Write now with Tim Thorne

Five days until the Beaconsfield Festival of Golden Words and today's Q&A is with poet Tim Thorne. He's a multi-award winning poet with more than a dozen collections published.

1.  What is your latest book? Tell us a bit about it.

 

The Unspeak Poems and other verses, published by Walleah Press. It consists of the title group of poems, based on Stephen Poole's concept of "Unspeak" (a real-life version of Orwell's "Newspeak") along with other poems I've written over the past six years.  It includes some light verse.

2. What is your best time of day for writing? Why is that?

 

  It used to be very late at night, but as I get older I get tired earlier, so now it tends to be afternoons.

3.  What books would you recommend to a new poet starting out?

 

Any of the technically great poets, both for enjoyment and to learn from.  Plath and Keats are the first I'd list, but the important thing is to read as widely as possible.

4. What is the strangest question you have been asked by a reader? What was your response?

 

 "Why did you write about my life?"  This from a complete stranger after I'd read in a pub in Orange.  She'd wandered in from another bar and heard a poem about a homeless teenager.

5. What do you enjoy most about literary festivals?

 

 Hearing other poets read/perform their work.  I'm not a great fan of panel discussions.  I do have a poem sequence in my new book called "At the Literary Festival" which is pretty much my take on the phenomenon.

Write now with - Christina Booth

The Beaconsfield Festival of Golden Words - never heard of it? That's because it's a brand new literary festival for Tasmania, taking place 14-16 March!

Today's Q&A is with Christina Booth, a children's writer and illustrator, who will be appearing at the festival.

 

1. What is your latest published book? Tell us a little about it.

My latest book is called Welcome Home.  It is a story about a boy and a whale. Inspired by an event that happened in my home state of Tasmania, the story follows a whale as she swims into a river and tells her stories to a young boy. The stories are both joyful and sad. The young boy learns of the history of whaling and why the whales were driven away. He wonders if he can make amends for the past and encourage her to stay. 'Sorry,' he tells her but she swims away. Then in the early dawn people gather on the shore and watch as she swims and plays in the water, but not on her own. 

I have always wanted to write a book that looks at the issue of whaling. It is a gruesome and violent topic and quite political and very difficult to approach appropriately in a book for young children. When a southern right whale swam into Hobart's Derwent River and had a calf, the first born in what was once a thriving whale nursery in nearly 200 years I knew I had a story. I have approached the effects of whaling from a historical perspective and asked myself, how did the whale know it was safe to come back? Do whales tell their children stories like we do? Can a whale forgive us? I like to start my story writing with a question.

2. What research did you have to do for it? Is research different for illustrators? If so, in what way?

I researched information about southern right whales and the history of whaling during the early European settlement of Australia and New Zealand. I watched a lot of documentaries, read books including journal entries of whalers from the time and looked at a lot of pictures of whales. I collected as many images of whales as I could and researched about their behaviour and anatomy.  I visited a few museums and researched quite a bit online.

My research is very much the same as an illustrator as it is for my writing though I do have to collect and study a lot of visual aspects, not just to have descriptions right in words but to have certain important aspects correct in my illustrations. If you understand the anatomy of the animal you are drawing and painting, even if you are simplifying it or morphing it in some way then you will capture the essence of what makes that animal unique. A lot of my illustration research is spent doing studies and sketches of animals to learn how to make them move and sit, stand etc, in certain environments and situations. I am inspired by the way Beatrix Potter studied to draw her animal characters. She drew them anatomically correct and then she dressed them. My whales aren't dressed though!!

3. What is your best time of day for illustrating? Why is that?

I have a crazy life, lots of people coming and going in my house which is where my studio is. I find that once I have settled into the studio and focused then any time is the best time. Sometimes I go up to turn off computers for the night and find myself distracted and working again. It puts me into a time bubble and before I know it everyone else has gone to sleep and hours can pass by. Because I am a mum the best time to work is any time I can grab to do so.

4. What is the strangest question you've ever been asked by a child reader? How did you respond? 

Not many odd ones but one child wanted to know what language we spoke in Tasmania. I answered with a question that had the group chatting for a bit about what they thought (they were quite young and lived on what I affectionately call the 'Big Island'). 

5. What do you like most about literary festivals?

I love festivals, the word itself engages the essence of fun and celebration. I love literary festivals because they celebrate what I love to do and offer the opportunity for everyone to engage with the idea of using words and pictures to tell stories. We hear from the great writers and also from the potentially great and we learn from each other. Humans are naturally designed to tell stories and to gather together so when I attend a writing festival I feel very at home and love listening, telling and doing. I love having the chance to meet new people, my audience (they are not a figment of my imagination, hooray) and to share any skills  I have with others and learn new ones as well. I love to learn.

