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Shaun Tan grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, and currently works as an artist, author and film-maker in Melbourne. Books such as "The Rabbits," "The Red Tree," "Tales From Outer Suburbia" and the acclaimed wordless novel "The Arrival" have been widely translated and enjoyed by readers of all ages. Shaun has also worked as a theater designer, feature film concept artist, and wrote and directed the Academy Award-winning animated short "The Lost Thing." In 2011 he received the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Sweden for his body of work. His most recent publication is "The Bird King."
Shaun will be giving a Keynote address the Saturday February 2, 2013 of the upcoming 14th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference, titled "Internal Migrations."
I was so fortunate in this interview with Shaun to ask him about working in the magical space "between familiarity and strangeness," find out what he does when he has a creative emergency, get his advice about endings that resonate, and so much more!
I'm in awe of his work, and now I'm even more excited to see Shaun speak in person!
How about you? There are a limited number of spaces still available for the Saturday and Sunday of the 2013 SCBWI Winter Conference (the Friday intensives have sold out.) You can find out more details and register here.
Illustrate and Write On, Lee
0 Comments on Pre-#NY13SCBWI Interview with Shaun Tan as of 1/25/2013 1:56:00 PM
[Time is running out to enter our Tenth Anniversary Draw - the deadline is tomorrow - so if you haven't already, take a look here for the chance to win some fantastic prizes for you or your school or library]
Sally Ito is a poet, editor and translator living in Winnipeg, Canada, where she also teaches Creative Writing; she is currently writer. Sally was a book reviewer and contributor to the PaperTigers blog until earlier this year and wrote many of our contributions to Poetry Friday during that time (which is why we decided to post Sally’s selection on a Poetry Friday day!). So we are delighted to welcome her back with her Top Ten list of favourite books, encountered through her work with PaperTigers.
As a prelude, do listen to Sally reading the title poem from her collection Alert to Glory (Turnstone Press, 2011) in the video below.
My Top Ten Picks by Sally Ito
When I joined the Paper Tigers blog contributor team in 2008, the thing I was most excited about was getting to read and review great multicultural books for kids. What I discovered was a plethora of wonderful books that reflected who I was culturally and who my community was, culturally, as well. From my short time with PaperTigers, these are my ten picks of multicultural books for kids. It’s a little Japan-heavy, I realize but I hope you indulge my bias!
Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (Allen & Unwin, 2008) – I found this quirky picture book amazing and it was an inspiration for me when I was teaching to take my creative writing students out into our immediate neighborhood (an historic district called The Exchange) in Winnipeg to see what we could make of our environment in a creative way.
Naomi’s Tree by Joy Kogawa, illustrated by Ruth Ohi (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2008). This book is about a cherry tree and a Japanese Canadian girl who grew up with it and was separated from it by the circumstances of the Second World War. This book was a personal favorite since the author’s history reflects my own family’s in Canada.
Granny’s Giant Bannock by Brenda Isabel Wastasecoot, illustrated by Kimberly McKay-Fleming (Pemmican, 2008). This is one hilarious book about a Cree-speaking grandmother and her grandson Larf who accidentally bakes a giant bannock by misunderstanding his grandmother’s instructions on how to make the doughy confection from scratch.
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, translated by Cathy Hirano (Scholastic, 2009). This book is a translation of a popular fantasy series that was also made into a TV series. The story is set in early imperial Japan and features a woman warrior named Balsa who protects the son of the emperor, Chagum, as he carries within him a spirit from another dimension who must lodge in a human host in order to survive.
The Song of the Cicada by Shizue Ukaji. This is a Japanese book, yet untranslated into English, that I discovered while living in Japan in 2011. It’s an Ainu folktale illustrated with textile creations made by Ukaji herself. It’s the story of a woman who prophesies disaster – namely a tsunami – to her people and what becomes of her as a result. A timely read for the year I was visiting the country.
The Fox’s Window and Other Stories by Naoko Awa, translated by Toshiya Kamei. This is a collection of short stories spanning a career of writing by Japanese author Naoko Awa. Magical, enchanting and absorbing are the words I’d use to describe these stories, which have also been referred to as ‘modern fairytales.’
