TAS E-NEWS the Children’S Book Council of Australia (Tasmanian Branch) Inc

TAS e-NEWS The Children’s Book Council of Australia (Tasmanian Branch) Inc. Patron: Mrs Frances Underwood PO Box 113, Moonah, Tas, 7009 - email: [email protected] web: www.cbcatas.org – blog: http://cbcatas.blogspot.com/ Editor: Penny Garnsworthy From the President Recently it dawned on me that although as an adult I read a lot of adult non- fiction, I am not exposed to much children’s nonfiction. On the other hand I read or peruse a fair bit of children’s and young people’s fiction. Apparently children’s non-fiction is not as fashionable, as many people believe that as facts are all on the web there is little need for non-fiction. To me the power of the good non– fiction book is that, unlike eclectic clicking on hypertext, it is in the form of a story. I was reminded of this power while watching an episode of The Mentalist. Baker had to remember a long list. He did it by making the list into a story. This took me back to my Matric years where I bought a memory course advertised in the Australasian Post (my mum bought AP to do the ‘Mr Wisdom’s Whopper Crossword’) to help me remember the dates for essays in the exams. It worked on exactly the same principles. Make up a story with dates as objects easily associated with the concepts. We find stories easy to remember; better still they makes thing easier to understand. However, until recently reading Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking: fast and slow Chapter 36 ‘Life as a story’ I had not understood the central place of story in human psychology. Often we place a lot of importance on people’s stories compared to their actual lives. As Kahneman states, ‘Caring for people often takes the form of caring for the quality of their stories rather than their feelings’. Once prompted it is not hard to think of examples. Wanting people to have good stories seems to help us to be more caring. So I am paying more attention to children’s non-fiction books as stories. Luckily they probably have a level of sophistication greater than most adults’ understanding so it will be worth the effort. NB. Kahneman is a psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics 2003 and reading is an understatement for this long term project. Richard Pickup, President What’s Inside this Issue – April 2013 Topic Page Topic Page From the President 1 Industry News 11 From the CBCA Tas. Judge 2 Nook Reviews 12 Five Jewels of Wisdom on Children’s Book 2 Literary Days 13 Publishing – Anne Morgan & Gay McKinnon CBCA Tas. Out and About 4 From the Editor 14 Will you be our next CBCA Tas. Judge? 5 Dates for your Diary 15 Congratulations! 6 CBCA Tas. Membership Form (att.) The Making of a Bookseller 10 Reading Time Application (att.) CBCA Tasmanian Branch Newsletter No. 2, 2013 Page 1 From the CBCA Tas. Judge I’ve just packed my bag for Canberra, so by the time you fine folk are reading this it seems likely that I will be at the national judges’ conference spending five days talking books. We’ve finally made it to the other side. 385 books later, the reading cycle for the year has finished. For my part, the judging experience has been a steep learning curve and a relentless battle with reading that has taught me many things. Chiefly, I have learnt to be clearer about the way I judge books. When reporting for a literary award, it is not enough to say that a book is simply good or bad , engaging or boring. These categories might suffice in conversation, but an award demands evidence , and identifying where and how a book fails in its endeavours is half the battle of writing a good one. Over the last eight months I hope that I have come closer to expressing what I regard as quality, and being able to enunciate that when the time is right. As the conference looms it becomes more and more certain that not everyone will agree, and a well thought argument might just save a great story from sliding off the shortlist. How fitting. In the end, really, it all comes down to words. Wish me luck. Lyndon Riggall Five Jewels of Wisdom on Children’s Book Publishing An author/illustrator collaboration on The Smallest Carbon Footprint In The Land & other eco-tales by Anne Morgan and Gay McKinnon Once beside an ornamental frog pond, Princess Priscilla threw a royal hissy fit. ‘Writer!’ she stormed, stomping her expensive sandal into the soggy verge of the pond, ‘Writers, you should never try to find an illustrator for your children’s book manuscript!’ The writer, however, printed this tirade on a sheet of unbleached, recycled A4 paper, scrunched it into a paper ball and tossed it into the pond. Then she turned the princess into a pobblebonk frog and asked the illustrator she had found herself to draw warts on Priscilla’s face.