August 2022
Kumquat Kids Productions attended the 2022 Washington State International Kite Festival August 15-21 with book readings by Miss Washington Regan Gallo at the Activities Tent and autographed book sales at the Kite Museum Tent. See photos and story on our blog
July 2022
We took our “Year of the Tiger Kite” out to fly at Fernhill Park in Portland on July 17th. The wind helped us soar in the field just behind the food carts and community booths set up for a celebration of the AAPI Community called TIGER TIGER (tigertigerpdx.com). It was a wonderful summer evening of music and food and community art led by muralist Alex Chiu. Many Thanks to event organizer Joe Kye and Portland Parks & Recreation Department for holding this event in my old neighborhood!
April 2022
Delighted to be invited to join the Camas Public Library for Local Author Chat in April and thank you Ellen Miles for the interview now posted on YouTube. Watch the video below.
Visit Library | Camas, WA (cityofcamas.us) for library services and view Local Author Chats on Youtube
Events 2021
Miniature Kites Popup Exhibit at Portland Chinatown Museum Gift Shop October-December 2021
Our Miniature Kites Display featuring kites from Weifang China are on display as a “Popup Exhibit” at the Portland Chinatown Museum gift shop to celebrate our book, “The Kite That Touched the Sky” on sale at the gift shop and online at museum store. The set of miniature bird kites features mascots known as the “Five Friendlies” from the 2008 Beijing Olympics showing images of Beibei, the fish; Jingjing, the panda; Huanhuan, the Olympic flame; Yingying, the Tibetan antelope; and Nini, the swallow each with colors that follow the colors of the Olympic rings. Each of the mascots symbolises a different blessing and honour a Chinese tradition of extending their blessings to children. Beibei represents the blessing of prosperity, Jingjing the blessing of happiness, Huanhuan the blessing of passion, Yingying the blessing of health and Nini the blessing of good luck. Another frame of minature kites shows four Chinese women in traditional costume derived from ancient Chinese legend for the design of the kites created by Chao Ran Zhai.
First “In-Person” Children’s Storytime at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
Visitor Center Annex with Friends of Fort Vancouver July 24, 2021
First “In-Person” Children’s Storytime at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site Visitor Center Annex on Saturday July 24, 2021 at 1pm. Thank you Friends of Fort Vancouver for inviting us to share our story with you! And you can find our book in the Friends of Fort Vancouver Gift Shop at the Visitor Center and learn what else is going on at the National HIstoric Site. Thank you for your RSVP at Friends of Fort Vancouver Event Page https://friendsfortvancouver.org/events/community-events/107-children-s-storytime-with-jim-mockford-the-kite-that-touched-the-sky And if you missed seeing us “In-Person” you can see a video of the talk on our Youtube Channel
Book “Unmasking” in Vancouver!
Book “Unmasking” in Vancouver! Look for us this summer at the Friends of Fort Vancouver Gift Shop! Visit in person Bookstore & Gallery and find the playground behind the visitor center. Check out the online store at Online Store.
Purchase The Kite That Touched The Sky at Portland Chinatown Museum Spring Art and Book Bazaar.
Kite Flying Season 2021 and Weifang International Kite Festival
Every spring since 1984 an international gathering of kite fliers from around the world has come to Weifang, China to participate in the Weifang International Kite Festival until the pandemic of 2020 made travel to the event impossible. The festival was postponed and then held without international participants but a virtual kite fly invited kite lovers to send greetings and videos to be shared with friends at Weifang and from around the world. I was fortunate to make my first trip to Weifang in 1987 and return again 30 years later in 2017 with my son and continue an intergenerational connection to China and to kite flying. To celebrate kite flying season in 2021 while travel restrictions continue and we cannot go to China we are sending our greetings to the Weifang International Kite Festival via social media with some photos and video on Facebook to share.
February 21, 2021: Portland Writer’s Mill, a program of the Cedar Mill & Bethany Community Library
Portland Writer’s Mill meetings are on the third Sunday of every month and were held at the Cedar Mill Library but are now scheduled on Zoom. Stay tuned for meeting time and updates on access. This talk is for writers who may have an interest in bilingual book development, publishing a children’s book during a pandemic, and book promotion and community engagement during COVID-19 quarantine.
