Category: authors

It’s Friday! And that means it’s time for Pass the Book Baton. Every week Alphabet Soup features a book creator who will answer one question before throwing a new question to the next Friday visitor. (It’s kind of like a book relay in slow motion.)

Today the book baton is passed to award-winning author Tamsin Janu. We’re especially thrilled to have her visiting Alphabet Soup, because she has two new books out — Blossom, and Figgy Takes the City. (This latest book in the Figgy series is out in bookstores on 1 September 2017. Yes, that’s today!)

As well as writing award-winning books Tamsin has studied law at university, worked at a cake store, at a children’s shoe store, in a legal centre helping refugees, as a youth worker in remote Northern Territory, and as a research assistant at a charity.

Last week Tom Jellett asked: 

When you are writing, do you have a definite idea on where your story will go, or is it something you discover on the way there? How much of an influence are your characters on the story you end up with? I guess this is a roundabout way of asking: What comes first, story or characters?

Tamsin replies:

I don’t have a definite idea of where my story will go while I am writing it. Which is sometimes a bit scary — it’s like being dropped in the middle of nowhere without a map or a phone — but can also be exciting. I’m terrible at following maps in real life (I’m constantly getting lost), so I guess it’s not surprising that I wouldn’t try to follow a map when writing my stories! My unstructured way of writing does mean my first drafts are often quite messy, but they can always be fixed up after I’ve gotten the words down.

And with my books the characters generally come first, and the story follows. For the Figgy books it was the character of Figgy who began it all, a courageous Ghanaian girl ready for an adventure. And with my new book, Blossom, it was the character of Blossom I came up with first: a mysterious little girl arriving on a doorstep one night, with a story to tell. Once I have a character in mind, if I’m lucky the plot follows quickly!

Check out Tamsin Janu’s website for more about her and her books.

Read a review of Figgy in the World.

Read a review of Figgy and the President.

And now Tamsin passes the book baton to the next visitor — Jen Storer, author of many, many picture books and novels. You might know her Truly Tan series, Danny Best series, or some of her picture books like Blue, the Builder’s Dog.

Tamsin asks: 

What is the absolute best thing about being a children’s author? What aspects of writing do you find the most challenging?

[Pass the book baton will take a short break while our authors and illustrators recover from Book Week … er … Book Month. The interview series will resume in a few weeks with Jen Storer.]

While you’re waiting, you can catch up on all the interviews in the Pass the Book Baton series so far!

It’s Friday! And that means it’s time for Pass the Book Baton. Every week Alphabet Soup features a book creator who will answer one question before throwing a new question to the next Friday visitor. (It’s kind of like a book relay in slow motion.)

Today the book baton is passed to Danny Parker. Danny Parker is the author of many picture books, and a new series called Lola’s Toybox. When he’s not writing books, Danny is a writing and drama teacher at a Perth boys school.

You might recognise some of these books:

Last week Aleesah Darlison asked:
You’ve worked with some amazing illustrators in the past, in particular Matt Ottley. Can you tell us how much interaction you have with Matt before and during the book creation process?

Danny answers:

I always feel completely confident when I know that Matt has one of my texts because I think that we both feel the same way about picture books. I know that he will never just ‘draw my words’ he will find a way of working that will be intelligent and surprising. He hides extra meaning inside his pictures, often exploring the story in new ways. This gives the reader such a rich experience.

Matt has taught me a lot about the picture book format. When I am writing I can almost hear him in my head saying, ‘If you can see it, don’t say it — trust me to show it.’ That sounds quite complicated but I think he understands story so well that he can interpret what you really mean in a text. Then when those first images come through I start to rework some of the words, because we don’t always want the words and pictures to be telling the same story! Sometimes we talk a great deal about what the book will look like, sometimes very little. Our latest book is called Sarah and the Steep Slope — I only saw a couple of pages from this book before he had finished the whole thing. It is extraordinary. [Sarah and the Steep Slope is out in August 2017.]

Freya Blackwood is also great to work with — she often shares her ideas, and shows me little bits along the way. Her illustrations are always so beautifully observed. I really enjoyed seeing her illustrations for Perfect. This was a text with no real story or characters so she had to imagine and create it all. I love that she sometimes puts little pictures from her other books in her illustrations. There is a picture of Maudie and Bear hanging on the wall in Perfect.

It is a wonderful feeling when you open the package of illustrations for the first time. I have been so lucky, so far I’ve opened quite a few packages, and there are more to come — but it is always remarkable and magical. I can’t quite believe these books started with my stories!

For more about Danny Parker and his books, check out his website: dannyparker.com.au

And now Danny passes the book baton to the next Friday visitor — Tom Jellett. He has been an editorial illustrator (illustrating for newspapers), and the illustrator of a number of children’s books.

Danny asks:
“If you could swap your skills as an illustrator for the skills of another art form — what would you want to swap with and why?
And who or what has been the biggest influence on your work — you have such a distinctive style — I’m looking at My Dad Thinks He’s Funny as i write this! How did you come up with your ‘look’?”

Check in every Friday for mini interviews with children’s authors and illustrators.

Happy Book Week!

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It’s Friday! And that means it’s time for Pass the Book Baton. Every week Alphabet Soup features a book creator who will answer one question before throwing a new question to the next Friday visitor. (It’s kind of like a book relay in slow motion.)

Today the book baton is passed to Raewyn Caisley. Raewyn was born and grew up in New Zealand, and has spent more than half her life in Australia. She’s lived in a number of Australian cities, and also lived for a year in the outback. Her most recent book is Something Wonderful, illustrated by Karen Blair.

