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David reflects on The Boy in the Dress, now a major musical!

The RSC musical, The Boy in the Dress opened in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on Friday 8 November, with David Walliams’ novel becoming a fully-fledged musical for the first time, with music from Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers.

It’s been a surreal experience for David, as he didn’t think anything would come of Director Gregory Doran asking Robbie and Guy to write the music for the show: “I know Robbie and Guy a bit and I thought, well, you can ask them, I’m not going to ask, because they probably won’t want to and they’re far too busy. When they said, Robbie and Guy are on board, then I thought, yeah, well, I’ll believe it when I hear the songs. Then, when I came to a workshop and I heard 18 incredible songs, I was like, oh, this is real now, my book really is going to be a musical at the RSC with songs by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers.”

To read the full article, and listen to an exclusive clip of the new song Disco Symphony, click here.

Worthing’s Children’s Parade

The theme of Worthing’s Children’s Parade this year was The World of David Walliams. It was an absolutely fantastic event on Saturday 15th June, made even better with a surprise visit from the man himself!

Thank you to everyone who took part and made it a really special year for Worthing’s Children’s Parade.

Grandpa’s Great Escape LIVE

Tickets for the brand new arena spectacular Grandpa’s Great Escape Live are now on sale. Adapted from the number one bestselling book by David Walliams, this exciting new production will tour arenas around the UK this Christmas. Visit www.GrandpasGreatEscapeLive.co.uk for full details and to book tickets. The perfect treat for you and your family!

Click above to watch the Grandpa’s Great Escape Live trailer, or watch here.

The Ice Monster wins Children’s Fiction Book of the Year!

We are delighted to announce that David Walliams’ novel The Ice Monster is the Children’s Fiction Book of the Year! It was recognised at the British Book Awards, with other prizes going to authors including Michelle Obama and Sally Rooney. David accepted the award before inviting illustrator Tony Ross to join him on stage to share the moment. Judge Tina Gaisford-Waller, of Hunting Raven Books, described ‘The Ice Monster’ as “gloriously, snortily funny.”

The Ice Monster is a comedic adventure based on the unlikely friendship between a ten-year-old girl and a 10,000-year-old mammoth. A truly magical tale, The Ice Monster contains the incredibly important message that heroes come in all shapes and sizes.

Ratburger and Grandpa’s Great Escape on TV this Christmas

As if Christmas wasn’t exciting enough already, it’s just got a whole lot better! Not one but TWO of David Walliams’ books have been turned into TV programmes. You’ll be able to watch them this December. And even better still – David is starring in both!

You’ll remember Ratburger – the story of Zoe and her pet rat. David will be turning himself into the evil Burt from Burt’s Burgers, who wants to turn Zoe’s rat into ‘delicious’ rat burgers and eat them. We’ve seen clips from the screening and the transformation is incredible!

After you’ve watched that, you might not want to eat a burger for a while. Thankfully there are none in Grandpa’s Great Escape, which you’ll also want to tell your parents you’re ‘definitely-without-fail’ watching this Christmas.

In this one, David plays the role of Jack’s Dad, a role that may or may not involve slipper wearing. You’re in for a treat as Grandpa and his grandson Jack plan a daring escape from his care home Twilight Towers.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s more. RAJ IS BACK!

To watch Ratburger you’ll need to tune into Sky 1. For Grandpa’s Great Escape, channel surf your way to BBC One.

Grab the cushions, make yourself some popcorn and get comfortable on the sofa because this is going to be nothing short of BRILLIANT!

Record-breaking 100 Weeks in the Children’s Books Charts!

We are over-the-moon to announce that David Walliams has become the first children’s writer to spend 100 weeks in the number one position in the children’s book charts, beating his nearest rivals by over 20 weeks.

Gangsta Granny (2011), was David’s first number one bestseller, a position subsequently reached by each of his novels and his two recent The World’s Worst Children collections of short stories. In 2014, Awful Auntie became the first of his books to also occupy the overall number one position, while Grandpa’s Great Escape became the biggest selling title of 2016, and The Midnight Gang became that year’s Christmas Number One – the first children’s title to achieve this since J.K. Rowling in 2008. In 2017 he has already had four number one titles: Blob (for World Book Day), The World’s Worst Children 2, The Midnight Gang and Grandpa’s Great Escape.

“I never dreamed of this scale of success. Thank you so much to everyone who bought the books and made this happen. It is incredible news but all that really matters is that children are reading and enjoying my books.” – David Walliams

Celebrating David Walliams throughout the summer, David’s Facebook page will be host to a series of #WalliamsWednesday events, in which a new book will be showcased every week. Children and adults alike can take part in a weekly competition, download fantastic activities, listen to some of David’s audio books and even get the chance to pick up David’s book on Amazon Kindle for only 99p! If you’re already a super-fan or even new to David’s books, there will be something there for you in the World of David Walliams.

The First Hippo on the Moon on tour!

3 …2 …1 …BLAST OFF!

From Number One best selling children’s author David Walliams comes an explosively funny space adventure for children of 3 and up. Two big hippos. One ENORMOUS dream. Who can make it to the moon first?

