On Wednesday, February 10, 1999, I,
Snowfur, traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend a book signing with Brian
Jacques. Here's my (now rather outdated) report!
Information on books and projects:
 The
audio play of Redwall was recorded at the BBC. The actors were personally
picked by Brian Jacques from his friends, mostly from local acting companies. His
son, Marc, who voiced Matthias, will also be voicing Martin in the Mossflower
recording later this year. |
|
Redwall
will be out in Spanish sometime in the next year. It is just out in German, where
it's a very thick book! The translators had problems because there aren't as many
ways to say the same thing in German, and so many of the riddles depend on spelling and
word order (in English.) Brian has met with the translators, who playfully scolded
him for writing such complicated riddles!
Brian
Jacques has a huge library of all the different editions of Redwall from around the
world, in many different languages.
Specifics on the book signing:
The signing was at the University
Book Store for Kids in Madison, Wisconsin, from 3:30 to 5:00 P.M. Central on February
10, 1999.
| Brian
Jacques signed over 200 autographs, including a full set of the books to be given away in
a contest. Unfortunately, all the signing over the course of the tour has made his
hand very sore and swollen, and he has had to cancel his stop in Utah. |
|
He
received many gifts from fans, among them a fan's drawing of Grath Longfletch, a statuette
of a mouse in a sofa chair, a Native American dreamcatcher decoration (which Marc thought
would make a good earring! ;-) and a little stuffed badger magnet. Wisconsin is
The Badger State, you know!
Most
people purchased the American hardcover of Marlfox to be signed. One girl brought
her old, very well-loved paperback of Mossflower, and bought one of the new edition to
replace it. There were a lot of children there, as well as many parents and
grandparents getting books signed for children who couldn't be there. Lots of
Dibbun-sized children were in attendance, many of whom who got very shy while they had
their picture taken with Brian Jacques. :-)
Unlike
the book signing I attended in Minneapolis in 1997, no children arrived in animal
costumes.
The
book store was packed with copies of the books, in both paperback and hardcover.
Other items available for sale at the bookstore: The Redwall Map and Ridder,
the Marlfox audiobook, the three-part Redwall audio play in a boxed set, and
the Build Your Own Redwall Abbey kit.
Back to main Encyclopedia
Read about the book signing in 1997 I attended
More
photos taken at the booksigning:
