Storylines Festival of New Zealand Children's Writers and Illustrators
5-10 June 2007
As every year since 1993, Storylines brings together this June children and the authors of the books they love. The Storylines festival takes place this year from 5th to 10th June, and is spread over five cities, multiple schools and events.
The dates and venues of the Auckland events are listed at the end of this article. Other than the Story Tour by participating authors to selected schools, the other two big events are the Seminar and the Free Family Day. The National Final of the Kids Literary Quiz, the heats of which have been going on in various cities in NZ since early March, also takes place on the Family Day in Auckland. Over thirty NZ writers, illustrators and performers are gathering together for these events. In addition, there will be two international literary stars at the Seminar: Mal Peet and Shaun Tan. Of course, NZ’s very own international literary star, Margret Mahy, will be lending her not inconsiderable (literary) weight to the occasion. As will Auckland’s prominent literary figure, Tessa Duder. We do a small feature on Tessa Duder later in this article.
For most children and their parents, the highlight of the festival will undoubtedly be the Free Family Day. It takes place at the Aotea Centre, THE EDGE on 10th June from 10 am onwards. This is where authors and story-tellers will conduct readings, story tellings and performances, and children will be able to chat with their favorite authors. Illustrators will hold workshops and demonstrations, and there will also be lots of fun events for the family like face painting, book-making, calligraphy and puppet-making.
An introduction to the major literary stars at the event:
Mal Peet
The UK based Mal Peet has had an interesting life, having worked as a teacher, an attendant in a hospital mortuary, a builder, a plumber and on a road-building crew in Canada. He has also been a cartoonist and illustrator, and has written academic text-books on poetry. But we know him best as a writer of unusual and gripping novels for young adults - he has produced over 80 books, many in collaboration with his wife Elspeth Graham. His reputation has been firmly established by his 2005 book- Tamar, which won the Carnegie Medal and the 2004 book- Keeper, which won the Branford Boase Award.
Keeper, as well as his latest book-The Penalty, use football as a background, but are not really typical football novels. Keeper deals with the supernatural and has fantasy elements. It revolves around a young boy in the Brazilian jungles and a ghost footballer. Tamar goes in a completely different direction and deals with two intervening stories set in different times: Two secret military operatives behind enemy lines during World War II, and the attempts of the granddaughter of one of them to uncover the secret of their operation.
Shaun Tan
The Australia based Shaun Tan is a freelance artist and author, and has produced a vast range of well-loved and critically acclaimed picture books for children.
Shaun has received numerous awards for his works, amongst them: the CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award for The Rabbits, the CBCA Honor Book for Memorial and the Crichton Awards for illustration for The Viewer. He has also received the 2001 World Fantasy Best Artist Award for his entire body of work.
Shaun began his career as a teenager with illustrations for science fiction and horror stories in small-press magazines. Over the years, he has built an enviable reputation for complex and gorgeously drawn picture books, which stand as works of art in their own right, and leave a lasting impression on their readers: they are enjoyed by adults as much as children. For Shaun, the images come first. The text is there to string the images together, and add another layer to the story, which is largely told by the pictures.
His books deal with deep issues. The Rabbits is an Orwellian allegory on the rape of the environment by the greedy, and his latest book The Arrival deals with experience of emigration.
Margret Mahy
As New Zealand’s best loved author- not just of children’s fiction, but of fiction- full stop, Margaret does not really need an introduction. After struggling for many years, she was first ‘discovered’ by an American editor, Sarah Chockla Gross, who was instrumental in getting A Lion in the Meadow published in 1968. After that, there was no looking back for her. Over the years she has written over 120 titles, been translated into 15 languages, and has won national and international acclaim and numerous awards including: The Carnegie Medal (The Haunting; The Changeover), the Young Observer Fiction Prize (The Tricksters, 1986); the Italian Premier Grafico Award (The Wind Between the Stars, 1976) and the Dutch Silver Pencil Award (The Boy Who Was Followed Home, 1977).
Possibly the most prestigious of them: in 1993 she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest honor, which is limited to 20 living persons at any one time. Her citation reads: 'She is regarded as one of the foremost authors of children's literature and is said to be one of the best living authors in the English language'.
