Recap - May 2024
Pea-shaped snack, a ray of sunshine and Yoko
Hello, May readers!
This month was kicked off with lovely My Hair is as Long as a River launch party. The picture book by Charlie Castle (Author) and my friend Emma Farrarons (Illustrator) is about a boy who has very long hair. It’s a joyful celebration of being proud of who you are. The poetic writing and imaginative illustrations are a match made in heaven, I’d say. The party was as wonderful as the book, and it was a great way to celebrate Charlie’s and Emma’s double debut!
Pearl & Her Bunch Launch Party!
Talking of “the first launch party”, I also had my very first book launch party this month! I dreamed about my first launch party ever since I singed my first book deal in 2018. But my first authored picture book Avocado Asks and my second, When the Sun Goes Home (both from Orchard Books) came out in middle of the pandemic (April 2020 and April 2021), so I had never had a launch party until now when my third authored book, Pearl and Her Bunch (also Orchard Books) came out in this “normal” time (9th May).
On the day of the party, I was nervous. I had never organised a party before. (My experience as a party organiser was limited to booking tables in a pub...) I’m a born-worrier and part-time pessimist. All morning and afternoon, I was thinking, I ordered too much / too little drinks! or No one will come! Indeed, quite a few guests dropped out on the day for totally understandable reasons (illness, train strikes etc). However, more guests than the pessimist of me had anticipated came and they seemed to have a good time :)
Pearl and Her Bunch is a celebration of all kinds of families. It was a perfect book for my first book launch because my “found family” had been a very important part of my life and career. I came to the UK 20 years ago all by myself without knowing anyone here, but those who became my friends have made this country my second home. Similarly, I jumped into the world of illustration and children’s books without knowing anyone there. The industry turned out to be full of supportive people. I genuinely think I am where I am now because of all those wonderful people I have met in my creative journey. So it meant a lot to me to finally say thank-yous in person to some of my found & book family, including my classmates from the evening illustration course I had taken nearly 10 years ago and my first editor who had commissioned my debut book, Avocado Asks.
Momo’s launch party tips
It’s not a Royal Wedding. Keep it simple. But have a theme if possible - just because it’s fun!
Build a good relationship with bookshops. E.g. my local children’s bookshop, ChocoLit, kindly agreed to open late one evening to host my party although it wasn’t something they usually did.
Make sure the venue have ordered some stock of your book(s) so your guests can buy copies for you to sign at the party.
Check if the venue will provide drinks and glasses. Most of bookshops don’t but some do.
If you need to order drinks yourself, try places like Majestic Wine where you can hire glasses for free and return unopened bottles.
Go for fuss-free cakes (e.g. cupcakes) and snacks that don’t require plates and cutleries.
Arrange someone (e.g. a friend or a family member) to be a waiting stuff to look after guests’ drinks. (I didn’t think about this but Martina, the owner of the bookshop, kindly took up the role that evening so I could enjoy mingling without worry. She was an angel!)
Don’t forget to bring your good signing pens!
Humbling moments
I did a couple of events this month including a craft activity at ChocoLit. You never know how these drop-in events turn out. In truth, only a handful of children joined me that afternoon. Don’t get me wrong. I did appreciate that and have a lovely time with them and I still think this kind of events are worth doing (I did the event for free but we sold a few copies of my books). But it was an humbling experience. It reminded me that I was a small fish in the big pond. (If Julia Donaldson was a blue whale, I was a sardine, I think.)
So, after the day, I was feeling particularly somber one morning. That was when I got an email from a stranger out of blue. They told me that their children had found a copy of my When the Sun Goes Home in a library recently and fallen love with it (so much so, they bought a copy shortly afterwards). Their story isn’t mine to tell so I won’t go into details but here’s an extract:
The email was a ray of sunshine I needed. Once someone told me that publishers expect 60% of books they publish won’t earn out their advance, meaning authors/illustrators won’t get royalties. When the Sun Goes Home is my personal favourite among my books. I’m really proud of the book, but unfortunately it’s one of those 60%. Picture books take a lot of time and effort to create but they are not profitable… The reality more often than not makes me question “Why am I doing this?” But the message from the stranger reminded me of the WHY.
Oh Yoko!
I also had a proud moment. I finally went to see Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind exhibition at Tate Modern. I was excited to finally see some of her artwork I had illustrated in Little People, Big Dreams: Yoko Ono (Frances Lincoln) in person! I was glad they had my favourites - HALF-A-ROOM and CEILING PAINTING.
To be honest, conceptual art isn’t my cup of tea. However, I genuinely enjoyed this retrospective exhibition. I found her work shamelessly simple in concept but some of them were really poignant and/or playful. Her work deals with serious subjects such as gender inequality, wars and immigration, but what permeates throughout her decades of work is lightness and hopefulness. There were many interactive artwork (audience participation is her thing) and ADD COLOUR (REFUGEE BOAT) was quite touching.
Also, I must say I was so chuffed to see copies of my little Yoko in the gallery shops. It was quite a surreal experience. When I illustrated the book back in 2021, I obviously didn’t know this exhibition would come in three years time to one of my favourite galleries in the town where I live. It felt like chance occurrences were linked like a constellation thanks to the mysterious work of the universe.
(Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind is running until September. Highly recommended.)
Here’s a fun fact: Grace the grapefruit and her mums (lemon and orange) in Pearl and Her Bunch is actually a little ode to Yoko’s work, GRAPEFRUIT.
I named my first book of instructions with the name of the fruit I loved. Grapefruit is a hybrid of orange and lemon and to me, it represented East and West, the two cultures in my life.
Yoko Ono
That’s it for this month. See you next month!
Momo x
UPCOMING EVENTS
Picnic! Festival (Sunday 16th June in Reggio Emilia, Italy) - I’ll be at this one-day, open-air book festival, doing live drawing on demand (eek!) along with 20 artists. If you happen to be in Reggio Emilia/Bologna on that day, come along! Check their website for more information.
Illustrators’ Fair (Saturday 12th July, London) - I’ll be back to the art-packed fair in Kings Cross with my fellow artist, Rachel Bone, selling my prints and cards.
Newark Book Festival (Thursday 11th - Sunday 14th July) - I’m taking part in a panel event (Sunday 13th July) along with crime novelist Sarah Hilary, children’s author and Patron of Reading Gareth Baker, children’s book illustrator Momoko Abe, children’s fiction author James Nicol and fantasy and sci-fi author Wilf Morgan. Tickets are on sale now.
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How lovely that you finally got to enjoy your own launch party! 🥳 Here's to many more.🥂
Your children's activity of imagining your family as fruit and veggies has sparked an idea for me, so thank you! (I organise (along with my church) an after-school club for primary school children, so am always looking out for fun activities to do with them.) And I'm sure you've made an impact on the children who came along.😁
What a wonderful thing to get that message about When the Sun Goes Home - it’s a very very special book indeed. There’s just no logic to which books earn out, if there was any justice you’d make millions… I’ve a few events with barely anyone there and it’s demoralising at first but usually the people that come are SO nice it doesn’t matter. I did something for just one person once!