A lovely German review by Catherine Mahrenholtz about Vincent! Apologies for the dodgy google translation…..

“This novel is often reminiscent of Roald Dahl’s children’s books in its whimsical nature, but Lisa Nicol treats her characters in a much more warm-hearted way – everyone wants to book a short break at “The Grand” immediately. “Vincent and the Greatest Hotel in the World” is a philosophical-poetic fairy tale about family and friendship for children aged 10 and over.”

https://www.ndr.de/kultur/buch/Vincent-und-das-grossartigste-Hotel-der-Welt-ein-poetisches-Maerchen,vincentunddashotel100.html

Have you ever wanted to own a stuffed kakapo? If the answer is yes you better keep your eyes peeled round the streets of Sydney this November because I’m running a competition.

All you gotta do is spot the Kombi, take a pic, post it to instagram with the hashtag #thewhatonearthinstituteofwonder and tag me as well! @liasnicolauthor.

Basically, launching a book during a lockdown was impossible so I thought I’d do something a little different to send The What On Earth Institute of Wonder out into the world. 

Stay tuned for more details in the next few days about exactly where and when you can spot the Kombi!

All the lovely reviews What on Earth has been getting will be posted soon too!

Boy oh boy. It’s been a while. Forgive me for not posting but I’ve been out and about with Dr Boogaloo and The Girl Who Lost Her Laughter. And so much has happened, I’m not sure where to start!

Perhaps we’ll go back to Russ The Story Bus. Now THAT was fun. Russ the Story Bus is part of the SWF Festival of Moving Stories. It’s a big bus that travels round the countryside visiting schools and giving out brand new free books. I got to go cherry picking in Young – where I also ate too many prunes! Very NOT wise when you have long bus trips ahead. Sorry Mr Cheeseman. Mr Cheeseman was my driver! Luckily for me, Mr Cheeseman did not mind a prune himself so we made good company.

Mr Cheeseman likes BIG things.

He’s a very happy fellow and taking his picture with REALLY BIG things  makes him even happier. Note to self – only ever go on long road trips with very jolly people. So much fun!

Here’s Mr Cheeseman with a GIGANTIC tennis racquet in Barellan. Barellan is a tiny town where Aussie champion tennis player Evonne Goolagong grew up. (We made a special detour just to visit the gigantic racquet and we were very nearly late to school!)

And here’s a gigantic dog we saw in Yass! That’s a normal size dog next to him. You can just see the top of his head. I think Mr Cheeseman was too scared to stand next to this dog. Which was very sensible!

We also visited a gigantic guitar which made Mr Cheeseman as happy as a banjo player.

I love road trips. There’s something relaxing about being in transit. Going somewhere feels good.

And as well as seeking out GIGANTIC things, we did squeeze in a few school visits. The kids were so smart. It always blows me away how creative and clever kids are. We listened to different pieces of music and came up with ideas for stories and characters. Music is great for getting your magical thinking all fired up. Lots of writers use music to kickstart their imagination. If you get stuck with your creative writing you should try it.

Shoutout to Hay Public School, St Mary’s Primary School,  Cootamundra Public School, Young Public School, Young North Public School and Yass Public School. Thanks for having us! We had the best time!