February 6, 2021: Northwest China Council Chinese New Year 2021 Celebration Online
Door Prize Drawing for our book!
Events 2020
November 2020
China Chat, a program of the Northwest China Council
Author’s journey talk by Jim Mockford that begins with an unusual family connection to China from over a century in the past and six generations to the present (including grandchildren born 2017 to 2020) and how his adventures in China led to writing the book, “The Kite That Touched the Sky.”
Posted on Northwest China Council Youtube Channel following program on November 19, 2020. 7-8 pm Link to Zoom meeting
October 2019
Portland Has Talent Community Zine, a program of the Independent Publishing Resource Center and Portland Sunday Parkways, presented by Kaiser Permanente, October 2020.
“Go Fly a Zine” kite template and zine by Jim Mockford was included in Portland Has Talent Community Zine a program of the Independent Publishing Resource Center and Portland Sunday Parkways presented by Kaiser Permanente. In September 2020 local Portland artists Marissa Perez, Sarah Mirk and Geeta Lewis hosted workshops to inspire community creativity at home and published the submissions of 16 members of the community in Portland Has Talent. See the story of Jim’s “Go Fly a Kite” zine that becomes a kite at https://kumquatkids.com/projects for free downloadable coloring sheets and soon to be posted kite template and instructions.
Words & Pictures Festival 2020, 4th annual festival of local authors and illustrators, at Vancouver Regional Library 10/10/2020
Storytime event includes author’s book reading of “The Kite That Touched the Sky” and discussion from 1:30 pm Saturday October 10 at the Words & Pictures Festival sponsored by the Fort Vancouver Regional Library, Vancouver, WA. Visit website to register at http://www.fvrl.org/words-pictures
WAFLT FALL 2020 Virtual Conference “Apart But Together” (Washington Association of Foreign Language Teachers) Saturday 10/10/2020 Morning Session
See https://www.waflt.net/conferences for conference schedule and the prerecorded video was posted on Youtube at the link below.
Fall 2020 “Book Unmaskings”
Where will friends of Ramona Quimby find a new book in Portland?
And where would friends of Ramona read a new book in Portland? https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/beverly_cleary_sculpture_garden/
Where is a good place to take your dog and a book for a walk? https://multcolib.org/sites/default/files/Cleary%20Map_2016.pdf
Book Sightings at Online Local Bookstores!
Starting in September and throughout the fall when we have a “book sighting” at a local independent bookstore we hope to receive a”Book Unmasking” photo that lets us know when the book was purchased at that store and we will post a photo as a way to celebrate in lieu of an in-person author or illustrator appearance. We hope to schedule the traditional in person book talk or signing party in the future but we plan to promote our local independent bookstores as soon as they have our book available on their online shopping site and celebrate when they make a sale at their store.
Due to Covid-19 issues shipping times from our distributor Ingram/Spark are taking a little longer for the book to arrive at independent bookstores. We want to thank customers for placing orders on the online local bookstore shopping sites and because it is a little difficult to do book promotions in person this year we want to have some fun online. So stay tuned for our “Book Unmaskings” virtual event at a bookstore in your area. Maybe you will recognize your favorite bookstore in our posts?
Check with the bookstore about their hours of operation and rules for in-store browsing, window shopping, and no contact pickup which vary depending on location. Visit their website or social media sites to find out how to place an order and attend any virtual events they may offer.
For bookstore owners who visit our page we hope you will send us a photo of our book at your store that we can post here or on social media sites that may show the before = cover masked and after “book unmasked” with customer at storefront or sign that promotes your store. We will periodically post photos as the ‘book unmasking” continues this fall.
Our friends have been buying books in Portland and letting us know when they pick them up or have the bookstore ship them to their home.
We are also starting to get news from people in other states who have found a local bookstore in their community and successfully purchased our book thanks to the Indie book team in their town. More stories to tell soon!