Margret’s books are works of pure fantasy, filled with humor, impossible situations, parody and satire wrapped in the most delectable of English. Criticized in early years for not having a New Zealand element in her books, which she ascribes to a childhood reared on British books, she has overcome it and her later books have been increasingly more deeply rooted in New Zealand.
Details of the Auckland Events
(Updated as on 21st April)
International guests:
UK - Mal Peet (author)
Australia - Shaun Tan (author/illustrator)
Auckland Free Family Day
Aotea Centre, THE EDGE
10 June 2007
10am-3pm
Participants
Margaret Mahy (author)
Lorraine Orman (author)
Kelly Gardiner (author)
Maria Gill (author)
Bill Nagelkerke (author)
David Elliot (author/illustrator)
Paula Green (poet)
Daryl Crimp (author/illustrator)
Samer Hatem (illustrator)
Lamia Aziz (illustrator)
Gavin Bishop (author/illustrator)
Tanya Batt (storyteller/author)
Bruce Potter (illustrator)
Lindy Fisher (illustrator)
Sandra Morris (illustrator)
Miranda Harcourt (author)
Helen Bacon (illustrator/storyteller/puppeteer)
Moira Wairama (storyteller/author)
Tony Hopkins (storyteller)
Martin Baynton (author/illustrator)Tessa Duder (author)
Tanya Batt (storyteller/author)
Seminar
Heritage Hotels Seminar Series
Wednesday 06 June 2007
Chair - Bill Nagelkerke
Featuring Shaun Tan (Australia) and Mal Peet (UK)
Tickets: Storylines Member/Student with ID $25; Non-member $35
Ticket price includes wine/juice and nibbles prior to seminar.
Tickets on sale from mid-April from:
Jabberwocky Children's Bookshop in Auckland
Kids' Lit Quiz 2007
National Final 10 June
Aotea Centre, THE EDGE at
Storylines Festival Free Family Day
Story Tour Auckland
Due to the number of requests in recent years for schools and early childhood centers to be visited by the Story Tour, Storylines Festival will endeavor to visit many of the schools and early childhood centers who have applied unsuccessfully in past years.
Participants:
Gavin Bishop (author/illustrator)
Bruce Potter (illustrator)
Helen Bacon (illustrator/storyteller/puppeteer)
Lorraine Orman (author)
Maria Gill (author)
Bill Nagelkerke (author)
David Elliot (author/illustrator)
Daryl Crimp (author/illustrator)
Moira Wairama (author/storyteller)
Tony Hopkins (storyteller)
For more information:-
Website
http://www.storylines.org.nz/
Contact
Storylines Festival of New Zealand Children's Writers & Illustrators
Crissi Blair - Festival Manager
Mobile 021 163 2496
Email festival@storylines.org.nz
Christine Young - Executive Officer
Email christine@storylines.org.nz
Getting to know Tessa Duder
For the Storylines festival, we decided to profile the Auckland based author of young-adult fiction, Tessa Duder. Tessa lives in Mission Bay, and is amongst Auckland’s most prominent literary figures. She will be one of participating authors at the Free Family Day.
Tessa Duder was a champion swimmer in her teenage and early youth, winning numerous medals and eventually the NZ Swimmer of the Year in 1959. Then she married and moved to London and later to Pakistan. She worked for some time as a feature writer for Daily Express. She returned to New Zealand in 1971 and her first novel followed in 1982: Night Race to Kawau. This was followed by Jellybean, and the Alex quartet. The first book in the quartet, simply titled Alex, went on to become New Zealand’s best selling work of fiction, ever. There was even a movie version by Tom Parkinson.
Numerous other award winning novels followed. Tessa has also published numerous non-fiction books, scripts, picture books and has also acted as editor. An important non-fiction book is a biography of Margaret Mahy in 2005, entitled ‘Margaret Mahy - a writer's life’.
Amongst her numerous awards are NZ Library Association Esther Glen Medal on three occasions, the Margaret Mahy Medal for a distinguished contribution to children's literature in 1996 and the Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved book in 2005, for
Night Race to Kawau.
Her most recent books are: ‘Too Close to the Wind and other stories’ which is a collection of her best short stories, and Carpet of Dreams, illustrated by Mark Wilson, which is her first true picture book. It is about a girl who discovers a carpet in an attic and goes on a magical carpet ride through time, from today’s New Zealand to Turkey in the 19th Century.
