Event HF144 • Sunday 1 June 2014, 10am • Venue: The Cube

Celebrated illustrator Shoo Rayner, whose drawing tips are a big hit on YouTube, and prize-winning author Heather Dyer, will introduce their new books, Dragon Gold and The Flying Bedroom, at a stories-and-pictures event to celebrate the launch of brand new children’s publisher Firefly Press at the Hay Festival this year.

Shoo will demonstrate top tips on how to draw a dragon like the incredibly cute baby dragon Tân in Dragon Gold. Shoo has illustrated more than 150 books, for the likes of Michael Morpurgo and Rose Impey among others, but this is the first longer-length book that he has written.

‘I find I'm becoming more and more influenced by history and the children I regularly meet in schools. They keep changing in subtle ways, always surprising me and making me question my assumptions about writing for them,’ he said. ‘Dragon Gold ended very differently from how I thought it would originally. Now I think it's a trilogy!’

Dragon Gold is one of two titles for seven to nine year olds, set in contemporary Wales, to be published in the Dragonfly series from Firefly Press. The other is Steve’s Dreams: Steve and the Sabretooth Tiger, by Pembroke-based Dan Anthony, author of the Rugby Zombies series. Three more books will follow in the autumn.

Lucy Thomas of the Welsh Books Council says of this new series: ‘We believe it is important for children in Wales to have books they thoroughly enjoy, that make them laugh and feel a sense of wonder, with which they can also identify. We hope that the children of Wales will feel a real sense of ownership of these fantastic books from Firefly Press.’

Heather Dyer’s The Flying Bedroom, complete with wonderful illustrations from Chloe Douglass, is an enchanting book for five to seven year olds, featuring Elinor, a little girl whose bedroom can fly! From talking snowmen to pirates, magical islands and even the moon, Elinor never knows where her bedroom will take her next. Heather's previous books, such as The Girl with Broken Wings and The Boy in the Biscuit Tin attracted widespread praise, and a commendation from Richard and Judy. Her first book with Firefly, The Flying Bedroom ‘was inspired by a dream that a friend’s daughter had, in which her bedroom had detached from their house and could fly through the sky – with her in it,’ said Heather, and her favourite books as a child. ‘I loved reading books with magic in them – especially stories where something magical happens in the real world. I longed for it to happen to me.’

At Hay earlier in the week on Wednesday 28 May, Pembrokeshire-based Dan Anthony will be talking about his book Steve’s Dreams: Steve and the Sabretooth Tiger, as part of the festival’s Writing Squad events. He’ll be reading from this funny fantasy adventure for seven to nine year olds set in Newport and inspiring children to write themselves.

Dan says: ‘The Hay Festival is an incredible international festival for book makers and book lovers and it's a real pleasure to be hosting a writers squad workshop right at the centre of the action. Hay on Wye is a unique place, it's on the border between real and imagined worlds - that's exactly where we're going to go.'

‘We aim to publish beautifully produced, top-quality books for children and young adults,’ said Firefly editor Janet Thomas. ‘All our first authors have absolutely done us proud. We are so grateful to everyone who has helped us get this exciting adventure underway, particularly the Welsh Books Council.’

All four books will also be available as ebooks. For more details as well as games and puzzles for young readers, go to http://www.fireflypress.co.uk/