Song of the Golden Hare
The publishing industry is a strange beast. It’s not unusual for an author, illustrator to have books out of print. For years I was very lucky with Frances Lincoln. Not only did they keep my backlist in print, they kept them in hardback. But the company was sold, staffing changes ensued, relationships were broken and steadily my books went out of print.
Some came back, with Otter-Barry Books and Graffeg. Now I have begun a new adventure, working with Unbound, to bring out a new, small, book for dreamers, called The Unwinding and with it, some of my backlist, beginning with The Song of the Golden Hare.
You can read about The Unwinding here. So, what can I say about The Song of the Golden Hare?
It is a book about a family who are guardians of the hares. The heroes are children, who venture out into the night to follow the hares at the time of the running.
It began with a desire to write about hares, to paint hares. And it began as a series of sketches.
For a while it was a hardback book, one that was nominated for the Greenaway. It sold well, went into a second edition, and then as changes happened in Quarto ( formerly Frances Lincoln) went out of print.
And now it is coming back, hand in paw with The Unwnding.
You can read more about its making on the book page of my blog. I loved the magic of discovering that the island of the golden hares was a real place. And you can help to fund the re-release of the book, back into its natural habitat and the Unbound page.
If you can please share that would be wonderful.
Thank you.
So looking forward to finding the words of The Unwinding. ( Not sure what Fishheads is saying in the photo above, but he is always so helpful).
Ahhhhhhhhh ! 🙂
What a BEAUTY !
(and thanks for sharing the process )
Hello Jackie!
I’m so happy that your backlist is going to be back in print! I just wanted to ask a quick question about The Golden Hare please. Is it going to available from Unbound just as itself, or is it only available through the Unwinding £50 pledge?
Thank you, have a lovely day 🙂
Lizzie x
I will ask them to put it up as a single reward. Thanks for suggestion.
It will in future be available like any other book.
Re Tweets…………..
Hot tubs, drones….. what is it with people? Do they not understand the concept of peace and quiet?
It’s not much consolation, but they will smell of chlorine, too.
Re. approaching people when they are in a situation which makes them more vulnerable…
Here’s a wee tale…………..
Years ago, I worked with a young woman who was very much intimidated by her supervisor. He was a generally short-tempered, dictatorial person. I had dealings with him, too, but didn’t let him get away with it.
Her nervousness made her weaker, so, when he talked to her, she went to pieces and garbled, which made things worse. I suggested that when/if he spoke to her the way he did, she pictured him sitting on a toilet, naked. It’s impossible to feel intimidated by someone, when you picture them sitting on a toilet, naked.
She tried it, and it worked – she didn’t even hear his tone, she just saw him, a middle aged man, sitting on a toilet, naked.
Seriously though Jackie – I hope this get sorted out. It can make an enormous difference to peace of mind, and state of mind, especially in the country, where everything carries so much, to have noise and sharp smells next door.
Maybe they’ll go away. I hope so.
PEOPLE!
Hello Jackie & Chris Packham
I clicked on the link in your Tweet, thinking I could email Mr Packham – but it took me to his Twitter page. As I‘m not on Twitter, I can’t tell my Harrier tale – so, Jackie, once again, I’ll hi-jack your blog, and tell it here.
We are very fortunate in that we regularly see a male Hen harrier and a female Hen Harrier, ( never at the same time), also a short eared owl, and sometimes a kestrel – once or twice a sparrow–hawk, flying over our garden. In a couple of instances, the owl pouncing on and eating something, in the meadow/garden. The reason why is….we let our garden go wild. The lawn is now meadow – you should see it just now – mad stuff – everything going crazy.
We had a heron standing by the pond, for a while, before it headed South to breed. Not a raptor, but, a sight to see.
The tale of the whole thing, is here, in this link…….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/08/14/bernie-bell-i-can-hear-the-grass-grow/
The message is – let your garden go wild, and small beasts will come, then big birds, who eat the small beasts. That’s just how it is. We’re not sentimental about it.
We watched the heron gulping down a couple of frogs – so it goes.
The other message is – what is wrong with these people, who needlessly kill these birds? What is WRONG with them? We need to ensure that they don’t get away with it, then that might stop them doing it. They need to have the law behind them – strongly behind them.
I’m getting cross, I’ll stop.
Our garden isn’t as big a as moor, where Harriers can roam, but there’s a lot of heathy land around us, where they live, and, as far as I know, no one around here bothers them, many are pleased to harbour such creatures. And, a lot of gardens, going wild together, can make a big space for wild things.
One thing though – we’re noticing less visits from the big birds, as we notice less voles, which could be because of the (unintentionally ) introduced stoats, who are multiplying rapidly. You have to admire their survival abilities, but – it seems like more than a coincidence that, suddenly, we have less voles, and less visits from the hunting birds.
https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/01/28/be-ware-of-stoats/