Ben Davis – författare

The brilliantly funny and cringe-worthy secret blog of 14-year-old Joe Cowley (wannabe comic artist and self-confessed repeller of girls):Sunday 1st January So here's the thing. I've decided to start writing a blog. A private one. The idea is that it'll help me sort my life out, because quite frankly, it can't get much worse . . .· I gained the nickname Puke Skywalker after vomiting over Louise Bentley on the waltzer. · I am subjected to daily wedgies by my arch-enemy Gav James.· My so-called best mates are trying to get me killed in a bid to win £250 on You've Been Framed. This cannot go on. I have to do something, or I'll end up like Mad Morris down the park who thinks he's Jesus. By the end of next term, I'm going to be a completely different person.At least, that's the theory...

My Dad - the King of Cringe!What's a boy to do when his mum disappears, his dad moves him and his sister to the middle of nowhere, and his life takes a very swift downward turn . . . secretly launch his dad on the internet as the Next Big Thing, of course!'Hi guys!I bet every one of you knows what it's like to have an embarrassing parent - right? I bet they've done something so cringey that you wanted the ground to open up and swallow you whole. But let me tell you, my friend, NOBODY has a dad like mine. He takes embarrassing to a whole new level. If embarrassing was an Olympic sport, my dad would have, like, a gazillion gold medals.'This hilarious story will have instant appeal to a YouTube-watching generation and is told through a series of vlogs. Combining Ben Davis's brilliantly-funny voice and Mike Lowery's amazingly-amazing illustrations is sure to make this a hit with readers everywhere. After all, everyone knows what it's like to have an embarrassing parent, don't they?

Gizmo has been my best friend since the day I was born - he's always been around. But now they're telling me he might not always be around which completely sucks.I'm determined that me and Gizmo will have lots more fun and adventures before he goes - I mean, he loves parties, deserves pampering, and needs a break by the seaside. And as for that old saying about how you can't teach an old dog new tricks - it's true, you really can't!Gizmo's bucket list is up and running - unlike Gizmo who is totally lazy and demanding to be carried . . .All the laugh-out-loud humour you'd expect from a Ben Davis book but with added heart and poignancy . . . and a four-legged character you'll fall in love with!

To aid his recovery from a life-threatening illness Jordan and his family move out of the city for a healthy new start. Jordan's getting enough funny looks as the new boy at school as it is, without his Mum giving him homemade soup every day for lunch! But when Jordan meets a homeless man called Harry, and gives him the soup, it is the start of an unlikely friendship. Soon the two of them begin giving soup to the other homeless people around town and when his sister shares their antics on Instagram the #SOUPMOVEMENT begins-they even make it on the news!

This summer, 12-year-old Alex is taking over his dad'spostal delivery job. What could go wrong?In order to get his family back together, Alex comes up with abrilliant plan: if Dad finally writes the novelhe's always talked about, he'll be happier again and his parentswill fall back in love.Dad just needs to get away from work for a while to do it.Alex tricks his dad into thinking he's been selected for a creativesabbatical, and starts to do the postal deliveries himself.But it's harder than Alex had ever realized, andthere are the bullies who throw his letters in the canal, an overlysuspicious boss, and a lot of angry dogs to avoid.He finds unexpected help in Willow, a girl onthe canal who offers to share the work ... but has a darksecret that might derail everything.As Alex's ruse starts to fall apart, he needs his dad more thanever. Meanwhile, his dad comes to understand that the thing heneeds most isn't publishing a novel ... it's Alex. From the Carnegie nominated author of The Soup MovementPerfect for fans of Frank Cottrell Boyle and Ben Bailey SmithBased on Ben's own experience working as a postal carrier!  PRAISE FOR BEN'S PREVIOUS BOOK, MY DAD IS DEFINITELYNOT A CRIME LORD"In a novel filled with heart and humour, told in the firstperson, Damian discovers what it means to be a hero. There is adepth to the story which explores themes of masculinity, familyand self-awareness with a light touch." - Just Imagine

POSTMAN PLANET IS BACK AND SMELLIER THAN EVER IN THIS HILARIOUS YOUNG FICTION SERIES FOR KIDS, BY AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR AND EVERYDAY POSTMAN, BEN DAVIS!The planet of Nicetopia is the politest corner of the galaxy. Nothing could ever spoil their ideal society . . . UNTIL evil super-genius Dr Stankenstein dumps HUGE quantities of his Stink Potion into their water supply. Everyone on the planet is farting uncontrollably, ruining their polite paradise. There are only twelve space-hours left before the atmosphere becomes irrevocably farty, and the planet of Nicetopia becomes RUDETOPIA. The only hope? The antitdote. And there is only one person in the galaxy intrepid enough to deliver it. You’ve guessed it . . . POSTMAN PLANET!Laugh-out-loud funny, short chapters and full of illustrationsGreat for readers aged 6+ and reluctant readersWith themes of friendship, sharing and teamwork

“It’s fun, silly and, in this National Year of Reading, precisely the kind of gateway entertainment that will show a six-year-old that books can give you a good time […] Consider the daftest story of the new year successfully delivered.” – The Times, Children’s Book of the Week“A laugh-out-loud, highly illustrated interstellar caper” – The GuardianTHE FIRST IN A HIGH-ENERGY, HILARIOUS AND HIGHLY-ILLUSTRATED YOUNG-FICTION SERIES FROM AWARD-WINNING* AUTHOR (AND EVERYDAY POSTMAN) BEN DAVIS, PERFECT FOR FANS OF BUNNY VS MONKEY.Postman Planet has a big secret. ​LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU CAN’T KEEP SECRETS. ​Although he PRETENDS to be the best postman in the Universe, he’s actually only nine. Anyway, he's on a mission to make an essential delivery to the Planet of Fluffy Unicorns: an inflatable planet that is, as we speak, deflating. It’s up to Postman Planet and his ANNOYING new assistant Stamp, who is part-robot part-dog, to save the day. ​Laugh-out-loud funny, short chapters and full of illustrationsGreat for readers aged 6+ and reluctant readersWith themes of friendship, sharing and teamwork​Praise for Postman Planet“The silliest book you'll read all year” - Louie Stowell, author of Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good“A wild and hilarious ride” – Phil Earle, author of When the Sky Falls“I laughed so hard I nearly lost orbit!” – Jenny Pearson, author of The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates“Ben is one of the funniest voices in children’s fiction” – Emily-Jane Clark, author of Cringe Club“First Class fun and frolics” – Emer Stamp, author of the Diary of Pig series*Ben Davis has won multiple awards, including the Sheffield, Derbyshire and Warwickshire Children's Book Awards

New York's repertory movie houses specialized in presenting films ignored by mainstream and art house audiences. Curating vintage and undistributed movies from various countries, they educated the public about the art of film at a time when the cinema had begun to be respected as an art form.Operating on shoestring budgets in funky settings, each repertory house had its own personality, reflecting the preferences of the (often eccentric) proprietor. While a few theaters existed in other cities, New York offered the greatest number and variety. Focusing on the active years from 1960 through 1994, this book documents the repertory movement in the context of economics and film culture.

Ben Davis is the editor of Artinfo, one of the world's most popular resources for information and discussion on arts and culture. As a critic, he has become painfully aware of the role that class plays in art. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class seeks to show how a clear understanding of class makes sense of what is at stake in a broad number of contemporary art's most persistent debates, from definitions of political art, to the troubled status of outsider' and street art, to the question of how we maintain faith in art itself in a dysfunctional world.'

"This kaleidoscopic collection will help you see and comprehend the world anew-which is, in my book, what good art should do."-Astra TaylorIt is a scary and disorienting time for art, as it is a scary and disorienting time in general. Aesthetic experience is both overshadowed by the spectacle of current events and pressed into new connection with them. The self-image of art as a social good is collapsing under the weight of capitalism's dysfunction.In these incisive essays, art critic Ben Davis makes sense of our extreme present as an emerging "after-culture"-a culture whose forms and functions are being radically reshaped by cataclysmic events. In the face of catastrophe, he holds out hope that reckoning with the new realities of art, technology, activism, and the media, can help us weather the super-storms of the future.

It is a peculiar moment for art, as it becomes both increasingly rarefied and associated with elite lifestyle culture, while simultaneously ubiquitous, with the boom of "creative" industries and the proliferation of new technologies for making art. In these important essays, Ben Davis covers everything from Instagram to artificial intelligence, eco-art to cultural appropriation. Critical, insightful, and hopeful even in the face of the apocalyptic, this is a must read for those looking to understand the current art world, as well as the role of the artist in the world today.

"Astounding... extraordinary... Jumping between highlighting his indie cult status as an artist and the mindset behind the abstraction of some of comics most beloved characters, the collection ultimately acts as a stunning visual love letter to one of comics most revered artists."— Comics BeatBill Sienkiewicz (pronounced sin-KEV-itch) is an Eisner-winning, Emmy-nominated artist best known for revolutionizing the way comic books are drawn and made. His work has graced the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; art galleries in Paris, Barcelona, and Tuscany; and advertising campaigns for Nike, MTV, Nissan, the 2006 Winter Olympics, and dozens of Hollywood movies. Sienkiewicz is a classically trained painter whose artworks incorporate abstract and expressionist influences and combine oil painting, acrylics, watercolor, mixed media, collage, and mimeograph.Bill Sienkiewicz: Revolution is the first time the artist’s work and career have been taken out of the context of comic books and evaluated as fine art. Ben Davis, award-winning Senior Writer for Artnet News, considers Sienkiewicz’s process and places him within the context of art and popular culture. Edited by Sal Abbinanti, Sienkiewicz’s representative and colleague for 12 years, Bill Sienkiewicz: Revolution features an introduction by Neil Gaiman, who collaborated with Sienkiewicz on the New York Times bestseller The Sandman, and an interview in which the artist explains his influences and techniques and offers his view on the future of comic book art. The book is covered in luxurious 100% cloth fabric, with two embossed, tipped-in images on the front and back cover.

