Katie & the Diamond Jubilee at Battersea Park!

Rather like Canaletto's spectacular scene of a Royal flotilla on the Thames, this Sunday June 3rd, there will be thousands of boats once again on London's river to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. I believe some of the old Royal Barges will be brought out of Greenwich museum (which I saw just before Christmas - beautiful) for the event.

I think Katie would love to climb inside this painting. Perhaps the modern flotilla will seem like a Canaletto come alive, just like in a Katie story.

Even if Katie can't be there, I can, and I'll be in Battersea Park at Wayne Hemingway's spectacular festival, telling patriotic stories...

*** UPDATE*** THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Katie comes to Hay!

Many years ago, when I was a student, I fell in love with a book in the art college library. I couldn't just get a copy for myself... so I went back time and again to look at it. The book was called simply, The Bolshoi, and it was full of photographs of wonderful sets and costumes for operas and ballets at this famous theatre in Moscow. It was published in Soviet Russia and imported and impossible to find a duplicate... or so I thought.

It was because of this book that I eventually visited Russia for myself... but I didn't find it there either.

But in the meantime a family holiday took me to Hay on Wye. How I loved browsing through all the bookshops. Aladdin's Cave was surely never so exciting. And near the end of the holiday I found a shop specialising in art books. I thought it was worth an idle browse. And there, on a shelf... not one, but TWO copies of the book!

And so it is with enormous pleasure that I prepare for my very first visit to the Hay Fever book festival.
There will be stories. There will be paint. There will be lots of fun and here are the details if you want to join me on June 2nd:

http://www.hayfestival.com/p-4303-james-mayhew.aspx

Orchestrating events

I realise things have been a little quiet on the Katie blog recently. Fear not, all sorts of news will soon be coming and as usual I don't want to jinx things by making premature announcements. But there are exciting plans, wonderful ideas being discussed. If you are very quiet you might just hear the whisperings...! There might be events. There might be big celebrations. There might be books... wait and see!


As well as "orchestrating" things to do with Katie, I am also preparing for ever more children's concerts. The unique package of music, art and story is, I think, an unbeatable combination. I love what has been achieved with Katie and art. I want to do the same for Classical music. So if you are anywhere near the West of England or the Midlands this summer, try to get to one of the concerts with the sensational Orchestra of the Music Makers from Singapore - a huge orchestra of over 100 superb young classical musicians!!!


Together we are performing "Scheherazade" by Rimsky-Korsakov. The Cheltenham performance is on July 7th, and a performance in Lichfield Cathedral takes place on July 8th. With incredibly cheap tickets this is simply an unmissable opportunity to hear a full classical orchestra of this calibre.

To book for Cheltenham, visit:

http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/find-events/music/m19-sinbad-the-sailor-and-scheherazade

And for Lichfield:

http://www.lichfieldfestival.org/blog/2012/04/orchestra-of-the-music-makers/