Farewell 2012

I will always have fond memories of 2012. It was a funny year in some ways – a year in which I didn’t work on a single book, but was busy in other, exciting and distracting ways. A good year.

Much work done for Naxos Records, illustrating apps (a first for me, notoriously wary of anything digital!); many school visits all over Britain and even nine schools in Spain; two books safely sent out into the world: Katie and the Starry Night and Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker.

It was a year when I became Sinbad, Vincent van Gogh and Godfather Drosselmeyer. A year filled with music – family illustrated concerts with four splendid orchestras, including The Orchestra of the Music Makers from Singapore and the Docklands Sinfonia. A year of festivals, from Hay to Cheltenham to Pop Up to Edinburgh to Bath. And a year of carefully made plans – some of which I hope will bear fruit in 2013

Thanks to everyone who has been part of the exciting projects undertaken. Is there a single highlight? Perhaps…

I think the most extraordinary moment was receiving a parcel from a 8 year old musical genius, Edward Tomanek – I visited his school in Cambridge and gave him a copy of my book Tales from Russia (his ancestral country). In return he composed a piece of music for me: The Gratitude Waltz, and sent the score and a recording of the piece played by himself… you can only imagine how touched I was!

So, yes… a good year! And tomorrow – I’ll unveil plans for 2013!

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James Mayhew

James is the creator of the much-loved Katie and Ella Bella Ballerina series and has written or illustrated many other books, including Koshka’s Tales, Mouse & Mole (by Joyce Dunbar) and Gaspard the Fox (by Zeb Soanes). Alongside his work in publishing, James performs live on stage during concerts for children, combining live classical music, storytelling and art.

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