(1) JOW No. 1: Publishers prefer to work with their own stable of illustrators. If your manuscript is accepted for publication, the publisher will choose an illustrator for your text. I’m not saying that Princess Priscilla had no idea what she was talking about. As a manuscript assessor for the Tasmanian Writers Centre, I generally advise aspiring children’s authors against asking children, grandchildren, spouses, in-laws, or professional or aspiring visual artists to illustrate their texts. Unless the writer wishes to self-publish and is prepared to offer fair remuneration to the illustrator. JOW No. 2: ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’ (Anon)’. I wrote Chicken Licken Says the Sea is Rising in 2011 after hosting a wacky dinner party where the topic of climate change was debated ad nauseam . I submitted the manuscript to Dr David Reiter, Director of IPKidz, who had just published my lovely picture book, The Sky Dreamer . David, quite wisely, wanted the story to end on an upbeat note, so that child readers might feel empowered by the knowledge that there are actions they can take to reduce the impacts of climate change. But as a storyteller, I faced a dilemma. My manuscript was full of quirky characterisations of farmyard animals and the last thing I wanted was to have its climax weighed down by technical details of the carbon cycle and methods of greenhouse gas reduction. CBCA Tasmanian Branch Newsletter No. 2, 2013 Page 2 Five Jewels of Wisdom on Children’s Book Publishing (cont’d) With the adage that a picture speaks a thousand words firmly in mind, I could see only one way forward. I had to find an illustrator who could provide a concept illustration of Jowly Owly explaining the carbon cycle and ways of reducing carbon gas emissions to Chicken Licken and his fine feathered friends. JOW No. 3: ‘Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist’ (Pablo Picasso). I had served my apprenticeship as a children’s author. I knew the rule that authors should never invite illustrators to work on their manuscript and I broke it. Like an artist. JOW No. 4: Art is art, science is science, and never the twain shall meet. Luck was on my side. And when I say luck, I mean Lady Luck herself in the incarnation of Dr Gay McKinnon. Gay and I are both members of Book Chooks, a Hobart-based network of children’s book creators which was set up several years ago following a CBCA Tas conference. In 2011, when Gay was attempting an astonishing career change from molecular biologist to children’s book illustrator, she was struggling to achieve her first publishing contract. Given her scientific background and artistic talents, Gay seemed the obvious choice to provide a concept illustration for Chicken Licken . Gay completed the concept illustration and was duly offered a publishing contract for my manuscript, which had by then swelled from a 32 page picture book to an 80 page collection of nine organically-grown, recycled fairy tales. I quickly discovered that her talents extend far beyond the scientific and artistic – she has also proved to have exceptional contract-reading and editing skills. Thanks, Gay. So now that the Ecotales have been published and are ready to make their way in the world, let us raise a glass of organically-fermented pond water to the merger of art and science! Anne Morgan Footnote: (1) Dr McKinnon informs me that in the real world, frogs do not have warts. But if we can suspend disbelief long enough to accept that a diamond slipper could transform into a carbon footprint, or that a boy could climb a beanstalk and discover an organic garden in the clouds, or that a poor fisherman might catch a bottle filled with bling dust and a genie, then why not decorate the faces of Princess Priscilla and her handsome Prince Pobblebonk with a few warts? I would now like to hand you over to Gay, for her insights into the Ecotales collaboration. JOW No. 5: Take your chances. Like Anne, I broke my own rules to create this book. As an aspiring illustrator, I divided my time between learning my craft and reading blog posts advising newbies how to secure that elusive first contract. All of them warned against wasting time illustrating an author’s uncontracted manuscript, for the reason Anne has mentioned above: publishers prefer to select their own illustrators. (From a stable – an alarming thought. Would I be expected to run very fast and live on oats and mash?) So when Anne asked me to provide some concept illustrations for her new Chicken Licken picture book manuscript, I took on the challenge mainly as an opportunity to develop my skills.

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