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Davina Bell

@davina.bell

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Children’s book writer. Hello!
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Was excited to be invited to an exclusive storytime and even more thrilled when I realised my new book, It’s a Fire Station Celebration, was to be a featured title!! My curiosity was high, as I knew the organiser had attended (quite) a few of my own storytimes. Was keen to see if any aspects of my style and content would manifest in this session… Reader, the answer was yes. Proceedings were paused almost immediately upon starting so a watch could be located at the bottom of a basket of random, tangled treasures. Most of the remaining time then involved looking anxiously at said watch and saying, ‘Well guys I guess we have time for one more story’ while frowning. Could not have been a more incisive homage to my own delivery. I also learned some new tricks that you bet I will be implementing at future events. At least 10 minutes was taken up with a complex system whereby texta ‘clapping sticks’ were distributed to all participants, who were then firmly instructed NOT to use them during the singing section, which they were also instructed not to join in. And a snack was served - always a good move. The fact that this was small bowls of bicarb soda, and that this was among the only edible food in the house, could not be a better embodiment of where my domestic life is right now. The retelling of my new book, while it didn’t entirely hew to the original text, was full of gusto, though cut short to fit in a lengthy reading of ‘How It Works: Recycling Truck’. Fair call - it’s a banger. All in all, 10/10. No notes. (New book out now! 🚒🔥) by @davina.bell
19
13 days ago
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NEW BOOK OUT NOW!! If you know a child who: A) loves fire engines, Fireman Sam, all things fire station adjacent, and/or B) asks a lot of questions, and/or C) was a fan of All of the Factors of Why I Love Tractors then this is the perfect book/Christmas gift for them 🚒🎄🎁🔥 It’s a Fire Station Celebration! is out now, illustrated by the supremely talented @lovlieillustration and published by the team @hardiegrantkids. The biggest thank you to them all (looking at you @pintadoguy ) for the work and care and patience it takes to make a book, especially one that takes the author too many years to write, but hey ho, at least it wasn’t written by a robot! ❤️ This one features Fergus McGee, the little brother of Frankie (of Tractors fame), and introduces us to his long-suffering dad as they make their weekly pilgrimage to the fire station open morning. A real-life emergency ensues, Lucky the station Dalmatian is a hero, and it’s an ode to curiosity and to firefighters, and perhaps also to the parenting moments that make you die a little inside, and also to being okay with who you are, even if that person is sometimes kind of annoying. Something in that for all of us!? Wherever you find your books, it will be there this week. I hope you enjoy! Xx by @davina.bell
46
17 days ago
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Hachette Australia is proud to partner with The Footpath Library to deliver literacy kits to children experiencing homelessness and living in temporary crisis accommodation, shelters and refuges across parts of New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.⁠ ⁠ The partnership forms part of Hachette Australia’s Raising Readers initiative, which supports children’s literacy and aims to help more young people experience the comfort, confidence and possibility that books can bring. ⁠ ⁠ The Footpath Library will distribute the 200 kits through participating crisis accommodation services. Each kit, presented in a tote bag, will include age-appropriate books for children from birth to 12 years, as well as colouring books, activity sheets and pencils, a knitted reading teddy and a handwritten postcard of support.⁠ ⁠ Designed to bring comfort, connection and moments of joy to children facing uncertainty and upheaval, the literacy kits encourage families to share stories and give children space to enjoy reading, colouring and imaginative play in their own time. by @davina.bell
9
2 months ago
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Join me under the love umbrella at the State Library for story writing, craft and a storytime with @library_vic 📒📝✂️☂️💕 Melburnians, are you looking for school holiday fun now Easter is over? This Wednesday 8th April and next (15th) I’ll be running hour-long Build a Story World workshops for your 5-12 year olds at 10.30am and 2.00pm. Some tickets still available if you’re quick - check out the State Library website for more info and bookings! And for the younger ones, I’m doing a free storytime at 12pm in the Children’s Quarter on both days, reading some old favourites and a brand new one. Followed by a book signing at Readings ✒️🥰 Would love to see you there! Xx by @davina.bell
9
6 months ago
