2002 TOUR SCHEDULE

UK / IRELAND
FEBRUARY
Saturday 2 - 12.00 - Public event at O'Mahony's Bookshop, Limerick. This was the start of my Vampire Prince tour in the UK and Ireland, the first time I had specifically toured "with" a new book.
Monday 4 - 10.30 - Two school events at Waterstones 128 Princes Street, Edinburgh.
Monday 4 - 18.00 - Public event at Edinburgh Dungeons. This was one of my favourite events to date! approx 100 people.
Tuesday 5 - 11.30 - Two School events at Waterstones, 1-5 Bridle Gate, Nottingham. I left my plastic hand behind in Edinburgh, by accident, so I had to go and try and find a new hand in Nottingham! I found a battered-looking specimen in a second-hand store (no pun intended!!), and decided it would do for a short-term replacement. But I enjoyed using it so much - it looks VERY realistic! - that I ended up keeping it and am still using it all these years later!!!
Wednesday 6 - 11.00 - School event at Hammicks, Grange Precinct, Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Wednesday 6 - 13.30 - School event at St Alban's school, Merseyside.
Thursday 7 - 11.00 - Two school events at Waterstones, Bentall Centre, Wood St, Kingston Upon Thames. It was at this event that a young lady who introduced herself as Bas came up to me and asked if I'd give her a short story for a book she was putting together. She ended up getting not just a story, but me as well!!!!!
Friday 8 - a.m. - Two school events at Waterstones, 20-22 Sidney St, Cambridge.
Monday 11 - a.m. - School event at Sutton Central Library, St Nicholas Way, Sutton.

MARCH
Monday 11 - 18.00 - Public event at Waterstones, Canterbury.
Tuesday 12 - 09.50 - Two school events at St Paul's School, London.
Wednesday 13 - 11.00 - School event at Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley, Kent (arranged through Bromley Library). approx 800 people -- by far my largest event to that date, and still one of my biggest all these years later!
Thursday 14 - 10.00 - School event on The London Eye. For World Book Day, The London Eye was taken over for a few hours, and a children's author was assigned to each pod, with a small group of kids, the idea being to do an event in the time it took for the wheel to revolve once (half an hour). Lots of the writers complained about it afterwards, and didn't feel it was a suitable venue, but I had quite a good time with my bunch!!!
Thursday 14 - 13.40 - School event at the Tate Modern. This was also part of the World Book Day extravaganza, and I did an event with a good-sized group of kids in the Tate Modern Art Gallery after my turn on the wheel.
Friday 15 - 09.30 - School event at Heffers Bookshop, Grafton Centre, Cambridge.
Wednesday 20 - 09.30 - School event at Nas Na Riogh shop, Naas, Kildare.
Thursday 21 - 10.00 - School event at Tallaght library, Dublin.
Thursday 21 - 12.00 - School event at Castletymon library, Dublin.
Tuesday 26 - 11.00 - Two school events at Haberdashers' Aske's, Pepys Road, New Cross, London.

ITALY
APRIL
Thursday 11 - p.m. - An event at the Bologna Book Festival, for publishers from many of the countries where my books are published. I did the Cirque Du Freak scene and got several of my publishers to help me act it out! A very fun night!!!

U.K. / IRELAND
Monday 15 - 12.00 - University event at Roehampton University, London. This was the university where I went as a student. I accepted an invite to return and do an event for a group of English students who were mostly specialising in children's literature.
Wednesday 17 - a.m. - School events (3 or 4) arrange by The Children's Bookshop, Pinner.
Wednesday 17 - 19.30 - Public event in Grimsdike School, Sylvia Road, Pinner, arranged by the Children's Bookshop.
Tuesday 23 - 11.00 - School event at King Alfred's School, Manor Wood, North End Road, NW11, arranged by Bookworm Bookshop, Finchley Road, Golders Green.

MAY
Saturday 4 - 13.15 - Public event at Stourbridge Town Hall, Birmingham.
Tuesday 28 - 10.00 - Public debate, followed by event, at Young People's Parliament Millennium Point, Birmingham. I took part in a debate about whether books should be seen (as a movie) or read, and I had to be on the movie side of the argument. Enjoyed the debate a lot, then did a normal event and signing afterwards.

JAPAN
JUNE
Sunday 9 - 12.00 - Two public events in Asahi Yashoten bookshop in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. This was my first exposure to true Shan mania!! I went to Japan for the World Cup, to support Ireland, and did two events while I was there. The books were HUGELY popular (some of them even topped the overall bestseller chart!), and I was far more famous out there than at home. I met 300 fans at each event, handed them a book each, and posed for photos. There was no time to sign books, unfortunately. I had bodyguards, fans were weeping and shaking ... it was bizarre! But in a totally great way!!!

UK / IRELAND
JULY
Monday 8 - a.m. - School event in London, at a school where Bas's sister-in-law worked.

AUGUST
Monday 10 - 10.30 - Public event at the Edinburgh Book Festival. My third year in a row. I did "The Early Years" at this event, where I focused on the first 3 books of the series and wrote a short play, in which the plot of each book was seen from the view point of another character -- Steve in Book 1, Sam in Book 2, Murlough in Book 3. I still do these scenes occasionally, but not often.
Monday 10 - 14.00 - Public signing at Waterstones, 128 Princes Street, Edinburgh.
Monday 10 - 16.30 - Public panel event at Edinburgh Book Festival. This was an event where authors were asked to talk about one of their favourite books, and read a short extract from it. I chose The Secret Garden. Vivian French and Humphrey Carpenter were the other two authors.
Tuesday 11 - 13.30 - Public event at Edinburgh Book Festival. In this one I did "The Song of Darren Shan - Parts 4 to 7", which was the plots of those books set to rhyme. (This was a follow-up to the event I did there the year before, when I set the first 3 books to rhyme.)

