Rob delights his Chichester fans
Award-winning author and illustrator Rob Biddulph kept a capacity audience spellbound at the Chichester Free School Draw With
Rob event in aid of the Children’s Bookfest.
He shared his journey to becoming a bestselling children’s author and he then read from his new book, Peanut Jones and the Illustrated City.
He then showed just how simple it is to draw his dog Doodle.
Penny Tomlinson, from the festival, said: “The excitement in the room was palpable and every child had a precious moment with Rob who generously signed books and posed for photographs.”
The event was a fundraiser for this year’s festival.
Rob said: “I started Draw With Rob in lockdown and it became huge. I was sitting there in March 2020. It was a Sunday when I was watching the news and they were saying that schools were going to have to close soon.
“I’ve got three daughters and I knew how hard it would be to keep them occupied. I was probably thinking more of the parents to be honest at that point. I just thought of what I do when I visit schools and I thought I should do that online and it really worked. I set up a video camera and I did it. I had the idea on the Sunday, recorded it on the Monday put it out on the Tuesday and on the Wednesday I was on the News at Ten. I just can’t believe how crazy it went. Everyone was anxious and then suddenly I was getting all these pictures from joyous children. It just became like a little river of joy in the desert of angst. People gravitated towards it and it became bigger and bigger.”