Graffeg News May 2024


A Second Adventure for Christopher Nibble

02 May 2024

Christopher Nibble learns about butterflies and caterpillars in the second story featuring the guinea pigs of Dandeville.

02 May 2024 | Paperback | 36 pages  230 x 230mm | Ages 5-7 | £7.99

Christopher Nibble and his friend Posie are keeping six hairy caterpillars as pets. They look after their pets carefully but, one day, the caterpillars disappear! Christopher and Posie are worried about the caterpillars and put up posters all around Dandeville until Mr Rosetti helps them solve their minibeast mystery.

The book shows children how they can learn through observing and exploring nature safely and respectfully. Complete with a list of caterpillar facts and a step-by-step guide on how to look after a caterpillar of your own, it provides a great accompaniment to outdoor learning, fit to inspire any budding naturalist. Previously published by Oxford University Press, Christopher’s Caterpillars has been redesigned and republished by the team at Graffeg.

Charlotte Middleton studied Graphic Art with English and then specialised in Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Her first book, Tabitha’s Terrifically Tough Tooth, was

published in 1998 and since then she has written and illustrated more than 15 books.


The Debut Picture Book by Shann Jones

07 May 2024

Learn about the frog lifecycle in Shann Jones’s debut children’s book.
| Paperback | 36 pages  230 x 230mm | Ages 5-7 | £7.99

Isabella, Elis and Macsen are regular visitors to Mamgu’s ‘magic’ garden. 

One day, they discover a new arrival in the fountain, a frog they name Suki. Little do they know that this new arrival will take them on a magical adventure through the frog’s lifecycle, learning many weird and wonderful facts about them along the way. The Magic Garden: Frog encourages children to recognise the extraordinary in all creatures.

Along with being a useful teaching aid and an entertaining story, this book is also an extremely personal project for author Shann Jones. The magic garden is heavily inspired by her own garden in Llandysul, Ceredigion, and a portion of the royalties from the book will be donated to Froglife, a British wildlife charity committed to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles.





Shann Jones is a Pulitzer-nominated journalist and professional author with six previously published books. She is also the co-founder and co-director of Chuckling Goat, an explosively successful natural health business. The business is based on the couples’ family farm in Ceredigion, Wales, where the real ‘Magic Garden’ is located.


A Summer Solstice Story from Karin Celestine

23 May 2024

A summer story of joy and sparks of inspiration.
Hardback | 48 pages |  200 x 200mm | £12.99

Following on from the autumn and winter solstice stories, The Wish Gatherers and The Lightbringers, The Joy Bringers sees the seasons turn once more, with summer providing the backdrop for a tale of finding sudden inspiration and sparks of joy.


Written by author and felt artist Karin Celestine who made the felt creations at the centre of this tale and photographed them for this book, The Joy Bringers offers a gentle short story about finding the small beauties and inspiration in everyday things and bringing joy to others.

The story aims to solve the question of where these sudden sparks of joy, inspiration and wonder come, showing the wild creatures from the story hiding them throughout
the world for us to find and spread them to others. The book concludes with a short essay by folklorist Pamela Thom-Rowe who describes some of the British traditions around the summer solstice that can be found within some rural communities.


The Joy Bringers is the third in the four-part Tales of the Turning Year series, a series that draws inspiration from nature, the seasons and folkloric traditions in order to inspire and encourage both young and old alike.

Karin Celestine lives in a small house in Monmouth, Wales. In the garden is a shed and in the shed is another world. The world of Celestine and the Hare. It is a place where kindness, mischief and beauty help people smile. Karin is an artist and author who creates needle felted animals of charm and character, including the stars of their story books published by Graffeg.


Introducing the UK's Only Drag Queen Farmer

23 May 2024

The UK’s only known drag-farmer captured in photographs by award-winning photographer  Billie Charity.
Hardback | 96 pages |  200 x 200mm | £18.99

On an Eardisley farm, in conservative, rural Herefordshire, lives Dean Goodwin-Evans aka Boo La Croux: farmer, organiser of Hereford Pride, professional hairdresser, son of an Aston Villa footballer, husband of Paul, lover of horses, and Miss Drag UK 2021. Queen from no Scene is a new book exploring Dean’s day-to-day life as the UK’s only known drag farmer through images by award-winning photographer Billie Charity.

