Walker Books, Juniper by the Sea and MilkTea presented a screening of The Promise, Lullaby and The Lost Thing on 17 July at the Charlotte Street Hotel screening room. Followed by a Q&A with Shaun Tan, Nicola Davies, Chi Thai & Nghiem Ta.
The Promise, award winning BBC adaptation of the New York Times Best Illustrated book of the year by Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin, produced and directed by Chi Thai
Lullaby, the two-time Méliès d’argent nominated short film, written and directed by Chi Thai
The Lost Thing, the Academy Award winning animated short film by Shaun Tan, adapted from his book of the same name.
The Panel
Chi Thai is a British Vietnamese filmmaker and Screen International Screen Star of Tomorrow, Chi Thai. Her recent credits includes the two-time SXSW Grand Jury Prize winning feature film, Raging Grace, Lullaby and the BBC adaptation of The Promise, by Nicola Davies & Laura Carlin. She is also the co-founder of the award winning screening label, MilkTea. Her debut book will be published in 2025 by Walker Books.
Nicola Davies is an award-winning author whose many books for children include Tiny, Lots and Grow with Emily Sutton; One World with Jenni Desmond; The Promise and King of the Sky with Laura Carlin; and A First Book of ... Nature, The Sea and Animals with Mark Hearld, Emily Sutton and Petr Horácek respectively. In 2017, she became the first ever recipient of the SLA’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Information Books. Nicola lives in Wales.
Nghiem Ta (Neem) is currently an Art Director at Walker Books. She currently works on a broad range of books that includes brand/character publishing, picture books and specials for the Walker Studio list, including The Singing Bones, Tales from the Inner City and Creature by Shaun Tan. Nghiem is of Chinese heritage and came to the UK at the age of three, due to consequences after the end of the Vietnam War.
Shaun Tan grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, and currently works as an artist, author and film-maker in Melbourne. Books such as The Rabbits, The Red Tree, Tales From Outer Suburbia and The Arrival have been widely translated and enjoyed by readers of all ages. Shaun has also worked as a theatre designer, feature film concept artist, and wrote and directed the Academy Award winning animated short The Lost Thing. He is the recipient of an Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal for his anthology Tales from The Inner City.
Zoe Li is British Chinese and earlier this year established the first online independent bookshop in the UK dedicated to stocking books by East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) authors, with a particular passion for supporting diasporic voices in writing.
The Hosts
Juniper by the Sea is the UK’s first ESEA online bookshop.
Milk Tea shows the best of East & Southeast Asian (ESEA) cinema in the UK. Our work begins with screenings, but our goal is to build inclusion, communities & audiences.
Home to books for all ages, Walker Books publishes many award-winning authors, illustrators, and literary franchises. Walker Books is part of the vibrant international Walker Books Group that includes Walker Books Australia; Candlewick Press and Walker Books US in America and Walker Productions.
