![]() ![]() As publishers in each territory will need to decide which pictures work best for their own editions, I won’t be personally judging the entries. The best drawings in each territory will be included in the finished books. In November 2020, The Ickabog will be published in English in print, eBook and audiobook formats, shortly followed by other languages. I want to see imaginations run wild! Creativity, inventiveness and effort are the most important things: we aren’t necessarily looking for the most technical skill! There will be suggestions about the illustrations we might need for each chapter on The Ickabog website, but nobody should feel constrained by these ideas. Having decided to publish, I thought how wonderful it would be if children in lockdown, or otherwise needing distraction during the strange and difficult time we’re passing through, illustrated the story for me. The themes are timeless and could apply to any era or any country. To forestall one obvious question: the idea came to me well over a decade ago, so it isn’t intended to be read as a response to anything that’s happening in the world right now. The Ickabog is a story about truth and the abuse of power. The Ickabog is available to read in English (UK/US), French, Italian, German, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, check the website for updates on additional languages. I’ll be posting a chapter (or two, or three) every weekday between 26th May and 10th July on The Ickabog website. I think The Ickabog lends itself well to serialisation because it was written as a read-aloud book (unconsciously shaped, I think, by the way I read it to my own children), but it’s suitable for 7-9 year olds to read to themselves. This was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my writing life, as The Ickabog’s first two readers told me what they remember from when they were tiny, and demanded the reinstatement of bits they’d particularly liked (I obeyed). As I worked to finish the book, I started reading chapters nightly to the family again. My now teenagers were touchingly enthusiastic, so downstairs came the very dusty box, and for the last few weeks I’ve been immersed in a fictional world I thought I’d never enter again. Over time I came to think of it as a story that belonged to my two younger children, because I’d read it to them in the evenings when they were little, which has always been a happy family memory.Ī few weeks ago at dinner, I tentatively mooted the idea of getting The Ickabog down from the attic and publishing it for free, for children in lockdown. ![]() At that point, the first draft of The Ickabog went up into the attic, where it’s remained for nearly a decade. After some dithering (and also after my long-suffering agent had trademarked The Ickabog – sorry, Neil) I decided I wanted to step away from children’s books for a while. In that time I wrote The Casual Vacancy and Robert Galbraith wrote The Cuckoo’s Calling. However, after the last Potter book I wanted to take a break from publishing, which ended up lasting five years. ![]() I wrote most of a first draft in fits and starts between Potter books, intending to publish it after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Still not finding what you're looking for? We’ve also rounded up the best Disney movies, ’ 90s throwbacks, family comedy movies and animated films of all time.The idea for The Ickabog came to me while I was still writing Harry Potter. Even Billy, with his unquenchable love of Godard. They’re all surefire winners guaranteed to satisfy everyone in the family. On this list, you’ll find everything from old-school animated classics and musicals to cult comedies, surreal fantasies and the odd Christmas staple. But what if little Billy is a devotee of the French New Wave, and his big sister refuses to watch anything from earlier than 1980? To help keep everyone as close-knit as possible, we’ve hunted down 50 family favourites that are guaranteed to keep everyone happy. There’s never a bad time to gather your tribe around the TV and hunker down for a night of classic movies and ideally, a big bucket of popcorn. ![]()
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