Monday 31 March 2014

We're in the press, we're in the press!!!

Really smashing article written by features editor Keith John Lewis for the famous Brixton Bugle, no less.


Here it is in print...

Or read it online here: BRIXTON BLOG


We're really #proud (can I 'hashtag' like that? Does that make sense..? This isn't twitter, but it seems to be what people do now...)

Monday 17 March 2014

Extremely moving and beautifully written article by Walter Dean Myers in New York Times:

Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?



Walter Dean Myers is an author of books for children and young adults including “Monster,” and the previous Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

Proud to say that my first novel for children aged 9-12 years has a central character of colour. 
And that both our picturebooks for children published by Tate, illustrate a diverse, joyful and multi-cultural London. 

When we went to do one of our special Possum's Tail storytelling sessions at a local primary school recently, this aspect of the book was celebrated by the form teacher, who said she was disappointed by how few children's books included the wonderful and diverse mixture of people in the world.

What are those gates? It can't be true!
The possums bob above the...ZOO!
Big Ben is chiming,
it's quarter to eight and
London is calling,
we mustn't be late!

Sunday 16 March 2014



And we were not disappointed! Beautiful on many levels, Ralph Fiennes heads a star-packed cast with a performance of comic genius that's utterly engaging, perceptive and detailed in what is a delightful, fizzy, dark and delicious film of exquisite visuals, witty dialogue and well-paced story. Yet the Grand Budapest Hotel is still a considered, unsettling and surprisingly moving film, given its stylised nature.

Being of Eastern European decent, I found the hotel surroundings in the '70s GBH strangely familiar. Wes Anderson has captured every detail of the faded grandeur common to the similar establishments I visited on holiday in Poland as a child in late '70s (the stacked trolleys, white starched napkins and tired crockery containing always the same kind of delicious broth) and in so doing, he's re-created the lonely, crumbling atmosphere of a once beautiful now despondently beige Communist country.

The GBH in its heyday is of course a place of sparkle and delight about to be crushed by the ugliness of a dark and unknown army. The deliberate parallels with our own European history are obvious yet no less unsettling for that. The delightful Gustav H (played by Fiennes) manages to stick it to these dark oppressors and fiendish thugs, by maintaining his high standards, eccentric charm and poetic grace under what become the most ghastly of circumstances, and despite an almost catastrophic lack of cologne.

Ok, perhaps it could be trimmed here and there; there are moments that are perhaps unnecessary but hey, it is a confection as delectable as the Mendl's cakes that pack such a punch (as well as saw, hammer and chisel…)

"She was dynamite in the sack, you know…" 
"She was 84!"
"Hmmm I've had older…"

What's not to like, *mum?!

(*To explain, my mother called just before we set-off to the cinema and when she heard what film we were seeing announced, in what could be a line from the film: "Oh you'll hate it, darling...")

All quotes with kindest permission from http://www.npr.org

The Grand Budapest Hotel




Wednesday 12 March 2014

Posting this because I can barely contain my excitement about this film.

The poster alone simply looks like the most deliciously elaborate cake ever baked...



"You're looking so well, darling, you really are. I don't know what sort of cream they put on you down at the morgue but I want some..."

Sunday 2 March 2014

I'm running a humble half marathon to raise a bit of money and awareness for the essential work of the Brain Tumour Charity
And in memory of a smashing kid.




I am the light that soared

I am the light that soared
bursting from nothing into brilliant being!
When the dark sky wraps a thousand dreams
in a blanket of winking stars…
there am I.

I am the brightness in heavenly streams
of consciousness 
I am in each particle that floats
and spins on moonbeams
I am the almost imperceptible warmth
that melts frost-spiked leaves.

The normality of variety
Life in all its random games,
The breadth and depth of thought
The expectation of experience
The journey ahead, around, above and beyond
each path you tread.

sing exuberantly
in a voice that clears the shadows!
Poised, watching, sure.
I am the answer to silence,
I am the love that will endure.

I am ready, steady GO!
The ebb and flow
Of Hope, Potential.
I was and always will be
Playful, sparkling
Possibility.

January 2013
For Silas

BACKGROUND information...

My first picture book - called A Possum's Tail - is a collaboration with brilliant illustrator Alex Barrow and came out 6th February 2014. A second book called London Calls! is a whistle-stop tour of London, led by a Pearly grandma and her granddaughter. London Calls! came out on 4th September 2014 and is my second book with Alex Barrow. A Possum's Tail was nominated for the 2015 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal.
Both books are by Tate Publishing.

Please see my AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE or CURRICULUM VITAE for more details & updates.

As well as writing children's books, for children's television and two award-winning children's magazines, I do both private and commercial art commissions, a selection of which you can see here.

The children's shoes are part of an ongoing series of "first shoes", including several cards commissioned by the Almanac Gallery.

Hand-drawn, bespoke invitations, announcements, portraits and menus, such as the examples here are also available upon request..

Any enquiries please email: gabbydawnay@gmail.com

OKIDO MAGAZINE AND TV

I've been a regular contributor to children's art and science magazine OKIDO since 2007. HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY (WOW) beautiful Okido!

An Okido animated kids tv show, based on characters from the magazine is currently in production with Doodle/Squintopera http://www.doodle-productions.com. The original adaptation of the show (co-created/adapted by myself, producer Ceri Barnes and Doodle Productions) was acquired by CBeebies. 52 x 11 minute episodes will be coming to a screen near you soon in 2015.......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............................
MESSY GOES TO OKIDO Series ONE & TWO is now available to stream on Netflix & most episodes are available to watch on YouTube. Series THREE is currently in production.

CBeebies

CBeebies
OKIDO

Cartoon Forum 2011 Okido booklet

Cartoon Forum 2011 Okido booklet
Okido Cartoon Forum 2011

Happy Birthday OKIDO!

Happy Birthday OKIDO!
Okido was 5 years old this issue...the wonderful art and science magazine for kids I've been lucky enough to have worked on for the past - 8 - years now