Mockups for Penguin China merchandise using my penguin illustrations. Design by the fantastic Suo Di, unfortunately these weren’t commissioned.
The Ideal Life – interview with Shidian Bookshop
An interview about A Dali Sketchbook as part of the series An Ideal Life.
Fairy tales for Yun
Illustrations for two fairy tales for Yun, which one day we’ll turn into proper picture books:
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The Cloud by Ivo Hardies
English-language video about A Dali Sketchbook
Put out on the English language media platforms (twitter, facebook) of the Yunnan Daily newspaper:
Chongqing TV interview
Short news piece about the book launch for A Dali Sketchbook in Chongqing. Made by the entertainment channel on Chongqing’s local tv station (CQTV娱乐), the programme is called Chongqing Entertainment Live (渝乐现场).
While we were there I was also interviewed on Chongqing Music Radio (重庆音乐广播:音乐风情之旅) by Hu Wei (胡玮). Here’s a link to the broadcast, you need to fast forward to an hour in to hear my bit.
Ivo Hardies’ documentary Agen
Ivo Hardies’ 11 minute documentary Agen, about a Tibetan traditional Chinese medicine doctor, won Best Woman Filmmaker and Best Short Documentary at the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards 2016. It’s a quiet, understated film that pretty much captures exactly why I love Yunnan.
Book signings in Chongqing, Chengdu and Kunming
So after the book launch in Dali we went on to do book signings in three more cities, first up was Chongqing. Thank you to the ever lovely Chong Chong (虫虫) and Ninuo Art Centre (尼诺艺术中心) who did the organising and put us in touch with Chongqing Radio. And to Sinba (段新宇) from the British Consulate-General who has not only helped with all kinds of things consular, but also invited Chongqing TV to film the event.
Besom’s drawing process
Besom is an illustrator and children’s book writer from Chongqing, I’ve known about her work for a few years but finally got to meet her! Please check out her website, her stuff is amazing :)
Photos from the book launch
On 24 of June 2017 we held the book launch for my new book A Dali Sketchbook (《大理外传》) at the Cangshan Library, just below the Hilton Hotel.
I really can’t thank everyone enough for how it turned out, way better than anything I’d imagined. Thanks especially though to Luo Yufei (罗宇飞) for finding the venue and general organisation, everyone at Xiao Yuanzi (小院子) for setting up, doing the posters and promotion, especially Pengzi (棚子) and Xiao Shen (小沈) for being the compere. Thanks to Ivo for filming. And everyone at Duku Press, not least Zhang Lixian (张立宪/六哥) for flying specially from Beijing – and of course for taking the book on in the first place.
And most of all CC for making everything happen and being infinitely patient.
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Book launch for A Dali Sketchbook
My book launch for A Dali Sketchbook, Saturday 24th @Hilton Library. All in Chinese I’m afraid, but on the plus side – free cake!