Geoffrey McSkimming

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Geoffrey McSkimming (1 January 1962—) is the author of the popular Cairo Jim chronicles and Jocelyn Osgood jaunts, a children's book series which delights and entertains readers around the world with its mix of archaeological oddities, historical quirks and funny and suspenseful plots. Since publication of the first Cairo Jim story in 1991, the series has never gone out of print and has been translated and released in a growing number of countries throughout the world.

McSkimming was born on 1 January 1962 in Sydney, Australia. To write his books, he has travelled to Egypt, Peru, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Greece, Mexico, Turkey, Italy and Singapore and other locations. He is much in demand for author talks, and makes many appearances in character as his alter ego "Cairo Jim".

In 2007, Scholastic published Geoffrey McSkimming's book of verse, Ogre in a Toga and Other Perverse Verses. The audio version of this title, narrated by McSkimming, has been shortlisted in the Audie Awards 2008.

In addition to the Cairo Jim series and Ogre in a Toga, Geoffrey McSkimming has contributed to magazines and poetry anthologies and has written four successful and popular character tours which take place regularly through the galleries at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney, Australia. He also narrates the Cairo Jim chronicles on CD and tape for Bolinda Publishing.

In June 2006 Geoffrey McSkimming undertook an author tour of the UK for Walker Books, who have released Cairo Jim on the Trail to ChaCha Muchos, Cairo Jim in Search of Martenarten, Cairo Jim and the Sunken Sarcophagus of Sekheret, Cairo Jim and the Alabastron of Forgotten Gods, Cairo Jim and the Quest for the Quetzal Queen, Cairo Jim and the Secret Sepulchre of the Sphinx, Cairo Jim Amidst the Petticoats of Artemis and Cairo Jim and the Lagoon of Tidal Magnificence. Cairo Jim and the Tyrannical Bauble of Tiberius and Cairo Jim and the Chaos from Crete will be published by Walker in August 2008.

Future countries in which the Cairo Jim chronicles will be translated include Korea and Portugal.

When not travelling to research his books, McSkimming lives a reclusive life in Sydney.

His Cairo Jim and Jocelyn Osgood books are published in many different languages in:

[edit] Inspiration

"When Geoffrey McSkimming was a boy he found an old motion-picture projector and a tin containing a dusty home movie in his grandmother's attic. He screened the film and was transfixed by the flickering image of a man in a jaunty pith helmet, baggy Sahara shorts and special desert sun-spectacles. The man had an imposing macaw and a clever looking camel, and Geoffrey Mcskimming was mesmerised by their activities in black-and-white Egypt, Peru, Greece, Mexico, Sumatra, Turkey, Italy and other exotic locations. Years later he discovered the identities of the trio, and has spent much of his time since then retracing their footsteps, interviewing surviving members of the Old Relics Society, and gradually reconstructing the lost true tales of Cairo Jim, which have become the enormously successful Cairo Jim chronicles."[1]

[edit] Links/Sources

[edit] References

  1. ^ Text taken from Cairo Jim and the Sumptuous Stash of Silenus, published in Australia and New Zealand in 2005 by Hachette Children's Books Australia, an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia Pty Ltd. Copyright (C) Geoffrey McSkimming 2005