Walter Mason to talk with Antonia Pesenti and Hilary Bell about their Sydney-based books for kids, Ashfield Library, Tuesday April 26, 2016, 1pm

Numerical Street & Alphabetical Sydney 

A talk with the wonderful creators of these delightful books about Sydney, growing up and the way the landscape inspires them. 

 

Pesenti’s illustrations are witty and textured: a collage of black-and-white photocopied photos and bright, bracingly clean-cut drawings. […] All too unusually for a picture book, the text, written by playwright Hilary Bell, is an equal match […] it is a playful, often sly, pleasure.
— Delia Falconer on Alphabetical Sydney, Sydney Morning Herald

About the Books

Numerical Street

Numerical Street is a counting book set in a colourful, quirky streetscape where there’s always something new to find. It celebrates the jostle and chaos of a busy shopping street, playfully documenting familiar shops and businesses: Coin-op laundries, cake shops, panel beaters and hair salons. These unremarked shops are a disappearing species.
In the two years spent photographing suburban and regional shopfronts for Numerical Street many have vanished, including much-loved urban icons like Sol Levy’s Tobacconist Extraordinaire on George Street and Perkal Brothers Bespoke Bootmakers in Surry Hills.
Numerical Street captures a moment in time and place, distilling the beauty and charm of these everyday shops into bold double spreads – using the language and type of their signs, architecture and product display.

 

 

 

Alphabetical Sydney

This is our Sydney, the brightest and best of it,
North to the south to the east and the west of it.
Bats and cicadas, lawn bowls and the zoo,
This is our town. Let us share it with you.

A playful and vibrantly illustrated picture book that celebrates Sydney in all its diversity – from A to Z. It is a best-seller and won the 2014  Australian Book Design Award. It has also been  been shortlisted for the Australia Book Industry Award and nominated for several awards, including the AABA and the Independent Booksellers’ Award.

About the Authors

 

 

Antonia Pesenti and Hilary Bell have been friends since they met in Paris 20 years ago. Antonia is an architect and illustrator, and Hilary is an award-winning playwright. Their friendship turned into a collaboration when they created the bestselling Alphabetical Sydney together. They enjoyed the process so much that they have continued to collaborate, celebrating the beauty and charm of the ordinary in our urban environment.

alphabeticalsydney.tumblr.com/

 

Do join us for this free event - and bring a friend!

Details:

 

Tuesday April 26   1pm Local Studies Room - Ashfield Library
Walter Mason in conversation with Antonia Pesenti and Hilary Bell about their delightful picture books, Numerical Street and Alphabetical Sydney.
Books available for sale and signing from Better Read Than Dead Newtown