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TOMORROW! 2PM! 💛🪄Join us for some delightfully mischievous fun! Bestselling author Davina Bell & award-winning illustrator Sarah Zweck will be launching their new picture book, WANTED: The Cutest baby in the World from 2pm to 3pm (March 1). 👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻 Late one evening, a detective knocks on the door of two exhausted parents. She’s on the hunt for the world’s most devious master criminal: The Cutest Baby in the World... Secure your spot via the link our bio! @davina.bell @sarahzweckstudio by @davina.bell
5
8 months ago
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GUESS WHAT!? This March 1 from 2pm, you get to meet bestselling author Davina Bell AND award-winning illustrator Sarah Zweck as they launch their new picture book, WANTED: The Cutest baby in the World. 👶🏻 Join us for some delightfully mischievous fun! 🪄 Late one evening, a detective knocks on the door of two exhausted parents. She’s on the hunt for the world’s most devious master criminal: The Cutest Baby in the World... Should you find yourself in this rogue’s clutches, your entire world will be turned upside-down! But the most villainous bit? You wouldn’t have it any other way. Secure your spot via the link our bio! We hope to see you there. 💜 @davina.bell @sarahzweckstudio by @davina.bell
5
8 months ago
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10 years ago I sat at the dinner table with Davina and Allison to talk about how we could possibly follow-up Under the Umbrella. As usual we ended up talking about everything else. Al told Davina and me a story about her gorgeous niece feeling ‘less smart’ than her older sister—not good at ‘remembering’. Her niece stopped chatting for a bit to do some drawing and then looked at Al and she said – holding up her drawing – 'maybe I am smart at drawing witches hats!'. When Al told us this story Davina and I looked at each other and immediately said ‘it's a book!’. Davina wrote her first draft of the text in under a month and then Al started painting the artwork. I had my second daughter in the middle of it all, but I will never forget coming into the office for the first time to hold an advance copy and having a full body vibration. Somehow knowing that it was a classic already. I've published many books that I love and I'm extremely proud of, but this was a one-time feeling. ‘All the Ways to be Smart' was an immediate hit, selling almost 200,000 copies in Australia, with strong US & UK sales and translations into more than 10 languages. It's consistently our bestseller and has kept Scribble afloat in the harsh economic climate of independent publishing. Davina, Allison, the Scribble team and I are immensely proud to see the book in The Guardian's Best Australian Picture Book Poll top 10. These processes are inherently flawed, miss important titles, and don't necessarily represent our industry best. Picture books are a mystic artform. Among the many things that they can be—mirrors, doors, journeys, life lessons, escapes, and hopes for a different future—their biggest power is when they allow children their own agency to understand and interpret meaning. I’m privileged to work in this field with so many brilliant artists and storytellers to have the opportunity to intersect with a child’s life at a most precious and impactful time. Proud to share our industry with publishers like the brilliant Magabala Books and creators like Zeno Sworder, Maxine Beneba Clark, Daniel Gray-Barnett & Shaun Tan. Votes close tomorrow for the final ‘winner’. Do as you will! —Miriam Early cover design for "All the Ways to be Smart" on a bright grass green background with title in white bold letters and faint sketched illustrations of children in various activities. Authors' names "Davina Bell" and "Allison Colpoys" appear at the bottom of the script. Scribble logo in top right corner. Text below reads: First cover draft (it was only ever green!) by @davina.bell
53
8 months ago
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It’s publication day for my latest book! Wanted: The Cutest Baby in the World, illustrated by the wickedly talented @sarahzweckstudio and out now with the fantastic team @thamesandhudsonau This is the story of a detective who comes knocking late at night, hot on the trail of a master criminal, and the very tired parents who are living under its tyrannical rule. Not rhyming and not a tear-jerker (well, maybe a little?!), this story is a bit of a departure for me. I wrote it in an attempt to capture the sublime and the ridiculous of life with a baby - surely the most dastardly villain of them all - and the joy and chaos and sticky, heart-squeezing love they bring. At the time, I had no idea how an illustrator would tackle the unusual structure - but you just WAIT till you see what Sarah has done!! Her illustrations are phenomenal and extremely funny, and I hope this is a relatable read for new parents, new siblings and every kid who was once a cute and tiny criminal. Sarah and I are going to be doing some events around the place to celebrate - they’re all free, RSVP on the bookshop websites. Would love to see you there! MELBOURNE: Launch! Saturday Feb 7th at 2pm, Readings Kids @readingskids SYDNEY: Signing and storytime! Saturday Feb 14th at 2pm, Gleebooks @gleebooks_kids BRISBANE: Signing and storytime! Sunday March 1st at 2pm, Where the Wild Things Are @wherethewildthingsare_bookshop Huge shout out to power publishing duo @clair_hume and @fayhelfenbaum for their incredible work and vision in bringing this to life. And to my own cutest baby and inspiration - a true villain and an excellent companion. by @davina.bell
