Hope Flies is a month-long online auction of 30 extraordinary kites decorated by 30 award winning Australian artists and illustrators who have donated their work to raise funds for the Red Kite charity.

It was born of my feeling that the publicity one does to send a book into the world ought to do more than that.

Years ago I read for some time to a wonderful sixteen year old girl who had a form of cancer. This came about after her mother wrote to me, to say her daughter was dying and doctors had done all they could. They were coping, she said, with self irony that told me a great deal about courage. She  was writing to me because that day she had come upon her daughter grieving for all of the things she would miss out on.

One of those things, her mother wrote, was the last book in my Obernewtyn series.

She said she did not know if there was a manuscript or anything at all, but was there anything I could offer that would give her daughter some sense of disclosure.

The Red Queen was a total dog’s breakfast – an enormous tome that needed trimming and developing. There were potholes and craters everywhere, not to mention chasms of chaos. Also most of it was hand-written. I thought for some time, then I wrote to the mother saying I could not send anything but that if her daughter would like it, I would read what I had, and tell her the story of the bits that were not yet written.

They agreed and each night for many months, I read to her. It was one of the most beautiful and terrible things I have ever done, because she was the most lovely intelligent, beautiful person, and it hurt to know she was going. I did not reach the end of the book, and it has always grieved me that there was a sad part where we both wept – and I wanted to tell her it would be ok, but I didn’t want to spoil the story – we always said hello on Skype (there was no zoom then) and afterwards she would switch off her screen so she did not have to perform wellness she didn’t feel or reactions that would exhaust her – the agreement was that she would simply close her laptop when she wanted to sleep or felt too ill, and I would see it.

Mostly though, she told me she was tired, and sometimes in between readings, we would talk. I cherish the memory of those quiet conversations.

What I did not know until later, and what has always profoundly touched me, was that her father read my other books to her in the daytime. It has stayed with me how wonderfully warm that family was, and how brave. The mother writing to me to ask for closure, and the father, reading to her day after day, even as I did. And most of all, their willingness to let me share that time with her, which must have been so very precious to her parents and sister.

So when I wanted to do something more with the publicity that I would seek to send my new book out into the world with a little fanfare, I thought I would like to do something connected to young people and children who were ill. I soon came across the Red Kite organisation, which takes care of families facing childhood cancer. The fact that they take care of the families as well as the sick child meant a great deal to me.

The name of the charity and the fact that there is a kite in my novel, combined to produce the idea of sending kites to 30 Australian illustrators and artists, to decorate and then auctioning them off to raise funds for Red Kite.

I approached the charity who were keen, and the thirty illustrators and artists, almost all of whom agreed to donate their artistry. The two that could not were about to head OS.

I made the kites (with a lot of help – you can read about that huge business in the Creating the Kites post, and you can read all about the people who helped me make the kites, and set up this event, under the acknowledgements button at the top of the home page. I realised it would have to be an online auction to reach people all over Australia, so I asked my favourite web mistress to create an online auction site.

Then I posted the kites out.

One vanished, one was rescued from beside a rubbish bin, and several ended up at the wrong delivery address, but in the end all of them arrived. I will tell you more about the kites and more about the individual kitemakers and the various adventures their kites went through, as the kites are revealed – one a day from today. Today Al’s kite has pride of place – fittingly, since his kite was the prototype.

The Hope Flies exhibition of the kites will be gradually installed in the window space of Smith’s Alternative, over the month of November, so you can visit the iconic establishment and see them even before they are visible on the website.

The bidding will be open the day after the final kite is revealed – on November 26, and will continue until midnight on December 5 – ten days during which I will do my best to encourage bidders, with the help of the fellowship of the Kite. Each kite has a reserve of $70.  The winning bidders will be asked to send their bid directly to Red Kite, at the close of the auction, and will receive a tax exemption certificate from Red Kite. Those who would like to support the Hope Flies event, but might wish to donate the kite they buy, I am amassing a list of organisations that would warmly welcome a kite or two.

The display card that will accompany each kite will have the donors name added.

I hope you enjoy this month and this site, as much as I will enjoy revealing the kites to you, and urging you to publicise this site and the event, and bid!

Please subscribe below for updates so I can let you know when the auction begins!
Isobelle Carmody