I was invited to a book launch, and I took my sketch book. I hadn’t been asked to do any drawings – I just felt like it.
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Reportage illustration: going out into the world, seeing things, and drawing them. This is journalism, as much as anything I ever did as a writer on newspapers and magazines.
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I enjoyed watching everybody, including the official photographer, Iyanka Cooray. He took a photo of me, drawing him. I don’t have it, but if I get hold of it, I’ll add it to this page somewhere.
The event took place in a hotel in Covent Garden. The room we were in had once been Bow Street Magistrates Court.
At one end of the room was a stage, where a representative of Primrose Hill Bookshop sat throughout, reading the book, What We Want.
Here’s the author, Charlotte Fox Weber, signing my copy. I can’t remember what we were talking about.
UPDATE: Charlotte’s book, What We Want, is very good on how we often don’t know what we want – and how we might eventually work it out.
Speaking for myself, I didn’t know until earlier today that What I Wanted was a photo of me sketching at the event.
I worked out that I wanted it by writing this blog post, and realising that a photo of me sketching would be a nice addition to it.
I mentioned this to Charlotte and now I have been sent the photo, by (as it turns out) @iyankacooray, to whom I’m most grateful.
Buy What We Want at Amazon or Bookstore.org.
If you use those links to purchase I will get a referral fee (but you won’t pay extra).