News

Jen Dixon: Artist of the Month - December 2013
25 November 2013
Every month, we highlight the work of a different artist or illustrator through the title banner of our monthly newsletter - Penorama. If you don't already receive Penorama, you can subscribe here.The artist of the month for December is Jen Dixon, an American Brit based ......Read More
Staedtler Premium
25 November 2013
The name Staedtler is already associated with quality writing and drawing tools. Almost all of us will have used a Staedtler pencil at some point, with their Noris and Tradition ranges being classics. They’re the black and red or black and yellow striped pencils you ......Read More
Andrea Joseph: Artist of the Month - November 2013
29 October 2013
Every month, we highlight the work of a different artist or illustrator through the title banner of our monthly newsletter - Penorama. If you don't already receive Penorama, you can subscribe here.The artist of the month for November is Andrea Joseph, a 'professional doodler' who ......Read More
Platignum's New Range has Launched
29 October 2013
Platignum was one of the great British pen brands, but sadly disappeared many years ago. For many people who went to school around the 1960s, and grew up with Platignum pens, they remained a fond memory. They always specialised in the sort of sturdy pens ......Read More
Pilot Capless 2013 Jubilee Limited Edition
10 October 2013
It's official, the Pilot Capless 2013 Jubilee limited edition fountain pen will be available from November 2013!All Capless limited editions are special, but what makes the 2013 version even more so is that it's also the 50th anniversary of the Capless fountain pen in Japan!Made ......Read More
Forbidden Ink
9 October 2013
"Can I borrow a pen?" My mate held out his hand. "Any pen." ......Read More
Learning to Write Part 3: The Pencil Grip
1 October 2013
The best writing hold is the tripod grip using the index finger, thumb and with support from the middle finger from behind, as recommended by the National Handwriting Association. To help children develop the tripod pencil grip :Using short, wide pencils, crayons or chalks encourage ......Read More
The Stylus Pen: Not just for geeks any more
1 October 2013
Stylus pens, meaning bone-fide writing instruments featuring a tip dedicated to controlling touch-enabled devices, have long been reserved to the geekier strata of the writing population. They are historically difficult to come by, often shoddily made, fitted with cheap ballpoint refills — and of limited ......Read More
The Big Draw - Haunted House Drawing Competition
30 September 2013
**Thanks to everyone that entered, we have now selected our top three drawings which you can see and vote for by scrolling to the end of this post. Competition is now closed!**Have you heard about The Big Draw? If not, the Big Draw was created ......Read More
Pens and Pencils I Have Known
30 September 2013
One of the biggest tragedies of my young life involved a wonderful red propelling pencil that I was given for my birthday. I think I must have been nine. I can still feel the tremendous thrill of handling it and writing with it. It had ......Read More
Learning to Write Part 2: Supporting Your Left-Handed Child
2 September 2013
Children develop hand dominance at around 3 to 5 years (but sometimes later). Hand dominance simply means that one hand becomes more active in leading activities such as writing or using scissors. It can also be indicated by asking your child to pick up a ......Read More
Cult Pens Mini Fountain Pen
2 September 2013
We've come a long way in a short time at Cult Pens and August brought yet another milestone — the first Cult Pens pen. Introducing the Cult Pens Mini Fountain Pen - a simple compact metal fountain pen designed for portability and all-round usefulness. At ......Read More
Miss Wah: Artist of the Month - September 2013
22 August 2013
Every month, we highlight the work of a different artist or illustrator through the title banner of our monthly newsletter - Penorama. If you don't already receive Penorama, you can subscribe here.The artist of the month for September was Miss Wah. Her banner is inspired ......Read More
Learning to Write Part 1: The Skill of Handwriting
5 August 2013
Writing is a vital and valuable skill which we use on a daily basis. For children, it’s a skill they have to learn and develop gradually.What does it take for a child to learn the skill of handwriting?There are two types of motor skills that ......Read More
Staedtler WOPEX - Pencil Sharpening Therapy
31 July 2013
Sharpening a pencil can be a meditative process. It temporarily takes you away from your task to spend a few moments in a simple, largely mindless process so that you can return with newly-sharpened vigour. Or at least with a sharp pencil.The problem with sharpening ......Read More
