(I'll do a slightly dessicated version here, because I'm in the lounge at Narita and don't have long before my plane boards now...)
I was brought in for the Ad Congress -- I gave a talk about the imagination and why it is a good thing, and then, on Saturday morning, did a reading of the complete first chapter of The Graveyard Book, an interview and a signing for about 200 people (it was only meant to be for the first 100 in the line -- some of whom started lining up at midnight -- but I added in about an extra 45 minutes signing at the end). Then to Manila -- on the way I read the finalists for the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards, and was really impressed by the quality of the prose stories. Fully Booked runs the awards, and on Saturday morning I found myself sitting in Fully Booked while stacks of copies of Expeditions were put in front of me to sign. These were the two collections (prose and comics) of winners and runners-up from the first Award, last year. Many interviews followed, and a mass press conference. And then, in the afternoon, I had the odd experience of being a magician's assistant (for local magician Erik Mana) and awards presenter, in front of a large crowd (and despite the rain), and I announced the thing we're adding to the awards for next year (a short films category), and at one point I dragged Mike up on stage with me (when I was asked about being a children's author and having children), and I sort of promised I'd come back for the third round, and that I'd do a signing if I did...
(I loved the whole trip but it was made much more fun by having a son with me.)
Then dinner with the winners and judges from this year and last year's competition.
Back to the hotel, and up at 5.00am to leave Manila. And now I'm here.
Expect postings to decrease between here and Xmas. I have a book to finish, and I'm done gallivanting, I hope...
Labels: airports, Awards, Erik Mana, Fully Booked, Mike, Philippines, signing as much as I can