Nosy Crow Takeover LIVE!

Nosy Crow have taken over Mostly Books!We'll be live-blogging all day from the shop...

With great trepidation we handed over the keys first thing this morning...

...and then it was straight on to some till training...

...one young customers offering to be a test subject, and not at all staged for a photo shoot, oh no...

So far we have had tiara-making workshops:

The authors all bought CAKE!

...and the whole shop may have one or two signs that Nosy Crow have indeed taken over...

...just the odd understated poster here and there...

...and one or two copies of their books. The authors have written their own recommend wrappers for a few displays...

UPDATE 14.02:

There have already been some one-to-one author interviews and mini-meets in the courtyard garden...

There is still time to come along and meet an author, be served at the till and ask for special recommendations. Come along!

Alternatively the authors themselves - Paul Harrison, Fleur Hitchcock and Helen Peters - have taken over the Mostly Books Twitter feed - why not tweet them a question or post a question on the blog?

UPDATE 3.45pm:

Not a busting lot for the regular bookshop staff to do today:

(the irony being of course that we were trying to pose for this photo since 9.30am this morning but it's been too busy!)

Update 5.55pm

Tired but happy. Everyone's off home...

David Melling LIVE!

This is the David Melling LIVE! event page coming from Mostly Books on Monday August 13. From 10.30am David will be drawing, giving advice and answering questions - and we will be keeping track of everything here.

David created a unique Hugless Douglas piece of artwork during the event. Anyone purchasing a copy of any David's books before Friday 17 August will be entered into a prize draw to win it! 

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Two videos from the event - in the first, David explains how long it takes to produce a Hugless Douglas single-page spread and picture book...

and in this special time-lapse video watch David add details to the artwork (zoom up to full screen to get maximum effect!):

14.00 - Time to bring the event to an end. Some final photographs before we upload the video. Here is David with the Hugless art created during the event...

and a close-up...

and finally, a little girl presented me her own personalised Hugless Douglas which I am chuffed to bits with. Thanks Beatriz...and watch out Mr Melling in a few years time...

13.37 - OK, time to wrap up now. Some more questions: "What's next for Hugless Douglas?" - "The next Hugless comes out in January, and is called 'We Love You Hugless', and Douglas will have his own website shortly. There will be a Hugless Douglas puppet book, but not until later next year. Oh, and then another Hugless picture book at some point after that. Plenty to keep me going!"

12:52 - some questions: "How long does it take to create a Hugless Douglas spread?" - "It depends, but usually about a day to sketch out, then maybe another day or so to colour and complete. You might then think 'oh, a few day's then for a picture book' but actually it can take 3 months!"

12.48 - we are doing some filming as David Melling creates a unique piece of Hugless art which will be raffled at the end of the week. Details of how to win coming shortly...

12.20 - (this must be what the BBC Olympic text update people feel like!) Right, another picture from some young fans in the shop this morning...

11.54 - another action shot from the mobile-making activity...

11.46 - I've just had a hug from one of the children. Believe me, I needed one...

11.33 - some photos from this morning. Two families have made the most fantastic David Melling facemasks...

11.00 - utter mayhem in the shop as about 20 kids attempt to make a Hugless Douglas mobile using straws, string and paperclips...

10.35 - and we're off - we have a shop full of keen children, and the easel is up!

10.20 - here's where it will all be happening:

10.05 - if you haven't visited David Melling's official website, now is your chance.

09.11 - for anyone dropping in to the event this morning, we start at 10.30am but you can drop in at any time once the event starts. We have activities set up for children, and a chance of joining in and making your own illustration creations!

08:56 - just opening the shop - high hopes of using the garden dashed by weather - but we can just get cosy inside the shop. We have never done an event quite like this before...and neither has David. To whet your appetite, take a look at the interview we did with David Melling back before last Christmas to get some idea of how he became an illustrator...