Waterstones

She was the quintessential young rebel who broke all the rules about how good little girls should be portrayed in children’s literature by standing up to bullies in the name of justice – and having a laugh at the same time.

Now, Roald Dahl’s Matilda – the most powerful female genius ever to be underestimated by a hammer-throwing headmistress – has been portrayed for the first time as a 30-year-old woman in a series of eight sketches by Dahl’s long-time illustrator and friend Quentin Blake.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the first publication of the book, three of these sketches will appear next month on the covers of special collectors’ editions, showing Matilda variously as an astrophysicist, a world traveller and as chief executive of the British Library.

>>> https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/15/matilda-at-30-roald-dahl-quentin-blake

Extract from ‘This Much I Know’ weekend feature in Irish press, in which Sarah Crossan reveals her intention to write about Mary Magdalene one day:

If I could be someone else for a day, I’d be Mary Magdalene. There will be a time when I will write about her; she is such a mysterious character.

I consider myself to be spiritual and was brought up Catholic. I believe in the power of the universe. I’ve been conditioned to think that there is a higher power. It doesn’t mean I don’t put in the work.

When it comes to dealing with stress and challenging times, I try to practice positive thinking. I write gratitude lists to remind myself, of all the things I have to be thankful for, from my healthy child to hot running water. It helps me to put my problems in perspective.

The best advice I ever received was to ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’. Fear stops us — fear of not being good enough, that we can’t do it — but you just have to steel yourself. Courage is fear walking.

Read the full piece >>> https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/features/this-much-i-know-author-sarah-crossan-869091.html

This looks to be a truly marvellous picture book…

When researching the subject, were there any films, archives, or locations that you found particularly useful and/or inspiring?

Júlia: I always try to do a good amount of research before start drawing, it helps me a lot to find inspiration. I also try to look among different artistic disciplines to widen my view. In this case I think that the biggest influence was the painter Felix Vallotton, his representations of the countryside and the interiors of the époque were very useful. But you can see hints of lots of inspirations in things such as the dancing fire and the ghosts in the storm inspired from Fantasia, “Night on Bald Mountain” the floor pattern from Twin Peaks, and there’s also inspiration from Goya’s Colossus mixed with “Fight to death with Clubs”, Medieval language from “Apocalypsis” from Beato de Liébana, etc.

Read the full, richly illustrated piece here >>> https://theaoi.com/2018/09/12/mary-and-frankenstein-julia-sarda-interview-review/