Monthly archives: October 2017


WARNING: The Chocopocalypse has arrived in the US!

Yes, The Chocopocalypse has arrived in the US!

I can’t quite believe it. This story started off as something I thought I’d scribble down and read to my daughter, in an effort to make her giggle at bedtime. Now it is being released in the United States of America by Delacorte Press – a division of Penguin Random House, which just happens to be the biggest publisher in the world! (This is my final over-seas sale, so please excuse me tickling my ego one last time!)

I am so unbelievably grateful to Chicken House UK and Barry Cunningham for starting this amazing part of my life and to Elinor Bagenal and Allison Hellegers for getting my story to the US. Since my first contact with the lovely people at PRH, and in particular the wonderful Monica Jean, me and all my characters have been made to feel so welcome. We love our new cover created by the super talented Mary Kate McDevitt and are delighted the fantastic internal illustrations by Lalalimola have been kept in place.

I know Jelly and her family are in very good hands and I wish them well in their American adventures and I hope all the new readers will be kind and gentle with them. Which I’m sure they will.

I wonder if one day, I’ll believe all this actually happened?

The Chocopocalypse, Chris Callaghan


SSWAG

SSWAG

 

It was wonderful to be invited along to meet a local writing group called Swagbag Stories Writers and Artists Group (SSWAG) for their annual general meeting. I don’t normally do talks to grown-ups and I was incredibly nervous. Luckily, they were all friendly grown-ups and I had a great time. They’d asked me to chat about my writing experiences, how I became published and my experiences of having a book in the world. I didn’t see a single one of them yawn. Either they were very good at hiding yawns, or it went well!

Afterwards, I was delighted be given a honorary membership of SSWAG, which is a HUGE privilege. They were all extremely talented and enthusiastic and I look forward to meeting them again very soon.

If anyone reading this is interested in joining a group in the North East of England, or connecting with fellow writers, please find more details at their website here.

SSWAG

The talented and friendly members of SSWAG