Here are just some of Raewyn’s books:

Last week Bren MacDibble asked:
Looking at your recent picture books, I immediately get a sense of place, not just anywhere but of Western Australia or of New Zealand. Most of the scene setting is done by an illustrator in a picture book, but do you consciously try to contribute towards building a sense of place with your prose? And how do you do that?

Raewyn answers:
Actually, most of the scene setting is done by the author first, even in a picture book. You just don’t notice it! When Karen Blair did the pictures for Hello From Nowhere she had never even been to the Nullarbor so I guess my words must have somehow taken her there.

The trick is allowing the reader to see the place through the eyes of the characters, and if the writer includes their own real feelings about the place, well then it will be just like being there.

Another clever trick is incorporating the five senses. How does it smell? What can you hear? What can you see? Touch something and think about how that thing makes you feel … Again, though, you have to do it in a very real way. A lot of kids like to say ‘You could smell his fear’ but I’m not sure you can really smell fear. You shouldn’t go through the senses like they’re a shopping list either! Just put a smell in here, a sound in there … Do it in a way that feels natural.

The best compliment you can ever give someone who writes about place is, you took me there. I hope that’s how people feel when they’ve read one of my books.

For more about Raewyn Caisley and her books, check out her website: www.raewyncaisley.com

And now Raewyn passes the book baton to the next Friday visitor — Katrina Germein. Katrina’s latest book is Great Goal! Marvellous Mark! illustrated by Janine Dawson.

Raewyn asks:
“You write about so many different things; footy, remote communities, beaches, funny dads … I even read that you want to write about mermaids! Is there something that all your books have in common?

Check in every Friday for mini interviews with children’s authors and illustrators.

See you next week!

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It’s Friday! And that means it’s time for Pass the Book Baton. Every week Alphabet Soup features a book creator who will answer one question before throwing a new question to the next Friday visitor. (It’s kind of like a book relay in slow motion.)

Today the book baton is passed to Bren MacDibble. Bren has a special interest in science fiction and loves to write to explore the future. Her latest novel — How to Bee — is set in a post bee, post famine Australia, where children hand-pollinate fruit trees.

You might recognise some of these books:

Last week Cristy Burne asked:
I love that you have introduced the real-life issue of honey bee losses in your fictional novel, How to Bee. Can you please tell us more about how this issue grabbed your interest and its role in inspiring your story?

Bren answers:
When I saw the beautiful photos in the Huffington Post article (linked on my website) about how farmers in a valley in the Sichuan Province in China were already spending their lives climbing through trees, hand-pollinating flowers, because there just aren’t any bees there anymore, I knew I wanted to write about the lives of hand-pollinators.

I think children know a lot about climate change and it worries them, so I wanted to set a story in the future after the bees had gone and the world had changed. I didn’t want to terrify children with a famine caused by bee loss, I wanted to go further into the future and show the world after things had resettled. In particular, I wanted young readers to see children like them living in this new time, getting on with things. I wanted to show them coping, and learning what is most important in a new world.

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It’s Friday! And that means it’s time for Pass the Book Baton. Every week Alphabet Soup features a book creator who will answer one question before throwing a new question to the next Friday visitor. (It’s kind of like a book relay in slow motion.)

Today the book baton is passed to Alice Pung. Alice is an award-winning author and writes for adults, young adults and children. (And did you know — Alice’s father named her after the Alice in Alice in Wonderland?)

You might have read Alice Pung’s books from the Our Australian Girl series, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo.:

Last week Gabriel Evans asked:
You’re both a solicitor and author. How do you balance these two jobs? Is there a connection between the two?

Alice answers:
I work as both a lawyer and writer. I work three days a week at the Fair Work Commission (Wednesday to Friday), and write on Mondays and Tuesdays. I think it is a good balance because I feel like I am doing something to help the community with my law background, and the writing becomes more fun when I don’t have an infinite time to do it. I never get writer’s block because I always value my writing time and try and use it wisely!

Find out more about Alice Pung and her books — check out her website: www.alicepung.com

And now Alice passes the book baton to the next Friday visitor — Cristy Burne. Christy is a science writer, teacher, editor and children’s author. Her latest book is To the Lighthouse.

Alice asks:
“You mention finding a plastic head in the rubbish bin as one of the inspirations for your Takeshita Demons books. This is fascinating! Could you tell us the true story about the head that inspired the books?!”

Check in every Friday for mini interviews with children’s authors and illustrators.

See you next week!

Earlier this year Alphabet Soup started a series called Pass the Book Baton. Every week we featured a book creator who answered one question before throwing a new question to the next Friday visitor. (It was kind of like a book relay in slow motion.) Our book creators took a break for the school holidays but we are pleased to announce … Pass the Book Baton is BACK!

You might remember that we left Kelly Canby with the book baton in March. (She’ll be feeling quite tired by now.) Today she finally passes the baton to Sue Whiting.

Sue Whiting lives and works in a coastal village south of Sydney. She is an editor and an author and writes books for a range of ages, from picture books through to books for young adults. Her latest book is Platypus, illustrated by Mark Jackson.

Here are just some of Sue Whiting’s books:

Back in March, Kelly Canby asked:
When you’re in the planning stage of a new book, do you prefer to work in a quiet space where it’s just you and your thoughts or do you head out to cafes and parks where you’re surrounded by outside sources of inspiration — people/colour/activity — to help develop your ideas?

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