On Tuesday 10th April we welcomed debut picture book author John Condon to Picture Book Club. Once again we were hosted admirably by Windsor Waterstones (thank you Sam!).
John’s first picture book, The Wondrous Dinosaurium, is published by Maverick Arts in May so we were very lucky to get a sneak peek at it before release. The Windsor store has a limited number in stock if you want to get your hands on one early! He has another book coming out with Nosy Crow in 2019/20.
There were some first time members at Picture Book Club this month and it was brilliant for them to hear the systematic, professional approach that John has taken with his writing and getting published. He emphasised the role that reading other picture books has played and the importance of support and critique from other writers. John is an active member of SCBWI and he discussed the role that has played in his career so far. I’m sure SCBWI will be getting a few more membership applications after his talk!
John teased us by reading the first few spreads of The Wondrous Dinosaurium before we retired for cake. And what a cake it was (for reference, the book is the picture on the left and the cake is on the right)! Expertly made and beautifully presented by Kate Poels. And it tasted amazing too!
You can watch the whole video of John’s talk on the Picture Book Club Facebook page where you can also keep up to date with forthcoming events.
