Frances Hardinge

@franceshardinge

Writer of downright odd children's/YA books. Hobbies include travelling, dressing in period costume and scuba diving. Addicted to volcanoes and trying new things.

314 Folgt4.618 Follower355 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir franceshardinge.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· 18d

The sunflowers in my garden are making me ridiculously and childishly happy right now. The biggest is nearly seven foot tall, and the bees adore them.

A close up of a sunlit sunflower plant with two flowers fully open, one just half open, and a fourth just starting to escape from the bud. Behind is a blue sky and tree foliage.

A photo of several sunlit sunflower plants in a garden, some facing the camera, some away. Some are flowering, some dropping and losing their petals, some bursting from the bud. Behind are trees, blue sky and a garden fence.

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· 19d

TRAITORS' NEST Pre-order Prize Draw! Lucky winners will get a National Trust family membership, plus a signed copy of the book. waterstones.com/competition/... Order your copy by Wed 26th Aug from waterstones.com to have a chance of winning!

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· Apr 7

ICYMI, today is the cover reveal for TRAITOR'S NEST! Look at the beautiful cover that Emma Pidsley has created! The book is coming out on 26th August.

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· Mar 23

Brian Froud's GREEN WOMEN will be coming out on Oct 6th! Over 70 pictures by Brian Froud, and contributions from dozens of women writers (including me). www.abramsbooks.com/product/bria...

Image shows a book resting on an expanse of dark earth and emerald-green moss. The book bears the title 'Brian Froud's Green Women' and has the tagline 'With Original Contributions from Extraordinary Women Writers of Fantasy and Myth'. Within a rectangle in the middle of the cover is a closeup picture of a laughing Green Woman with leaves escaping from her open mouth. Her face is weathered, her brows and hair morphing into leaves. Her expression is warm, sly, grotesque, wise, hard to read. Golden outlines of leaves surround the rectangle. Above and below the image of the book are other taglines in gold.
"Words and stories of fantasy and myth from acclaimed women writers around the world."
"With provocative portraits from the 'grandfather of faerie art' Brian Froud.

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· Apr 17

Happy International Bat Appreciation Day! Here's just a few of my bat-friends. (I have far too many to fit in one picture.) In this house, every day is bat appreciation day...

Many toy bats are on a table. These include an electronic robot bat, two knitted bat-gargoyles, a cream-and-tan plush mother and baby bat, a black rubber bat-duck with fangs, three Honduran white bats nestling in a felt leaf, a plastic bat, a tiny crocheted bat and ceramic 'three wise bats' (see no evil, hear no evil, squeak no evil).

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· Apr 14

This is two weeks late, but here are photos of the lovely FAB Award event on 1st April. Many thanks to everyone who organised, and all the students who took part! Great hanging out with fellow shortlistees @ellemcnicoll.bsky.social and @beafitzgerald.bsky.social. Congratulations to Bea, the winner!

Authors Frances Hardinge, Elle McNicholl and Bea Fitzgerald stand against a white wall flanked by students from different schools. More students kneel in front of them facing the camera. Front and centre is a table with a large oblong white cake illustrated to look a bit like a book, and four goodie bags, red, yellow, blue and pink. There are red, blue, yellow and green balloons behind the group at the edges of the picture.

Two female students from Burntwood School hold up a poster they have created, with 'Unraveller' in hand-drawn stylish capitals along the top, a reproduction of the cover for the book Unraveller, a sketch of a feather, stars, hand-written book summary and comments, and lots of hand-drawn spiders which have been cut out and then stuck to the poster. The hand-written comments read: "I really enjoyed this book because the concepts of using magic and emotion is really cool. Also, the characters are well developed and have great storylines and arcs. The world building was clearly done thoughtfully creating a beautiful setting for the book to take place. Moments range from being funny, serious and completely ridiculous, which makes this book such a good read."
The handwritten book summary reads: "In a world where anyone can cast a life-destroying curse, only one person has the great power to unravel them. Kellen does not fully understand his unique gift, but helps those who are cursed like his friend Nettle who was trapped in the body of a bird for years."

Authors Frances Hardinge and Elle McNicoll are seated on the right of the picture facing left, Elle in the foreground wearing a white summery dress. To the left are students at the front of a signing queue. A student with glasses is talking animatedly to Elle, who listens, an illustrated bookplate in one hand. In the background, Frances Hardinge smiles and hands a signed bookplate to another student. Behind them are a string of red, green, blue and yellow helium ballons.

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· Mar 19

A scam caller phoned me for the third time, so I said I'd pass her to my accountant, then let my electronic bat chirrup, whirr and flap into the receiver for a couple of minutes. I occasionally interjected to say 'and I hope that makes our position clear'. Weirdly, she hung up.

A black electronic bat toy positioned on a table faces into the camera. He is mostly made of hardened black plastic with blue details. He has large ears, big eyes made of tiny LEDs and a round LED in his chest. His articulated wings are currently folded in.

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· Feb 12

I'm honoured and delighted that ISLAND OF WHISPERS, my collaboration with brilliant illustrator Emily Gravett, is on the longlist for the Carnegie Medal for Writing! carnegies.co.uk/2025-longlis...

A graphic with a turquoise background, with abstract shapes impinging from the sides in dark blue and white. The white letters on the background reads The Carnegies Medal for Writing Longlist 2025 #Carnegies2025 / Carnegies.co.uk. In the middle of the graphic is the front cover of the book 'Island of Whispers' by Frances Hardinge and Emiliy Gravett. The lowest part of the cover shows two boats approaching an ominously silhouetted island crested by a broken tower. One boat is small with white sails and a horse-head figurehead. The other is larger, an intimidating silhouette. The upper part of the cover is midnight blue and is covered by swarms of pale, fluttering moths.

Frances Hardinge@franceshardinge· Feb 7

Had a lovely evening at the launch for @kimecurran.bsky.social's THE MORRIGAN at Books on the Rise in Richmond. (I'm assuming Kim uses her feathery jacket to change into her raven form.)