OCTOBER
Thursday 10 - 09.30 - School event at St Joseph's R.C., Bermondsey, London.
Friday 11 - 09.00 - School event at Great Baddow High School, Chelmsford, Essex.
Friday 11 - 14.00 - School event at Barbican Children's Library, London.
Saturday 12 - 11.00 - Public event at Muswell Hill Children's Bookshop, 29 Fortis Green Rd, London N10.
Sunday 13 - 17.45 - Public event at Cheltenham Festival Of Literature.
Monday 14 - 10.00 - School event at Charlton School, Wellington, Telford.
Tuesday 15 - a.m. - Three school events at Carlton Le Willows School, Nottingham.
Wednesday 16 - a.m. - School event at Eaton Bank School, Congleton, Cheshire.
Wednesday 16 - 13.00 - Schools event at Leasowe Castle, Merseyside. This was a huge event, with several hundred kids in attendance.
Thursday 17 - a.m. - School event at Wallasey Children's Library, Earlston Rd, Wallasey, Wirral.
Friday 18 - a.m. - School event at George Watson's School, Edinburgh.
Saturday 19 - 11.00 - Public event at Beverley Picture Playhouse, Beverley, East Yorks.
Tuesday 22 - 10.00 - School event at Mallow Library, Co Cork.
Tuesday 22 - 14.00 - School event at Douglas Library, Cork.
Wednesday 23 - 10.00 - School event at Waterford Library, Brown's Road Branch.
Wednesday 23 --14.00 - School event at New Ross Library, County Wexford.
Thursday 24 - 10.00 - School event at Coolock Library, Dublin.
Thursday 24 - 12.00 - School event at Finglas Library, Dublin.
Thursday 24 - 14.00 - School event at Ballymun Library, Dublin.
Friday 25 - 10.00 - School event at Dooradoyle Library, Limerick.
Friday 25 - 11.30 - School event at Adare Library, County Limerick.
Friday 25 - 14.00 - School event at Abbeyfeale library, County Limerick.
Saturday 26 - 12.00 - Public event at The Ennis Bookshop, County Clare.
Saturday 26 - 15.00 - Public event at O'Mahony's Bookshop, Limerick.
Tuesday 29 - 10.30 - Public event at Foynes Library, County Limerick.
Thursday 31 - 11.30 - Two school events at The Showroom Cinema, Paternoster Row, Sheffield. Part of the Off The Shelf Book Festival.

NOVEMBER
Tuesday 5 - a.m. - School events at St Williams R.C. School, Durham, part of the Northern Children's Book Festival.
Tuesday 5 - 13.30 - School events at Wingate Junior School, Durham, part of the Northern Children's Book Festival.
Wednesday 6 - a.m. - School events in Darlington, part of the Northern Children's Book Festival.
Saturday 9 - 13.00 - Public signing at Waterstones Belfast.
Tuesday 12 - 18.00 - Launch party for Allies of the Night, at Simon Drake's House of Magic. I don't do many launch parties -- this was my first since Cirque Du Freak in 1999, and I wouldn't do another until Bec in 2006 -- but when I do them, I do them with style!! This was a great night in a spooky, magical house.
Friday 29 - 16.30 - Public signing at The Ennis Bookshop. When I went there earlier in the month, copies of Allies of the Night (the book I was promoting) failed to arrived in time, so I agreed to return to sign copies for disappointed fans.
Friday 29 - p.m. - School event in Western Limerick.
Saturday 30 - 12.00 - Public signing at O'Mahony's Bookshop, Limerick. When I went there earlier in the month, copies of Allies of the Night (the book I was promoting) failed to arrived in time, so I agreed to return to sign copies for disappointed fans.

DECEMBER
Monday 2 - 18.30 - 10 Downing Street event. Went to a party to celebrate children's books at 10 Downing Street, where I got to meet Tony Blair and his family. Lots of authors were here, and I think I was a last-minute addition to the list -- my invite came VERY late!! For a full account, click here to read my tongue-in-cheek report: http://www.darrenshan.com/monthly/archive/2002/12-dec.html
Monday 19 - 15.00 - Public signing at The Children's Bookshop, 1 Red Lion Parade, Bridge Street, Pinner, Middlesex.

* * * * * * * * * *

A definite step up to another level on the touring front. I did a huge number of events, including my first really successful foreign events (in Japan), culminating in the massive October/November Allies of the Night tour. I had a real sense by this stage of the books grinding forward at an advanced rate in the UK, attracting more and more fans, making the sort of waves which they didn't in the first two years. I still wasn't a bestseller in the UK, by any stretch, but I was buzzing along nicely in Ireland, where the three books I released in 2003 all went to the #1 spot on the children's chart!!! And Japan was just amazing!! The books were also doing well in lots of other countries around the world, and it wouldn't be much longer before my tours would go truly global. The Allies tour built on the touring experience of 2001, but it's interesting to note I still hadn't reached the level where we felt comfortable giving me lots of public events. I did a few at the weekends on tour, testing the waters more than anything else, but three years into my touring career, we still didn't think it was the right time to do lots of after-school events or signings.