The wonderful translator of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff, Stephanie Smee, now has an author page on Facebook. Head over there to communicate with her, see her news and like her page! The illustrator of the book, David Allan, also has a Facebook artist page, here.

We are absolutely delighted that Geordie Williamson, the distinguished literary critic, has written an absolutely brilliant and wide-ranging review of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff, published in the Weekend Australian today. 

Here’s an extract:

Smee’s version shows us why as many French intellectuals have celebrated Verne as a “literary” author and true visionary, as common readers have adored his works as vivid genre pieces. Mikhail Strogoff is not only a genuine pleasure of a book: it is evidence that, in the hands of an intelligent and sympathetic translator (and an Australian one, to boot) a larger and richer Verne can be brought into view.

You can read the whole thing here. 

Put the date in your diaries! We will be running a special event for Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff in Melbourne at 6.30 on Tuesday November 8, at the Alliance Francaise CBD branch in Swanston St.

Stephanie Smee will talk about translating the book, and Sophie Masson of Eagle Books will give an introduction. The book will be for sale and Stephanie will be happy to sign copies!

Magpies Magazine is a highly-respected Australian publication about children’s and young people’s books, so it was with great delight that we discovered there was a great full-page review of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff in the latest edition of the magazine(May 2016).

Here’s a short extract:

Rattles along at a great pace….The story flows easily with no hint of awkwardness in the translation. The time and place is acknowledged by the choice of words and the speech patterns flow naturally providing a time and place. Verne’s descriptive powers are retained without overtly dramatic prose.

Here’s the full review:  Mikhail Strogoff in Magpies

We just got sent this lovely short review of Mikhail Strogoff:

This limited edition illustrated printing of the classic story tells the tale of young Mikhail’s urgent and secret mission to warn the royal court of impending danger, and his brave friend Nadia, who is as indomitable as he is. Full of adventure, suspense, romance and humour, this English translation will enchant older readers. (Disney Princess Magazine, Bauer Media)

There’s a wonderful interview with our book production manager, Karen Small of Small But Mighty Productions, on Sophie Masson’s Feathers of the Firebird blog. Karen talks about all the immense amount of work that goes on behind the scenes of producing a very special book like Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff. You can read the interview here. 

Here at Eagle Books, we are really looking forward to the publication in April of the beautiful limited edition of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff! To celebrate, we will be holding two fabulous free events in Sydney: the official launch on April 13 at the Alliance Francaise in the CBD; and a book reading/signing/exhibition at Berkelouw Books in Leichhardt. Invitations with full details are below–all very welcome!

For the Wednesday event at the Alliance Francaise, please book here. For the Thursday event at Berkelouw’s, please RSVP to the address on the invitation.

We are delighted that our beautiful book, and its creators, have received a mention in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, in Susan Wyndham’s Undercover column in Spectrum. You can read it online here. 

We will soon have more details about the two celebratory events to be held for the book in April: the launch at the Alliance Francaise on April 13 at lunchtime, and a book reading and signing in Berkelouw’s  Books in Leichhardt  on the evening of April 14. The translator Stephanie Smee and the illustrator David Allan will be at both events.

Back in 1880, Jules Verne co-wrote, with Adolphe Dennery, a play based on his great adventure novel. It was very popular in the late 19th century and early 20th, and recently, one of the Eagle Books team unearthed a couple of souvenir postcards from a 1904 production of the play, showing various characters in cheesy poses!

But the appeal of Verne’s books still translates well to the theatre: if you are in Paris this October, you might like to go and check out the brand new musical, Le voyage extraordinaire de Jules Verne, featuring a 13 year old author voyaging in the world of his own books in an amazing and lively adventure!

 

A very exciting update to unveil today–the completed, full colour illustration by David Allan for the cover of the limited edition of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff! Isn’t it just gorgeous! Imagine it inset into the deep red background of the hard cover–it’s going to look just stunning.