On the road and on the rampage
In which I tour around and start fights
Hello everyone!
I’ve been a little quiet as I’m currently deep in a meaty structural edit for Loki book six. I’m thinking about prophecies, family, loyalty, giants, gods and what it means to belong. So, you know, light, easy stuff.
But before I dived into that, I went on tour - everywhere from Ireland for the Children’s Books Ireland conference to Birmingham for school events. I always love meeting readers and ushering them into the world of norse myths and tricksters and big fights with giants.
At CBI I gave a speech about resistance and how it applies to reading, writing and drawing children’s books. It included the phrase “Christo-fascist death cult” - i n relation to The Last Battle, that old racist snuff film of a book - which was satisfying. Sometimes, talking to grown ups is very fun indeed.
Now, I still love Narnia, I just live in awe that it gets away with killing all its main characters in service of a hairy god, and selling that as a jolly thing. Oh, and Tash. There is so much I could say about Tash. And Susan. But I’m sure you all have a thing or two to say about Susan.
When I wasn’t going off on one about CS Lewis, I talked about my Lokifesto. This bad boy:
It’s less a serious manifesto asking people “do this” or “do that” and more a provocation. The Lokifesto asks children to see reading as an act of rebellion, and a way to assert their independence. It also asks adult gatekeepers to rethink how they frame reading to children. It asks them to think expansively about what “counts” as reading, and focus on joy over obligation, rebellion over duty.
It’s also a love letter to comics, audiobooks and weird online storytelling. I don’t mention fanfic by name cos kids shouldn’t be loose on AO3, but that’s partly what I mean by point six. And kids will find their own way to that, I don’t need to point the way.
The National Year of Reading is coming, and I am here to start (playful) fights and spread joy.
Louie x
