Philippa Dowding's Blog - Posts Tagged "dundurn-press"

So very honoured that the folks at My Book Addiction blog have chosen my forthcoming book, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, as their 'Waiting on Wednesday' pick for this week! Thank you!

The list "spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating."

In their "Why I'm waiting" section, they had this to say: "Simply put: This just sounds like a fun read! Every now and then I like to read things that aren’t overly complicated or mind-boggling, and this sounds like it fits the bill perfectly. The cover caught my eye and once I read the synopsis it went directly onto my TBR list."

Read more about MyBookAddiction on their great book blog: http://mybookaddiction.com/waiting-on...

For all of you who have ever wanted to fly ... here's a beautiful book trailer for my forthcoming title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, available January 2014. Many thanks to the talented George Panayotou for the transcendant video design.

Enjoy the flight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW5lI5...

What a great week! I received a lovely gift in the mail, from a teacher and her students in Northern Ontario. They made me 3 awesome buttons for my OLA Silver Birch Express nominated book, "The Gargoyle at the Gates" and a gargoyle friendship bracelet, cuz, you know, everyone wants to be friends with a gargoyle!!

I LOVE their gifts (thanks guys!). Here's a photo on my other blog: http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2014/03/...

Plus, some time ago I won a Kobo from my publisher's annual party in January. I'm the queen of terrible selfies (I hardly ever take them, it's been three months since I last used my camera), so if you'd like to see a photo of me looking uncomfortable, you'll find it there, too.

It being Friday the 13th, and a full moon and all today (which won't happen again for decades until 2049 or something), you may want to read something spooky this weekend.

So here's a spooky middle grade short story of mine just published in the summer issue of Taddle Creek! It's an adapted excerpt from my upcoming book, Jake and the Giant Hand, coming from Dundurn Press September 2014.

Huge flies, a lonely cabin in the woods, and a giant creepy hand ... I give you, The Giant's Knock: http://www.taddlecreekmag.com/the-gia...

Enjoy!

It's a bit of a hall of mirrors in goodreads sometimes, but if you like magic realism and middle grade novels, here's a newsflash for you: right now you can request, read and review a digital copy of my forthcoming novel, Jake and the Giant Hand.

It's available on Net Galley for a limited time (probably a week?) here: https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/sho...

If you like, you can read more about the book on my other blog, here:
http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2014/07/...

If you request a copy, thank you and I hope you enjoy it!

I've been away a bit, "remembering my summertimes," as Stuart Little famously said. I came back to a few nice surprises, namely more good reviews for my new book, Jake and the Giant Hand, plus a guest post on my publisher's blog, about what it felt like to receive my first award nomination.

A quick excerpt from the guest post: "I simply couldn’t believe it. I had to re-read the letter from the nominating committee about thirty times until it very, very slowly, sunk in. I don’t generally need that long to get the gist of something, but for several minutes I simply couldn’t grasp what I was reading. Eventually though, I did catch on. I got out of my chair and danced around my office, then through the house. Keeping the news quiet until the shortlist was officially announced was like trying not to let anyone see me breathe, or blink."

For more about Jake and the Giant Hand, and what makes authors dance around like nine-year-olds, here is my other blog: http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2014/08/...

"The tale has a great ending with a clever wrap-up that will keep readers wondering."

My newest middle grade book, Jake and the Giant Hand , has just received a terrific review from the School Library Journal in the US. Shawna Daigle's wonderful illustrations are also lauded.

I'm really delighted about this, and quite honoured. Thank you, SLJ! Also chuffed to see that Neil Gaiman's newest book, Hansel & Gretel, is also reviewed in the same issue. Mr. Gaiman is a writer I've loved for years, long before I became a writer myself.

Here's a link to my other blog, with more on the review (and Neil Gaiman): http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2014/09/...

Here's the Goodreads hall of mirrors again, but if you'd like to enter to win a copy of my upcoming middle grade creepy story, Jake and the Giant Hand, just click here: http://bit.ly/1qMK6au

The good folks at Dundurn Press are offering up 5 copies to be won on a Goodreads Giveaway, so if you're interested please request a copy. The offer expires Oct 10, so do it now while you're thinking about it.

The wonderful illustrations by Shawna Daigle (how can an artist make a huge fly both adorable AND creepy?) are worth the effort!

Good luck, hope you win, just in time for Halloween.

Big news today! I am so honoured to announce that my 2014 middle grade title, The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, has just been nominated for a Red Maple award by the Ontario Library Association, as part of their reader's choice Forest of Reading awards.

A heartfelt thanks to the OLA for supporting, promoting and introducing Canadian authors to Canadian children. Also, many thanks to my publisher, Dundurn Press, for going on this strange little magic realism ride with me, and believing in a story about a flying girl.

Really, I'm so delighted and frankly, a little surprised! This is my third Forest of Reading nomination (gargoyle books two and three were Silver Birch express nominees in 2012 and 2014), but this is my first Red Maple nomination, which is for grades 7-8.

It's such an honour, plus I'll finally, finally, get to meet Ken Oppel! How cool is that?! Congratulations to all.

Here's a blog post on my other blog, with more info: http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2014/10/...

Here it is, the last day of 2014. Facebook recently sent me a compilation of photos of my year (which always creeps me out), but did remind me that 2014 has been a fantastic year for me. Thank you to readers, fans, voting committees, librarians, and Dundurn, my publisher, I'm very, very lucky and grateful for all the support from everyone this year.

A quick rundown: 2 book launches, 6 award nominations, 2 author tours, 1 magazine excerpt, and contracts signed for 2 more books. It's going to be a tough year to beat!

Here's a link to a longer blog post about 2014, the fantastic year that was: http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2014/12/...

Happy New Year, one and all!