In which Andrew demonstrates a feat of agility.https://www.instagram.com/p/BR4R2eqDhsp/
The Igiby cottage
We now have art for the Igiby cottage!
What do you think of this little homely house? I just noticed the flowers in the window box. Skree is under Fang occupation, and Nia plants flowers. I have Thoughts about that, and would love to hear yours.Andrew's Edge of Dawn tour just wrapped up last night. Spring is here. Easter is coming.[embed]https://www.facebook.com/KennyStole/videos/10211452577177601/[/embed]The stories are true.
This week, Madame Sidler will be reading part three of "The Places Beyond the Maps." Come back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share one of your own!
Andrew at Princeton
This June, Andrew has the indibnible honor of speaking at Princeton Theological Seminary's Frederick Buechner's Writer's Workshop. In a session titled "Discovering Grace: 'Listening to Your Life,'"
Andrew will share about the influence Frederick Buechner’s writing has had on his own work, and will discuss the discipline of “listening to your life,” one of the main themes of Buechner’s work. The creative process is one of the chief ways we discover who we are, what we think, and, most importantly, the intimate and gracious work of God in our lives. Andrew will share examples from his songwriting and his novels when he was ambushed by the realization that when we take the time to pay attention to the narrative of our lives we discover the presence of grace.
This is a four-day event, during which Andrew will present his talk twice. Other session topics include the necessity of failure for creativity, the mysteries of getting published, writing and publishing for spiritual formation, and structure & story. Check out the details here.
This week, Madame Sidler will be reading part two of Douglas McKelvey's Wingfeather Tale, "The Places Beyond the Maps." Join us in the forum to discuss the story, and come back on Friday for an excerpt!Save the Date: Join Doug and Andrew for a live chat on April 11. Details to come!
Douglas McKelvey: An introduction and an announcement
High-quality weirdo Douglas Kaine McKelvey is one of the best writers any of us have ever heard of. His craft spans works of beauty, absurdity, tragedy, brilliancy, surreality, and heartwarbling poignancy.He is also the president of the International Conspiracy & Trade Company and a world-renowned expert on cassowaries, and he has directed some very fine videos.Doug's most recent book is The Wishes of the Fish King (illustrated by Jamin Still). Currently he is working with illustrator Zach Franzen and our own Bookbindery Guildmaster to republish The Angel Knew Papa and the Dog, a middle-grade "lyrical frontier fantasy." It is available for preorder at the Rabbit Room for release early next month.In addition to all this, Doug wrote the Wingfeather Tale which Andrew called one of his top five books of last year. And that brings us to:
LIVE CHAT!
To wrap up our Wingfeather Tales book club, Doug will be joining Andrew for a LIVE CHAT AT THE CHAPTER HOUSE on Tuesday, April 11. Details to come!
This week, Madame Sidler will read the Part One of "The Places Beyond the Maps." Come back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share one of your own! Meanwhile, join us in the forum as we talk about what this story said to us.
Glipwood by the Sea
New animated series artwork, just released yesterday: Glipwood!
You've seen a peek of this view behind the characters on the series poster, but this is a new concept of the little town by the cliffs where the Igiby three grew up. (If you miss the old Glipwood, don't worry; it's still there, just to the right (south) of the view in this image.) How do you like the crevasse? The colors? The dilapidated buildings and bridges, and the Fang flags fluttering from fine old architecture? The glittering sea and the angle of the sunlight?
Redeemed Reader Review
Today I bring to you a starred review of Wingfeather Tales from Betsy at Redeemed Reader, a book review website which seeks to inculcate habits of "thinking Christianly" through children's literature.
Imagine if a group of professional authors and illustrators were so enamored with Lewis’s Narnia that they each created a unique new story—not an addition [to] the Narnia canon, but an expansion of the elements already present. Someone might write a humorous story of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver falling in love. Someone else might write a fiercesome story about Caspian IX’s betrayal by his brother, Miraz. Or what about a story about those funny Dufflepods and their original transformation to Dufflepods? Now imagine that Tolkien wrote one of those stories and inserted a hobbit into his Narnia story. And that all these authors and illustrators are the Inklings and actually know one another.That is exactly what the Wingfeather Tales is.
Thanks, Betsy! To read the rest of the review, click here, and then poke around the site to find their other Wingfeather reviews. :-)Extra: Redeemed Reader is hosting a Beauty and the Beast themed readalong this month, with featured picture books on Mondays, devotionals on Fridays (the first is up already), and discussions on an assortment of relevant titles (middle grade, YA, and adult books, as well as movies) throughout the month. Wingfeather is included in the lineup. If you'd like to be challenged to think through the topics of beauty, sin, and redemption, click on over.
This week, Madame Sidler will be reading Jonathan Rogers' Wingfeather Tale, "The Ballad of Lanric and Rube." (Catch a video preview here.) Come back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share one of your own! We've got great conversations happening in the forum, too, and you're invited.
Happy Kickstarterversary!
A year ago today, just before midnight, Andrew posted the first update on the Kickstarter campaign we'd launched that morning. Twenty four hours later, he posted a deliriously happy poem for The End of Day Two. At 8:28 the following morning, the base goal was FUNDED. The rest of that month went by in a blur that made our heads spin and our hearts nearly explode in gratitude and bogglement, and when it was over we (WE, all of us) had raised 241% of our original goal—enough to animate the Igibys, the Fangs, and the Sock Man, plus thwaps and Nugget and the whole town of Glipwood.
Dear Featherheads, I'm proud of us.What was your favorite part of the Kickstarter, or of the journey since then? What are you most excited to see once Chris and the team have finished the good work they're doing? Do you know how grateful we are for you???Love,Madame Sidler
Fluffy's dragon
This remarkable sea dragon was drawn by Heather, who is also known as "H-Bomb, Fluffy, Claudia, Heather the feather the queen of the weather. Writer, laugher, photo artist, drawer and student." (What sort of delightful person identifies herself as a laugher? I love it.) The crystalline patterns on its crest and around its eyes are fascinating to me—and speaking of which, what wonderful eyes. It looks like it has just spotted a very tiny and very curious human, and is itself very curious (although not very tiny). I think it would be such a profound experience to look into those eyes.Thank you, Heather! More dragons, please!
This week, Madame Sidler will be reading A.S. Peterson's Wingfeather Tale, "From the Deeps of the Dragon King." Come back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share one of your own! And join us in the forum to talk about this story or anything else.Andrew, Audrey, and the band have a few days off, but they'll be hitting the road again on Thursday for the second weekend of the spring tour. Check out Andrew's music site for details!