Pen and Pencil Quotes
19 July 2013
Throughout history there have been many great quotes uttered, “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” by Albert Einstein for example, is one, but what of the great pen and pencil quotes?Over the past week, we ......Read More
The Fisher Space Pen: Myths and Magic
1 July 2013
In the 1960s, when the Soviet Union and the United States were involved in the space race, one problem they faced was how astronauts could write in the vacuum of space. Many people have had the frustrating experience of trying to write with a biro ......Read More
Lorraine Tolmie: Artist of the Month - July 2013
30 June 2013
Every month we highlight the work of a different artist or illustrator through the title banner of our monthly newsletter - Penorama. If you don't already receive Penorama, you can subscribe here.Until now, only subscribers to the newsletter got to enjoy these unique banners, but ......Read More
Some Final Writing Thoughts
28 June 2013
Until the next one …It's been three months now since I started writing this little diary blog with Cult Pens.I have to admit, it's been good fun having a chance to share a little about the work of an author - especially the pleasure of ......Read More
Libraries and Public Lending Right
21 June 2013
I had the “fun” this week of getting back to administration.People think it’s a delightful job, being an author. Well, yes it is. How many jobs can you think of where you get paid to daydream? But it does have the unfortunate difficulty that there ......Read More
Signing - and not Signing
14 June 2013
This has been an enormously busy week. Launch weeks tend to be pretty loopy, but this one, with four books launched simultaneously and then a weekend away, has been more mad than usual.Last week I said I’d enjoyed the running around from Exeter to Plymouth ......Read More
Diary of a Writer - Competiton Winner
11 June 2013
Before anything else, I must just say that I am enormously grateful to all of you for the entries to this little competition.I hadn’t expected quite so many names to be thrown at me - usually a competition of this type generates about twenty to ......Read More
Signings, Marketing and Morris!
10 June 2013
First, let me apologise. This is late on a Thursday night after signing a lot of books, and I am, in short, exhausted.We - that is Richard, the excellent Simon & Schuster sales manager and me - set off this morning before nine o'clock and ......Read More
The Process of Publishing a Book
31 May 2013
There are times in the life of every author when they begin to feel they're going stir crazy.It's usually at this time of year, and it's normally when the weather is looking unbearably good out, while the poor scribbler sits indoors and shivers in the ......Read More
Betty Black: Artist of the Month - June 2013
30 May 2013
Every month we highlight the work of a different artist or illustrator through the title banner of our monthly newsletter - Penorama. If you don't already receive Penorama, you can subscribe here.Until now, only subscribers to the newsletter got to enjoy these unique banners, but ......Read More
Morris, Mayhem and Marketing
24 May 2013
This week has been rather lovely!It all kicked off with a wonderful Saturday, the first day in ages that has been warm and summery. And thank goodness for that, because I, and the rest of Tinner’s Morris, were dancing out with Winkleigh Morris.Morris more or ......Read More
The Wonders of Old Technology
22 May 2013
Many years ago now, back in the early 1990s, I was sitting in the New Cavendish Club in London, enjoying drinks with some Crime Writers’ Association colleagues, when a loud voice could be heard. It was the larger-than-life author Laurence Block, a proud New Yorker, ......Read More
Keeping it Simple
10 May 2013
For a writer, to sit indoors and stare out when the weather is fine is a form of torture. The urge to nip out and get on with the gardening, or just to take the dog for a walk, is almost overwhelming when confronted by ......Read More
It's not all Champagne and Caviare
3 May 2013
On Sunday, I finally finished the last proofs of the three books to be published in July. That was a relief. Two weeks to work on three novels is not a lot of time, but luckily, because the books were all published already, the number ......Read More
Simon Jardine: Artist of the Month - May 2013
30 April 2013
Every month we highlight the work of a different artist or illustrator through the title banner of our monthly newsletter - Penorama. If you don't already receive Penorama, you can subscribe here.Until now, only subscribers to the newsletter got to enjoy these unique banners, but ......Read More

Subscribe to the news feed

News

News

Recently viewed