Festive Fair Coincides With Trip To Australia

On Saturday 10th December my library service and Adult learning and training centre hosted a festive fair to which they invited local authors.

I was thrilled to be invited but also very disappointed because I was in Perth, Western Australia, when I received the invitation!

It was the first time I had been able to return to Perth after nearly three years due to the pandemic and border closures.

The fair was to include language taster sessions for adults, Christmas rhymes and card making for children as well as Christmas story time for Under 7's.

I asked Kai's owner, Sveta, and another close friend Julie, to represent me at the event. I was confident that they would do a fantastic job.

Sveta prepared an eye-catching table display of Kai's photos, author poster and blog, paperback copies of the book with bookmarks which she handed out, as well as sweets for the children.

She engaged the children and their parents in conversation and asked them to do some drawings for her. She had thoughtfully provided paper and pencils too.

Julie talked to everyone there, told Kai's story and took an active and enthusiastic part in all the physical group activities for children----waving her arms with gusto! I can imagine what a great double act they were.

Copies of The Dog Who Arrived In A Box were given away as well as purchased.

The number of attendees was limited which was extremely disappointing, especially, as so much effort and time had gone into preparing for the event. It would have been a wonderful opportunity to share Kai's story and to introduce people to the book. I hope that there will be more opportunities to do this in the future.

My heartfelt thanks to Sveta and Julie.

What was happening in Perth while the Festive Fair was on?

Summer officially starts on 1st December in Western Australia, so on the 10th, I was enjoying a brilliant blue sky, warm sunshine and 25 degrees. Moreover, at this time of year the beautiful Jacaranda trees are in full bloom.

I spent some of my time in Perth contacting Independent Book stores, publicising The Dog Who Arrived In A Box and letting them know how they could obtain copies. It has proved difficult for people to get copies as the book has to be ordered from a warehouse in Sydney. Fortunately, I had taken some complimentary copies as well as bookmarks for family and friends.

I received many positive comments about the book, including an encouraging response from a very special bookshop which stocks a wide range of resource books for parents, teachers, libraries and schools. It is a specialist Children's bookshop called "Child Education Services". Most of the books are hardback and educational. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable about the books and many other resources including: puppets, toys, games, Board books for babies, picture books, Aboriginal, DVDs and CDs, posters, maps, puzzles, fiction and non-fiction for all ages.

Adults and children would enjoy spending many hours in this incredible shop and on any trip to Perth this shop should be included on the "must see" list.

It was lovely to see family and friends after such a long absence, but it was also a sad time because it was the first time I had been back to Australia since losing Kai and writing my book.

Meeting dogs in the local parks was very difficult, especially, meeting a cute, female beagle called Bagel.

All the dogs reminded me of the happy times I shared with Kai. They, and their friendly owners reinforced for me how important and strong the bond is between people and their dogs and how mutually beneficial the relationships are.

I hope 2023 will be a healthy, happy, peaceful year for everyone.

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