After KNIGHTLEY & SON was selected for the American Booksellers Association “Indies Introduce New Voices” and the “Kids’ Indie Next List”, Bloomsbury US arranged an American author tour starting with Rohan’s first ever school visit. With his trusty publicist, Lizzy Mason, Rohan began in San Francisco before travelling to Petaluma, Los Angeles, Houston and San Antonio, where he addressed hundreds of children in packed gymnasiums, holding them all enthralled with the escapades of Knightley & Son.
The father-and-son duo’s adventures have won the hearts of UK readers too, with a Sunday Times Pick of the Week and KNIGHTLEY & SON proving the fourth highest selling debut in Children’s Fiction in the six months since release.
Here's a glimpse of the tour:
Rohan talking to kids at Harvard Elementary, Houston, Texas.
Rohan talking to 300 students at Bowditch Middle School, CA.
Preaching to students at St. Vincent’s Elementary, Petaluma, CA.
Rohan adds:
“The final leg of the tour took us to San Antonio, home of the Alamo, and the awe-inspiring Texas Library Association mega-conference, culminating in a twenty mile cycle ride to promote local libraries. I rode alongside my US Publisher Cindy Loh, marketing director Erica Barmash, fellow Bloomsbury author Megan Frazer Blakemore, and thirty or so librarians (one on a unicycle!) but little did our intrepid crew know we’d be pedalling through some of the lesser travelled parts of San Antonio, where we were greeted by pickup trucks with tinted windows and an unleashed Rottweiler that threatened to eat the hapless bookworms as they cycled by. It would have been great material for the Knightley & Son sequel K-9 (yes, it’s about savage canines), were it not for the fact that I’d already finished writing the new book, and hoped to live to see its release this August. Fortunately Cindy Loh practiced excellent author care and jangled nerves were soon soothed in the safety of a Mexican cantina.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury US and all the kids, teachers, librarians and booksellers who made the tour such a success.”
Praise for KNIGHTLEY & SON:
‘Dangers are faced in London in an engaging, characterful debut … with enjoyably convincing family relationships.’ – Nicolette Jones, Sunday Times, Pick of the Week
'Heaps of mystery, dry humor and tweed abound in this exemplar of crime fiction à la Doyle... Darkus’ skill at deduction, perpetual observation and sang-froid are spot-on Holmes-ian… Heroes, villains and settings are all fully realized through proficient description, and contemporary technology gives way to sheer brainpower… A rousing page-turner with one fault: It ends.' - Kirkus (Starred Review)
‘Skillfully done. This is a quick and fun read; a great choice for those looking for a new mystery to dive into’ – School Library Journal (Starred Review)
‘Gavin deftly paces the story...Fans of this debut will be glad that the ending leaves the door open for sequels' – Booklist
‘Danger and excitement—not to mention quirky characters and wonderful writing—lurk around every page!’ — Chris Grabenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, Treasure Hunters, and I Funny: A Middle School Story
For more on the series visit www.knightleyandson.com or tweet @rohangavin