Tessa’s novels have been noted for having strong female protagonists, high drama, and for being firmly rooted in New Zealand.
Tessa took some time off from her busy schedule to talk to Smart As!
You are known for writing books firmly rooted in the NZ ethos. Is this something you work hard at, or is it something that comes naturally?
Twenty-five years ago, when I started, I saw my books as helping redress the pitifully small number of books being published for and about Kiwi kids, set in New Zealand. Now there's less need, happily. My next novel looks like being set in New Zealand and Italy.
As a writer of children's novels (or young adults to use the 'politically correct' term), do you feel in tune with teenagers of today, whose experience is so hugely different from what you must have experienced in your own teenage? How do you bridge the gap in your writing, and form a bond with them?
Older and established children's writers continually ask themselves this question. We visit schools, seek out opportunities to meet and (especially) listen to the young, try to be aware of and understand their youth culture, what turns them on; and that's all you can do, really. Deep down, though, there are certain constants which remain universal and timeless: teenagers' capacity for love, fear, anxiety, loyalty, laughter, work, their delicate balancing act between home, school and their future. I certainly don't go along with the idea you sometimes hear that younger writers (in their 20s and 30s) must be more attuned to writing for teens - you only need to look at Margaret Mahy, Philip Pullman, John Marsden, Paul Jennings, David Hill (all getting on a bit) to see the fallacy in that argument.
What was your experience like in previous Storylines festivals? Did you feel a special bonding, interacting directly with your 'invisible' readers?
Storylines Festivals have been an annual highlight of my year since the first in 1993, partly because I've been involved in the decision-making and management since day one. So they've been individually wonderful for me, but also deeply rewarding to see 30 or 40 authors and illustrators surrounded by literally thousands of young, enthusiastic readers. The struggle to get funding year by year has always been worth it, when the kids have gone home and the organisers sit down in the afterglow.
Do you find a significant difference between the publishing industry today, and as it was when you started? Is it significantly more difficult for a new author to get a break today than in earlier times?
It was hard 25 years ago and it's harder now, as New Zealand publishing, both for adults and children, has come of age and there's simply more competition all round. The traditional role and power of the editor has changed: sales departments have more say in what gets published, marketing departments look for 'author angles' to compete for the necessary media publicity. And the increasing focus, mostly overseas but happening here too, on a small number of over-paid rock star authors is not good news for the established, respected but underpaid writers who make up the bulk of any publisher's list. But there's good news too: more public funding for authors, more festivals, more publishing, bigger readerships, a Government which actively promotes the arts and letters.
Do you have a word of advice for someone wanting to get started as an author of children's novels?
Many people think they can write a publishable children's story or novel because they have grandchildren, or make up stories for their own children. That's a good start, but it's only a start. Anyone serious about being published should first spend some time in bookshops and libraries, reading what has been, and what is being, published. Attend courses in writing for children; seek out help and advice from local authors, writing groups, books on writing for children. It's a crowded and complicated genre, far more than writing for adults, and aspiring authors need to how how and where to present manuscripts to publishers, even how to choose the right publisher, to have any chance of success. Above all, persist! I've known writers who've put in five years or more of consistent work, writing and re-rewriting, before their first break.
You have written a book about Margret Mahy and must have gotten very close to her at that time. Do you still often get together and 'talk books'?
We exchange phone calls and/or and emails occasionally, but I know she has many calls on her precious time, from family, her fans world-wide, the literary community, her undiminished commitment to her own work, so I try not to add to her pressures. Her contribution to children's literature has been immense, hence the Hans Christian Andersen Medal she won last year. There's no greater world recognition than this.
Are there any exciting projects that you are working on right now?
I'm working on some adult short stories, an adult/YA novel, an anthology.
What are the books on your bedside table right now?
I'm reading Sara Wheeler's fine biography of Antarctic explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard; a fascinating book about music and the brain, why music is so important; a book of Puccini's collected letters; two or three children's novels. It's impossible to keep up with everything I'd like to read, so I choose carefully.
Future plans?
Travel to UK and France in September, another research trip to a very exciting place I'm not at liberty to divulge, in November.
A message for the young un's who will come to meet you on family day?
Authors love meeting their readers and love feedback! So Family Day is just as much a thrill and pleasure for them as for the readers, with 20,000-plus people all sharing the joy of books. FABULOUS!
