follow us on Twitter (@overlookpress!) you've already seen lots of our pictures from ALA, but here are a few for you to enjoy that are slightly higher quality than those taken on a BlackBerry.
Thanks again, ALA, for a fantastic event!
I am weeping copiously right now with sheer envy. What a night, you lucky lucky girl!
Hi Betsy, Daniel/Lemony was on the guestlist because I’m friends with his wife Lisa Brown and Adele Griffin (Picture the Dead). Lisa couldn’t make the party because she had a book event elsewhere. I introduced you to Adele, remember? I’m connected to Neil and Amanda because I illustrated the Evelyn Evelyn graphic novel which will be out next Spring. I’m glad that you enjoyed yourself. May I use a couple of these pictures for my upcoming blog post? Cheers, CvB
But of course! Use any and all pictures you prefer, though I wish they were of better quality.
I think I knew the Lisa Brown/Adele Griffin connection, but I was baffled by the Snicket/Gaiman link. Good to know!
Oh! Oh! Oh! Dare I hope that the title of today’s blog truly is the opening from the Noel Coward poem of the same name? (“I have been to a marvelous party/With Noonoo and Nada and Nell./It was in the fresh air and we came as we were/And we STAYED as we were, which was hell…”)
Well, DANG! I was so enchanted/distracted by all of your glorious photos that I skipped right OVER the opening line of today’s blog, which would have assured me that YES, you know you some classic Noel Coward (and isn’t some of his stuff just ducky, even today?) Happy sigh of contentment….
I’m just pleased that someone got the Noel Coward reference at all. I thought about sneaking in more lines, but then decided that I’d be overplaying my hand. I do love me my Noel Coward, though I admit to knowing this particular work of his best because of the group Divine Comedy.
Oh lucky, lucky you on both accounts. This was just so much fun to read. Thanks.
Just so you know, the male half of the awesome couple to your left is Franz Nicolay, former keyboardist/accordionist for the Hold Steady, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Against Me!, and other such bands.
Amazing party.
Oh so? Well that just goes to prove that only the undeserving ever get to stand next to the big musicians. I’ve heard of Hold Steady and . . . . yeah, that’s about it.
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