Write Now with - Tristan Bancks

Next week is the Beaconsfield Festival of Golden Words. Tristan Bancks is one of Australia’s most active children’s authors, and an advocate of the internet as an essential writers tool. In demand at schools and libraries around the country for his exciting writing workshops for youngsters, Tristan is leading two of his story safaris and his popular Imaginarium session at the Festival.

1. What is your latest published book? Tell us a little about it.

TWO WOLVES, out 1 March. It’s a crime-mystery novel about two kids, Ben and Olive Silver, who are ‘kidnapped’ by their own parents. They are told that they’re going on a holiday but, after a couple of run-ins with the police, they realise that their parents have done something wrong. They need to become detectives within their own family and work out what their folks have done and what they are going to do about it.

2. What research did you have to do for it?

I read lots of articles on abducted kids and criminal parents. I learnt how log rafts are built and what rabbit hunting is like and I learnt about Norfolk Pine trees and police car antennas and I re-read My Side of the Mountain and Hatchet and White Fang and other wilderness novels that I love. Lots of details that I tried to get right. I took five years to write it so I take full responsibility for any discrepancies.

3. What is your best time of day for writing? Why is that?Definitely mornings. I am clear-headed and energised and ready for action. Afternoon is much better for logistical stuff. Then a late-night burst of ideas if I allow it. (Often no sleep afterwards.) 

4. What is the strangest question you've ever been asked by a reader? How did you respond?
‘Do you like pie’? I, of course, responded in the affirmative. 

5. What do you like most about literary festivals?Interacting with kids, meeting other writers and illustrators who invariably have an interesting take on the world. Telling stories verbally is fun and bringing them alive with images, video, anecdotes etc. It’s a nice excuse to stand up occasionally, too. Writers sit for waaaay too long each day / month / year.


Thanks, Tristan! I know what you mean about too many hours at the computer. Two Wolves looks great - can't wait to read it.

Write now! with Nick Earls

To celebrate the Beaconsfield Festival of Gold Words, which is on in Tasmania (near Launceston) next week, I'm running a series of short blog posts featuring Q&As with some of the writers who will be there.

First up is Nick Earls, whose books have long been on my favourites list.

1. What is your latest book? Tell us a bit about it.

 My latest book for children is the final part of the Word Hunters trilogy. It’s called War of the Word Hunters, and we aimed to create the massive finale every trilogy deserves. In this case, it needed an epic-scale reckoning between our heroes and their enemy, and  it needed to be etymologically satisfying as well. Word Hunters is a time-travel adventure trilogy, with the leaps back in time dictated by the evolution of a particular word, so to finish with we needed a word that would take us to the right place at the right time, in an interesting way. A big ask, but I think we got there.

My latest book for adults is Welcome to Normal, a collection of stories and novellas, each of which look at the idea of ‘normal’ in some way, and at what might lie beneath the surface. My next book for adults, a novel called Analogue Men, will come out in July.

2. What research did you have to do for this book?
The research for Word Hunters was huge, and one of the best bits. I had to test out the etymological paths of literally hundreds of words to see which had interesting stories, or stories that could take the characters to interesting places. Then I had to find out what they’d wear in each place, what it looked like how it smelt, etc.

For Welcome to Normal, a few of the stories involve travel or happen a long way from here, so I took to Google Earth and Google Street View and spent days driving the roads to see precisely what my characters would see (or at least what they would have seen, had they been in the Google car that day).

3. What is your best time of day for writing? Why is that?
My best writing time is after I’ve dropped my son at childcare, bought the groceries and despatched any urgent emails. The decks are close to clear then, and they’re not clear often. Lately, my best shot at writing has come on planes and in hotel rooms, with the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door.

To write a first draft of a novel, though, it’s more about best time of year than best time of day. I have to block out a slab of my diary, say no to events and other requests, and write. I only get a few months a year like that, and those few months need to yield a draft of something.

4. What is the strangest question you've been asked by a reader?
Quite a few of the strange questions are about the writing of He Died With a Felafel in his hand, made extra strange because John Birmingham wrote it, not me. But people talk to him about Zigzag Street regularly, so honours are even.

5. What do you like most about literary festivals?
 They make me lift my eyes from this keyboard and screen. They bring me back into face-to-face contact with writers and readers, and into conversations.

Thanks, Nick. You will also see on his website that he gives away some of his stories for free, so if you haven't read his work before, here's your chance!