Hilarious school-based comedy full of chaos, misadventures and mayhem! The perfect starter book for younger Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates fans."A hilarious, highly illustrated romp for readers of 6+" - The Guardian"A laugh-out-loud story of alien antics. This book has it all!" - Lenny Lemmon (aka expert boredom buster)Join Lenny and his best friends Sam and Jess in their hysterical hijinks. Expect animals on the loose, paranormal invasions, shut down schools and lots of laughs!Lenny convinces Sam to dress as an alien to boost sales at his Grandma's ice cream shop. Soon there are alien sightings all over town and it becomes the subject of intense media scrutiny! The journalists and tourists and alien fanatics all flock to buy ice creams and business booms! But when Lenny tells Sam he can take his costume off now, he points out he's no longer wearing it...What?! Well if Sam isn't, then who is--?! Is the town under the threat of an actual alien invasion? Only one thing is for certain, it's out of this world!More from Lenny Lemmon:Lenny Lemmon and the Invincible RatLenny Lemmon and the Trail of CrumbsLenny Lemmon and the Doomed Safari"It is simply unbelievable the trouble this boy is capable of..." - Ms Bottley, 5B's Teacher

Hilarious school-based comedy full of chaos, misadventures and mayhem! The perfect starter book for younger Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates fans."A hilarious, highly illustrated romp for readers of 6+" - The Guardian"A laugh-out-loud story of monkeying around. This book has it all!" - Lenny Lemmon (aka expert boredom buster)Join Lenny and his best friends Sam and Jess in their hysterical hijinks. Expect animals on the loose, paranormal invasions, shut down schools and lots of laughs!Lenny's big brother, Brandon, has been persuaded to take Lenny and his friends to a safari park to prove what how responsible he is. But when things increasingly get out of control and they're get trapped in the car in the lions' enclosure with a claustrophobic three-legged gazelle this seems impossible.Especially when they realise the car has a tracker on it and their parents could have heard everything ... and not just Brandon's terrible band, Snot Touch!Will Lenny's day be a walk in the safari park or utter monkey madness? One thing's for certain, it's about to get wild!More from Lenny Lemmon:Lenny Lemmon and the Invincible RatLenny Lemmon and the Trail of CrumbsLenny Lemmon and the Alien Invasion"It is simply unbelievable the trouble this boy is capable of..." - Ms Bottley, 5B's Teacher

Hilarious school-based comedy full of chaos, misadventures and mayhem! The perfect starter book for younger Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates fans."A hilarious, highly illustrated romp for readers of 6+" - The Guardian"A laugh-out-loud story of rodent mayhem. This book has it all!" - Lenny Lemmon (aka expert boredom buster)Join Lenny and his best friends Sam and Jess in their hysterical hijinks. Expect animals on the loose, paranormal invasions, shut down schools and lots of laughs!It's Olden Days Day and Lenny is determined his class will win the competition. In fact he is certain of it because he's brought in something special ... a RAT! (They totally had those everywhere in the olden times.)But what he wasn't banking on was it escaping and leaving small, gruelly footprints all over the classroom and A LOT of screaming (because Lenny's rat is ACTUALLY a wild rat found by the back of the chip shop). Can the three kids round up the rat before more damage is done? Or will they end up in the headmaster's office, again. Maybe, but one thing is for certain, they're going to need a bigger net!More from Lenny Lemmon:Lenny Lemmon and the Alien InvasionLenny Lemmon and the Trail of CrumbsLenny Lemmon and the Doomed Safari"It is simply unbelievable the trouble this boy is capable of..." - Ms Bottley, 5B's Teacher

Hilarious school-based comedy full of chaos, misadventures and mayhem! The perfect starter book for younger Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates fans."A hilarious, highly illustrated romp for readers of 6+" - The Guardian"A laugh-out-loud story of doggy destruction. This book has it all!" - Lenny Lemmon (aka expert boredom buster)Join Lenny and his best friends Sam and Jess in their hysterical hijinks. Expect animals on the loose, paranormal invasions, shut down schools and lots of laughs!When an important visitor turns up at school one day, Lenny and his friends are suspiciously tasked with counting footballs and tidying up sports equipment far away in the the back field with an oddball from Reception and the over-enthusiastic school dog.Of course it's a ruse to keep them away from the guest. Furious, they demand answers (and an apology) which quickly unravels into commotion and a chase that nearly brings down the school!Can the three kids save the day? The fate of Fleurwood Academy is in their hands. One thing is for certain, it's completely barking!More from Lenny Lemmon:Lenny Lemmon and the Invincible RatLenny Lemmon and the Alien InvasionLenny Lemmon and the Doomed Safari"It is simply unbelievable the trouble this boy is capable of..." - Ms Bottley, 5B's Teacher