Book of the Week

A Royal Adventure is Epigram's Book of the Week! Thanks, Epigram Books!

A Royal Adventure featured on Hello Online!

I'd just like to take the opportunity to thank Ms, Chloe Best and Hello online for featuring A Royal Adventure. I am thrilled to bits! Actually that would be an understatement. 


The book is due to hit the printing press in April and will be out in time for Charlotte's first birthday. The book, of course, is dedicated to the Princess in honour of the occasion. I am pledging my advance royalty payment to charity. Again thank you to Ms Best and Hello for everything!

Hello Online 

A Royal Adventure

Coming April 2016

David Gandy in Singapore

GQ's most fashionable man of the year made a fleeting visit to Singapore to promote Dolce & Gabanna's Light Blue Fragrances for men and women. The writer and philanthropist is better known as the world's most sought after male model.

David Gandy ©David Seow

I picked up my bottle of Light Blue at Sephora to  gain access to the exclusive meet and greet. By the looks of things, the men attending the meet and greet were going to be outnumbered by the women.

As I got in line to make my purchase I tried to strike up a conversation with a guy there who had two bottles in hand. He rather dismissively told me that only black card members of Sephora would be able to attend the meet and greet, but when I asked the store staff, they clarified that anyone who made a purchase would be able to get up and close and personal with the fashion star. They then gave me a line pass and told me to bring it with me at the scheduled timing.

So I headed off to church and lunch and when I returned,  a staff member gave me a pre-autographed card and told me that this would admit me to the meet and greet line.

Once the line was set up, I was kindly led to the front of the queue. I was given a complimentary 75ml bottle of Light Blue and told that he would only be signing the bottle but I was later told that everyone would be allowed to get another item signed. I opted to have him sign the pencil sketch that I had attempted of him. As you can see, it was an #EPICFAIL. I definitely need to practice more.

A staff member was assigned to take our personal photos with David and in addition they had an official photographer. Let's just say the staff member who used my camera was, for lack of a better word, a terrible photographer. One of the supervisors had to tell him to keep snapping and even then he didn't listen and didn't take a photo while David and I were posing. They really should get people who know how to use cameras!

Photo taken by the volunteer photographer!

The photos below were taken by the official photographer.

 However, I did manage give David a copy of A Day with the Duchess which he told me that he would share with his niece and nephews. Anyway it was a pleasure meeting Mr Gandy and he was really nice and personable and took his time with each and every person in the queue. This was no rushed signing and he spent well over an hour signing for everyone, from young ladies to middle-aged men.

 After one last group photo with the staff, he was off to catch his flight back home. Before he left I tweeted my thanks to Mr Gandy and his social media asst, Laura who had been so helpful and They tweeted their thanks back. What a thrill. Thank you for your time, Mr Gandy and once again it was a pleasure meeting you.

Sweet Tweeting with A Day with the Duchess

Lately A Day with a Duchess has been getting attention on Twitter and I would like to thank  the What Would Kate Do blog, Chloe Howard and Cindy Stockman from Royal Central, The Duchess Life  and Jane from the Princess Kate blog, Holly Passalaqua 'SweetGirlHolly' Allison Lackey, @princesspleat, Hola.com  and everyone who has retweeted the images of the book and paper dolls. A Day with the Duchess has been a labour of love and I've been a huge fan of the royals.

I've been writing children's picture books for a long time and it's been a struggle promoting them, so I really appreciate this more than you know. A Day with the Duchess is very special to me as I've been writing for many years and this book combines my love for writing kids stories with my interest in the royals. How often can a children's author like me get to do that?

Royal Central kindly conducted an interview with me for their wonderful website and they even held a giveaway for a copy of the book. CLICK HERE TO GO TO ROYAL CENTRAL

And the winner is…. Gail Cabana-Coldwell.  Congratulations, Gail. I hope you enjoy the book.

Another great Kate blog: What Would Kate Do very kindly featured A Day with the Duchess as well. Thanks so much.CLICK HERE TO GO TO WHAT WOULD KATE DO

And thank you to Jane Barr from Berkshire to Buckingham for the mention on her Christmas shopping guide. Thanks so much!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO FROM BERKSHIRE TO BUCKINGHAM

CLICK HERE TO GO TO HOLA

If you would like to buy a copy of the book, please  CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE FROM CLOSETFUL OF BOOKS.

Many thanks and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Michael Owen in Singapore

After 13 years, World Cup '98 hero and England, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Real Madrid Striker was back in town for a series of personal appearances for Wisma Atria. I first met him back in 2001, when he was in town for a promotional tour with Liverpool. He was nice and incredibly down to earth back then and he still is. Now that he's a dad of four, I took the opportunity to give him a copy of A Day with the Duchess for his youngest daughter.

Here are some photos from yesterday.

Prince George's Christening

My concept sketch/caricature of HRH  Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

In  honour of Prince George's christening, I'm posting a concept sketch, a caricature I had in mind for A Day with the Duchess which will now be published as part of the Sam, Sebbie & Di-Di-Di series with Epigram and will hopefully be released by the first quarter of 2014. The concept sketch below is by the mega talented Soefara Jafney and it is amazing. 

Teaser: William & Kate Illustration by Soefara Jafney

My Book Emma's Elephant

As I mentioned about two blog posts ago, one of my first picture books was Babar the Elephant. I suppose you could say it inspired Emma's Elephant. I really despise the hunting of wildlife for sport or commercial purposes and I wrote this book because it's something I feel strongly about. The book was released in Singapore early this year and launched during the London Book Fair in April and at the Asian Festival of Children's Content in May and I've put up this Youtube video of the book for those of you who haven't seen it but might like to. Please click on the 720HD version for the best picture quality. I did not do a voice over because my reading voice isn't the best. Anyway, I hope you like it and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks.

From the Royal Mail

The Duchess in Singapore accepting a copy of my book Blow a Kiss. 

As you know, I have been working on my  book A Day with the Duchess for some time and now I've got some great news: it will be part  of the Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di series with Epigram Books.Yay! If you've been following my blog, you may remember that my Mum gave a copy of my limited edition book Blow a Kiss to the Duchess when she was in Singapore last year. That story got picked up by Hello Magazine and the London Evening Standard among others. What a thrill!  Speaking of the Duke and Duchess I mailed them copies of my books If I Were a Blue Kangaroo, Emma's Elephant, and At the Night Safari for Prince George Alexander Louis and I received a response from the palace. Sure, it was  a standard form response but it was nice to receive it, nevertheless, and it will make a nice royal keepsake.  Considering the amount of gifts they received I hope they keep the books and read them since I shamelessly signed them for the little prince and his parents.