Category: Books

anniversary, authors, Books, celebrations, chapterbooks

Lovely anniversary post from Rebecca Fung

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Here’s a wonderful tenth anniversary tribute from the fabulous author Rebecca Fung, whose two chapterbooks (Princess Hayley’s Comet, illustrated by Kathy Creamer, and A Very Special Moon Mission, illustrated by David Allan) we have published.

Happy 10th anniversary, Christmas Press! I still remember the rush of excitement when Christmas Press first selected to my short story to be published in a Christmas anthology alongside many other Australian authors. The book was beautifully presented and is a real treasure. Later, Sophie chose my story, Princess Hayley’s Comet, to launch the chapterbook line for Christmas Press. Christmas Press has given me, and manyothers, so many amazing writing opportunities. I wish it many more years of producing gorgeous Australian books for its eager readers.

activities, Announcements, Books, celebrations, Picture books, Two Tales series

Fearsome Fairy Tales activities

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We’re pleased to present another fabulous set of activities created by the talented Ash Taylor: this time, the activities are around Two Fearsome Fairy Tales from France, by Adèle Geras and Fiona McDonald. The activity booklet can be downloaded from the link below. Enjoy!

fearsome-fairytales-activity-bookletDownload
activities, anniversary, backlist, Books, celebrations, free stuff, Picture books

Fantastic new activities pack for Selkies!

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As part of our anniversary year, our talented intern Ash Taylor has been hard at work creating some wonderful activities centred around our classic Two Tales series of illustrated storybooks. Today we are publishing the first of the activity packs he’s created, centred around Kate Forsyth and Fiona McDonald’s popular Two Selkie Stories from Scotland. The pack, which is free to download and print out for use by kids, families, schools and libraries, includes a word search, colouring pages, and research and creative writing activities. Lots of fun! Download from the link below.

two-selkie-stories-activity-pack-finalDownload
anniversary, authors, Books, celebrations, Junior fiction, middle-grade fiction

And more from another wonderful author…

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This time, it’s the fabulous Jenny Blackford who’s penned some lovely words from our anniversary. Jenny’s published two fantastic books with us: The Girl in the Mirror (2019), a middle-grade mystery novel which won the Davitt Award for Best Crime Novel in the Children’s Category in 2020; and Fil and Harry (2021, illustrated by Kristin Devine), a lively, engaging fantasy novel for junior readers. As well as writing fiction, Jenny is an award-winning poet who has had two books of poetry published plus numerous others in anthologies and journals.

Small presses are beautiful things, and Christmas Press is a particularly beautiful small press, creating gorgeous packages. I am so grateful that they published my spooky middle grade novel The Girl in the Mirror, which won the Davitt Award for Best Children’s Crime Novel, and my junior novel Fil and Harry, complete with snarky talking cat. Thank you, Christmas Press, and happy anniversary!

anniversary, authors, Books, celebrations

And the lovely words keep coming!

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We were delighted to receive these lovely words of anniversary congratulations from the wonderful Ursula Dubosarsky, multi-award-winning author and former Australian Children’s Laureate (in 2020 and 2021). Ursula has published two gorgeous books with us: Two Tales of Twins from Ancient Greece and Rome (illustrated by David Allan, 2014) and The Boy Who Could Fly and Other Magical Plays for children (illustrated by Amy Golbach, 2019).

Wonderful congratulations to Christmas Press on the anniversary – such a tremendous, rich achievement – for literature, for children and indeed for Armidale. Sophie Masson is such a creative. generous and imaginative publisher – she seeks stories with resonances deep in cultural history and brings their special and sometimes hidden beauty to children through the many remarkable books published by Christmas Press. Writers, illustrators – and most especially readers – are all in her debt. (Ursula Dubosarsky, 2023)

anniversary, authors, Books, celebrations

More lovely anniversary words…

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We really are so lucky to be working with such wonderful authors! In this lovely pair of posts, author Michael Grey , author of Children of the Wild as well as several short stories, writes about how he first came in touch with us and what happened next. Design of both posts by Yasmin Paige. The first one has the shorter version of Michael’s words, the second one the full version.

Announcements, Books, celebrations, publishing, small press

It’s our 10th anniversary year!

christmaspresspicturebooks

Happy new year, everyone! We hope everyone had a great festive season.

We’re very excited because this year, 2023, is our 10th anniversary year! Yes, our little press started ten years ago with a big dream and a lot of hard work…and this year, we’ll be celebrating the achievements of the last ten years, the fabulous books, the wonderful creators–authors and illustrators–and brilliant professionals–editors, designers, printers, distributors–who work with us. And we’ll be celebrating the fact that our books have found their way into the hands of so many young readers, thanks to the dedicated booksellers, reviewers, families, teachers and librarians who have supported our books and our ‘small press with big ideas’ over those ten wonderful years!

We’ll have all sorts of things going on this year to celebrate and highlight our books, including giveaways, interviews, free downloadable activities, competitions, and more. And today, we’re kicking off the celebrations with a short video outlining the story of Christmas Press. Enjoy–and thank you!