37
8 months ago
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The Cutest Baby in the World is now on the loose! Join a determined detective on a hilarious, giggle-filled chase, packed with sneaky antics and playful illustrations. Perfect for little readers and families alike! WANTED: The Cutest Baby in the World written by Davina Bell and illustrated by Sarah Zweck is available now online and in-stores. by @davina.bell
10
8 months ago
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Happy publication day to HOW TO HELP WHEN YOU REALLY WANT TO HELP! This book came from my desire to share with children a deep truth that I’ve learned over the years: action is the antidote to anxiety. And to say to them that when the world feels overwhelming, we still have the power to perform micro acts of grace for those in our orbit. (Ideas that feel particularly salient this week!?) I’m so proud of this accidental little series with the extraordinarily talented illustrator @hilaryjeantapper - each title a collection of gentle words of comfort and advice for the small moments that loom large in a kid’s life. Hilary’s art is so full of pathos and whimsy - every picture its own beautiful unfolding narrative world. I forget to read my own books to my child, but every now and then when I pick these three up, I find a tenderness that I wish I had access to in my harsher parenting moments. I hope they provide a soft place to land and reflect for your family, too. Thanks, as always, to @hachettekidsanz @hilaryjeantapper and the Australian Book Industry’s Publisher of the Year @jeanmarie_m for the chance to make books - an act that feels more and more like a privilege with each passing season x by @davina.bell
54
a year ago
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TLDR: I have a new book coming out - tomorrow! Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this publicly (never an auspicious start to a post?!) but at moments like these I wonder what on earth I am doing with my life. There are so many children’s books out there in the world already. I wonder if, by writing more, I am really just creating landfill, and if it’s nonsense at this point to imagine I have anything original or interesting to say. BUT! Recently I opened a high-up cupboard that housed the picture books I read most often in the first six months of my son’s life, back when I could select books purely for the joy of reading them aloud, rather than their tolerance for attempted destruction. The fondness, nostalgia and gratitude that washed over me as I rediscovered them two years on was unexpectedly powerful - as if I had bumped into an old, dear friend at the supermarket. So often the slow hours at home with babies and small children go by unobserved in a haze of both delicious closeness and tough isolation. I felt as if these books were a constant and gentle presence, bearing witness to the tiny increments in which I became parent over those first few months of bliss and solitude, wonder and existential terror. Their words felt like incantations I uttered hoping to bring about a warm and loving world into which my son could unfold, while holding in my heart the heavy truth of all that awaited him outside our bubble. That moment of opening the high-up cupboard brought with it a realisation: children’s books are art and commerce, but most importantly they are companions. It has helped me reframe the meaning and purpose of what I do to imagine I am creating dependable companions, each unique and comforting to someone at some point, for a reason or a season, as we all are. Each worthy of existing and beautiful in their flaws, as we all are. 1. In case it’s helpful to you or someone you know, pictured above are the books that kept us company through our newborn season, coffee stains and all. 2. And also my new picture book! The Cheeky Toddler Alphabet, illustrated by the magical @jennifer_falkner_illustration - out tomorrow! More of which to come. by @davina.bell
67
2 years ago
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So excited about the upcoming interactive holiday storytime by @orchestravictoria of Tomorrow Is a Brand-New Day! 🎷 Catch it @wheelercentre on Thursday 11th, Friday 12th and Saturday 13th April, with shows at both 10am and 11.30am. Tickets at the @orchestravictoria bio link or grab them via the Wheeler Centre’s website. @mcleod.janet will read the story, accompanied by wind and percussion musicians playing an original score by composer Alan John! This is particularly special because the book (with luminous illos by Allison Colpoys) was released in Covid times and so I never had the chance to share it at a storytime. I don’t think I have ever even read it in public?! And I’ve put it for sale in the shop on my website in case you want to get a signed copy before the show or send a personalised one to someone who’s having a rough time and needs a bit of love/hope in their postbox. davinabell.com/books/tomorrow Hope to see you and your little people there! Xx by @davina.bell
18
3 years ago
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