Bookworm Literary Festival: Frané Lessac
I often say that the Bookworm Literary Festival is our chance to meet new favorite books. Between the session with illustrator and author Frané Lessac on one day and the workshop with her husband Mark Greenwood the next morning, this was once again proven true for my kids. Both independent of one another and together, Lessac and Greenwood have produced engaging and unexpected children's books. We would have been tempted to buy their entire catalog, were it available at the Bookworm that day.
More after the jump
For the first part of her talk, Lessac described her childhood. She described rather normal upbringing in New Jersey, where she loved and nurtured a menagerie of pets, like snakes, a monkey, and even a camel.
Later, after college, she moved to the island of Montserrat. She started painting the stunningly bright Caribbean island and its equally colorful life, and eventually she began selling her artwork. Her love of Montserrat then led her to write and illustrate a children's book that remains in print today almost thirty years later. My Little Island was written as a contemporary celebration of Montserrat. Especially poignant during her presentation were her showing her illustrations of Montserrat's landmarks compared to photographs of what the island looks like today buried under ash. My Little Island is now something of a memorial.
Now residing in Western Australia, Lessac does not seem to be short on book ideas. She has drawn inspiration from her travels, history, and her current home. What amazed me was that some of these are subjects that one does not often see in Children's Books. Together Lessac and Greenwood have brought to life for young readers and their grown-ups such characters like Ned Kelly and Moondyne Joe and more than one tragic story about Anzacs.
Lessac researches her books extensively. This was another thing that really impressed me about Lessac (and Greenwood the next day). They put so much effort in getting the details right, even for picture books. For instance, for The Bird Who Was an Elephant which Lessac illustrated for Aleph Kamal, she used some of her experiences and observations in India to inform her illustrations.
A good part of her talk focused on a book that was inspired, initially, by a war memorial to "Simpson and his Donkey." Being an American, Lessac was unaware of the background behind this statue; her Australian husband Greenwood filled her in on the history. When they decided to collaborate on a book about Jack Simpson, their research took them to England and the battlefield at Gallipoli. They consulted extensive archival photographs and newspaper accounts as well. They followed Jack Simpson's own path from a childhood in South Shields to his fortune-seeking days in Australia to joining up with the Anzacs to the last weeks of his life at Gallipoli. They found why he naturally relied on the stray donkeys there at Gallipoli when the medic corps ran out of stretchers. They even uncovered one part of Jack Simpson's story that sounded too good not to be myth but was absolutely true. It involved a friend of his from his childhood and their paths crossing again at Gallipoli.
Simpson and his Donkey (or as it is titled for the American market, The Donkey of Gallipoli) is an incredible book. It isn't every day I get to rave about a picture book in which the main character is an Anzac killed by a sniper. However, The Donkey of Gallipoli is amazing for telling a war story on a child-accessible level. I can't imagine how that meeting with the publisher went, pitching a picture book about Gallipoli.
Lessac also walked the audience briefly through her own drawing process. She showed them the initial simple lines she began her drawings of Duffy, Jack Simpson's donkey. Then she demonstrated how she added color to bring the illustrations to life. The children in the audience were invited to draw along with her.
Our own pictures of Duffy, complete with his Red Cross bestowed upon him by one of the commanding officers. Brigid's is on the left. Myles' the right.
At the end, Frané Lessac signed our books and, much to Brigid's surprise and delight, gave her one of the Duffy drawings from the event.
More after the jump
For the first part of her talk, Lessac described her childhood. She described rather normal upbringing in New Jersey, where she loved and nurtured a menagerie of pets, like snakes, a monkey, and even a camel.
Later, after college, she moved to the island of Montserrat. She started painting the stunningly bright Caribbean island and its equally colorful life, and eventually she began selling her artwork. Her love of Montserrat then led her to write and illustrate a children's book that remains in print today almost thirty years later. My Little Island was written as a contemporary celebration of Montserrat. Especially poignant during her presentation were her showing her illustrations of Montserrat's landmarks compared to photographs of what the island looks like today buried under ash. My Little Island is now something of a memorial.
Now residing in Western Australia, Lessac does not seem to be short on book ideas. She has drawn inspiration from her travels, history, and her current home. What amazed me was that some of these are subjects that one does not often see in Children's Books. Together Lessac and Greenwood have brought to life for young readers and their grown-ups such characters like Ned Kelly and Moondyne Joe and more than one tragic story about Anzacs.
Lessac researches her books extensively. This was another thing that really impressed me about Lessac (and Greenwood the next day). They put so much effort in getting the details right, even for picture books. For instance, for The Bird Who Was an Elephant which Lessac illustrated for Aleph Kamal, she used some of her experiences and observations in India to inform her illustrations.
A good part of her talk focused on a book that was inspired, initially, by a war memorial to "Simpson and his Donkey." Being an American, Lessac was unaware of the background behind this statue; her Australian husband Greenwood filled her in on the history. When they decided to collaborate on a book about Jack Simpson, their research took them to England and the battlefield at Gallipoli. They consulted extensive archival photographs and newspaper accounts as well. They followed Jack Simpson's own path from a childhood in South Shields to his fortune-seeking days in Australia to joining up with the Anzacs to the last weeks of his life at Gallipoli. They found why he naturally relied on the stray donkeys there at Gallipoli when the medic corps ran out of stretchers. They even uncovered one part of Jack Simpson's story that sounded too good not to be myth but was absolutely true. It involved a friend of his from his childhood and their paths crossing again at Gallipoli.
Simpson and his Donkey (or as it is titled for the American market, The Donkey of Gallipoli) is an incredible book. It isn't every day I get to rave about a picture book in which the main character is an Anzac killed by a sniper. However, The Donkey of Gallipoli is amazing for telling a war story on a child-accessible level. I can't imagine how that meeting with the publisher went, pitching a picture book about Gallipoli.
Lessac also walked the audience briefly through her own drawing process. She showed them the initial simple lines she began her drawings of Duffy, Jack Simpson's donkey. Then she demonstrated how she added color to bring the illustrations to life. The children in the audience were invited to draw along with her.
Our own pictures of Duffy, complete with his Red Cross bestowed upon him by one of the commanding officers. Brigid's is on the left. Myles' the right.
At the end, Frané Lessac signed our books and, much to Brigid's surprise and delight, gave her one of the Duffy drawings from the event.
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