Friday 22 July 2011

Picture Book Picnic Party




Picnic Wonderland!
The Walker canteen was transformed into an indoor British summer fete for last Thursday’s Picture Book Picnic Party. Guests were welcomed into a room full of bunting and gingham table clothes for a totally original summer party to celebrate the Picture Book Picnic campaign and the fantastic host of illustrators on our list. Jugs of Pimms were served and guests snacked on picnic style canapés followed by a visit to the ice cream stall for strawberries and cream and ice cream cones to round off the evenings. Illustrators Bruce Ingman, Chris Haughton, Ollie Lett, Viviane Schwarz, Sue Heap, Alexis Deacon and David Lucas congregated on the (fake) lawn for some live doodling on flipcharts, adding too and developing each other’s drawings - a fascinating and unique opportunity to see such a wonderful group of illustrators working together.






Deirdre mid speech!
Walker Books Picture Book Publisher Deirdre McDermott gave a lively and heartfelt speech in which she invited us to celebrate the wonderful picture books Walker is home to. The guests were also treated to an exclusive screening of the wonderful Picture Book Picnic trailer which features animated characters from the campaign titles. The trailer was met with squeals of delight and rapturous applause – it will soon be featured here so watch this space!








Our lovely illustrators!
It was a jolly and buzzing evening and guests were in high spirits after the Pimms and were delighted to receive picnic goody bags on departure, which contained branded postcards, posters, stickers and activity sheets. We have a goody bag to give away to one lucky person, for your chance to win just tell us which Picture Book Picnic title is your favourite and why. The winner will be announced at the end of July.