Showing Dean in the various stages of transition into Boo la Croux, these images show the dedication to his art as well as the great effort that goes into becoming Boo, whilst also being a full-time farm owner. 
The images have also been captured over a year, showing many of the events that Boo attends including Christmas parties, Hay Pride, club nights and even Hay Festival 2023.A popular figure within the LGBTQ+ community,  Boo la Croux has over 10k followers on Instagram and has been featured in national media including Metro, Daily Mail, Diva and most recently on  Channel 5’s Springtime on the Farm TV show.

Queen from No Scene will launch on 24th May at this year’s Hay Festival, with Dean and Billie discussing the book.

Billie Charity is an award-winning portrait and reportage photographer who has worked closely with  David Hurn, John Bulmer and Niall McDiarmid. Her clients include the National Trust, the Big Lottery Fund, the Canal and River Trust, the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, the Poets’ Society, Country Living and Faber. Her two previous photo books, People of Hay and Colour, were launched to critical acclaim.


Dean Goodwin-Evans, aka Boo La Croux, is an enterprising UK performer and winner of Miss Drag UK 2021. Dean spends his days focusing on agriculture, but his free time on drag culture.


A Once-in-a-Lifetime
Himalayan Adventure

30 May 2024

An adventurer’s ideal holiday through the Himalayas on a mountain bike.
Paperback | 256 pages |  210 x 148mm | £16.99

Part guidebook, part travelogue but definitely all adventure, join author Richard Williams and photographers Manish Maharja and Ananta Poudel as they cross the Nepalese Himalayas on a mountain bike.

Originally from a Pembrokeshire farming family but now resident in Switzerland, Richard details this most remarkable of journeys through some of the most stunning, and most challenging, landscapes and environments the world has to offer.
Along with the remarkable textual and photographic account of the full route split up into its various stages, the book also contains maps, information on Nepal, how to prepare for the trip and plenty of other information you might need if you fancy undertaking the journey yourself.

Richard Williams says, ‘With this guidebook we hope to bust the myth that the Himalayas is an extreme and untouchable realm of travel for regular cyclists who enjoy endurance sports and adventure riding. If there was one road to rule them all for the adventure cyclist, then The Road is it.’
Richard Williams grew up on a farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and spent a number of years through the 1990s working in kitchens in Australia and teaching English around Asia. After a degree and master’s degree in Development Studies from Exeter University and the LSE respectively, Richard worked as a technical writer at the Global Fund to Fight HIV/Aids, TB & Malaria in Geneva and later at the United Nations. After a terrifying bus journey on the Leh to Manali Highway in 2000, Richard swore never to travel that way again, and invested in a mountain bike for all future mountain adventures. Since then, he has toured the mountains of Nepal and the Indian Himalayas a number of times and has participated in several stage races around the world, including Nepal’s Yak Attack, Colombia’s La Leyenda del Dorado and the Swiss Epic.

EVENTS

Graffeg Authors at
Hay Festival 2024

Billie Charity and Boo La Croux talk to Ben Andrews
24 May 2024, 19:00, Spring Stage, £11

Peter the Cat's Little Book of Big Words with Zeb Soanes
26 May 2024, 11:30, Spring Stage, £7

Sue Kent and Sarah Raven
30 May 2024, 11:30, Global Stage, £13

Stories in the Wilds with Emma Bettridge [SOLD OUT]
26 May 2024, 11:30 and 13:00, Wild Garden

Melita Thomas at Markenfield Hall

16 May 2024, Markenfield Hall, Ripon, Yorkshire.


1000 Tudor People author Melita Thomas visits the atmospheric surroundings of the historic Markenfield Hall. Visit the property's website for further details.

Harry Holland
Speaks to Nation Cymru

This week, Graffeg author Harry Holland, whose Paintings book was published at the end of 2023, spoke to Nation Cymru about the book and his status as one of Britain's foremost figurative painters. Full article available here.

British Wildlife Photography Awards
On Tour

18th May 2024 – 7th July 2024,
Nunnington Hall, Yorkshire.


Each year, the British Wildlife Photography Awards embark on a journey around the UK in a touring exhibition. 


From 18th May 2024 to 7th July 2024, the exhibition will be based at Nunnington Hall, Yorkshire.
Visit their website for further details.

Children's Storytelling
with Marielle Bayliss

11.00, 25th May 2024, Leith Hill, Dorking, Surrey

Join local author Marielle Bayliss for a reading from her book Frog's Bog, plus enjoy fun frog facts, frog jokes and activity sheets to take home or complete in the library. Suitable for ages 2-6 years. Visit the property's website for further details.

2 comments

  • What a great May

    Jonathan Roberts
  • Looks good, very useful.

    Peter Gill

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