Adapted for the stage by acclaimed award winning theatre company Les Petits comes a fantastical adventure featuring puppetry, music, mayhem and a giant space race to the moon!

For tour dates and tickets, click here!

A message from Raj!

I’ve been interviewing Mr Wallibums about his AWFUL new book, The World’s Worst Children, and I loved getting all your questions for him!

I got so many questions, but these are some of my favourites!

  • Were you one of the world’s worst children when you were little? – Alex, age 8
  • Where do you get the ideas to start a story? – Isabelle, age 8
  • Out of all the books you’ve written, which one is your favourite? – Skye, age 8
  • What’s it like to be an author? – Niamh, age 10
  • Would you write a book based on Simon Cowell? – Danielle
  • What item would you most likely buy from Raj’s shop? – Patrick, age 12
  • What would you buy if you had a billion or gazillion pounds in cash? – Ephraim, age 8
  • We’re massive fans, but do you hope to be as famous an author as Roald Dahl one day? – Grace
  • Does Raj have a family? We love Raj, we want to know more! – Amy
  • Will Raj get his own book? – Donna
  • Mr Walliams, why did you leave Raj out of Awful Auntie? – Sharon
  • Will you buy Raj’s box of curly-wurlies? They’re for a special price and the use-by date is only 1997… – Sam, age 10

 

I can’t wait for you to hear my interview with Mr Wallybottom – or whatever his stupid made-up name is!

 

 

 

David & Sir Quentin Blake!

Never one to rest on his laurels, David’s had a particularly busy weekend. From meeting the World’s greatest illustrator to a book signing at one of the World’s most famous shops, it was pretty jam-packed – even by his standards!

Yes, on Saturday November 14th, David was invited along to the Hastings Story Festival by its patron and the most amazing children’s illustrator on the planet, Sir Quentin Blake. He read from ‘Grandpa’s Great Escape’, took part in a Q&A session, then scribbled down his autograph for some patiently waiting fans.

And on Sunday 15th? He simply popped along to Harrods department store in London and made a few people’s days by signing copies of his latest novel Grandpa’s Great Escape and his new picture book The Bear Who Went Boo!

Phew! Time to put your feet up, David!

David Walliams writes for Comic Relief!

David Walliams has written an exclusive children’s picture book for Comic Relief! THE QUEEN’S ORANG-UTAN will be published on 26th February 2015, ahead of Red Nose Day on 13th March. David will donate all his proceeds from the book to Comic Relief, as will Harper Collins UK, David’s global publisher.

THE QUEEN’S ORANG-UTAN is a right royal mash-up of mischief and mayhem! And, Tony Ross is on hand to bring the wickedly funny line-up of characters to life with his always-amazing illustrations. Tony has worked with David on FIVE of his bestselling novels and will also donate his earnings from the book. Two of their previous picture book collaborations The Slightly Annoying Elephant and The First Hippo on the Moon, both rocketed to Number One in the picture book chart in their first week of publication.

THE QUEEN’S ORANG-UTAN will be published in paperback at £4.99 and AT LEAST £3 from each copy sold will go to Comic Relief. A brilliantly funny audio version has also been created by David along with Miranda Hart and Rob Brydon. On the eve of Red Nose Day 2015, the book will be published as a special limited edition hardback, with the audio CD included.

David Walliams is an honorary trustee of Comic Relief. He has raised millions for the charity already, most notably by swimming the English Channel in 2006 and the River Thames in 2011.

Since his debut children’s book published in 2008, David has taken the literary world by storm. He is now officially the biggest British children’s author to debut this century.

HarperCollins Children’s Books Executive Publisher Ann-Janine Murtagh said of David and The Queen’s Orang-Utan:

“David Walliams is a genius storyteller – adored by millions of children worldwide. He has written this wonderfully irreverent and hilarious tale especially for Comic Relief – and what a wonderful gift it is! His inimitable storytelling is on top form and will delight young and old.
We are privileged to publish David Walliams on the HarperCollins Children’s list, and delighted to be working with him and Comic Relief on the publishing of this book.”

Comic Relief CEO Kevin Cahill, said:

“David has been such a brilliant supporter of Comic Relief for such a long time. He’s clearly taken the easy way out this time by writing a book rather than swimming the Channel! We are eternally in his debt for his wonderful ongoing support.”

Money raised from the book will be spent by Comic Relief right here in the UK, as well as across Africa. It will be used to help vulnerable and disadvantaged people to turn their lives around.

All-Star Audiobooks!

HAVE YOU HEARD?!

ALL of David Walliams’ books are available as all-star audiobooks! That means you can hear them hilariously read by David himself! And as though that wasn’t enough to twist your arm (although of course it was!), we’ll let you in on a secret. David often calls on his super-talented (sometimes famous!) friends to lend a hand…

David’s audiobooks are AWARD-WINNING. The Awful Auntie audiobook picked up the National Book Award of Audiobook of the Year in 2014!

To listen to an exciting extract from one of your FAVOURITE Walliams’ books, or to find out more about who reads it, head over to the book pages!