David’s Trip to Paraguay by Miriam Rudolph. A bilingual book with German and English text, this story is about a young Mennonite boy named David who travels to Paraguay from Canada in the late 1920s. Rudolph, an artist, charts the arduous journey with vivid and colorful illustrations of the things David sees on the trip.
Gifts: Poems for Parents edited by Rhea Tregebov (Sumach Press, 2002). We say we read to our children for their sake, but it’s just as true that we read to feed ourselves, too. Poetry is a kind of bread for the soul, and this particular treasury of poems by Canadians really fed me as a poet and a parent.
Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters. This is one book I read in part with my son, who later went on to have the book assigned to him for his English class in junior high school. It’s about two teenagers – Haroon and Jay – who have to negotiate their cultural identities during a tense lockdown situation at their high school.
Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie. I started covering graphic novels for PaperTigers a few years ago as I felt this was a developing trend in books for young people. And this book was one of my favorites! Aya is about a young woman growing up in Cote D’Ivoire, looking to become a medical student, but whose life is inevitably shaped and influenced by those around her with less lofty goals than her.
Awards, translations, migrations and a mix of people from 52 countries, were all part of the hectic week-end that comprised the International IBBY Conference hosted by IBBY UK here in London at the end of August.
There were too many absolutely brilliant workshops and talks to identify individually. UK authors and illustrators - Michael Rosen, Marcus Sedgewick, Michael Morourgo, Aiden Chambers and Anthony Browne were there but into the mix came other heady spice, texture and flavour from international experts in children’s literature and luminaries such as Shaun Tan, Peter Sis, Bart Moeyaert and Kitty Crowther, winner of the Astrid Lingen Award for Illustration.
Highlight of the week-end had to be the Hans Christian Andersen Ceremony with the Author award going to María Teresa Andruetto from Argentina and Illustrator award going to Peter Sis from the Czech Republic. I couldn’t help feeling that the venue of the Science Museum at night with its surreal spotlights was the perfect setting for Peter Sis’s drawings. The machines seem to take on a life of their own...
Some of the work of the short-listed illustrators and some IBBY Honour titles are shown below - exciting, unusual, different. For more events and people see Candy Gourlay’s blog.
The fine linear work of Roger Mello from Brazil who was short-listed...,
The work of Alenka Sottler, an illustrator from Slovenia, depicting the story of Cinderella - Pepelka - with almost Seurat-like pointillism.
In Piroulito and Rosalia Effie Lada from Greece has speech impaired characters wearing beautiful masks and Eg Kan Ikkje Sove No (I Can't Sleep Now) shows the wonderful silhouetted work of Oyvind Torsetter from Norway... and lots more, snapped at random.
And finally I was delighted to meet Australian author, Mark Greenwood and his illustrator wife, Frane Lessac from Freemantle...
delighted to have Peter Sis sign my books...
and delighted to be in the heady atmosphere of such creative energy. Thank you IBBY UK for playing such excellent hosts.
WOW! Have only just seen this, Dianne. It's fascinating. And the artwork from all those foreign artists is most beautiful and unusual, isn't it? Lovely post.
Drop everything! Paul Gravett has interviewed Shaun Tan! The Oscar winning artist of The Arrival, The Lost Thing and many other picture books is one of the most admired illustrators working today, and although Tan’s work often ends up being “comics” in that it is sequential, pictorial storytelling, as this interview makes clear, doing anything like comics is only something he backed into:
I think you’re building a mature relationship with comics without too many preconceived ideas. I think if you’d been immersed in them since childhood, perhaps you’d have had a system in place that would have been difficult to escape from?
Yeah I would have taken them for granted. But as it is, comics seemed quite a strange way of telling a story which is what intrigues me. My attraction to picture books was word-picture relationships and how pared down they can be and still make sense and also have these big gaps in between. The best comics maximise this relationship between language and image that’s not explanatory. They’re both doing different functions. It’s quite a natural extension, but that said I don’t feel like a comics artist.
Tan also talks about his inspirations:
This guy called Aki, an IT specialist from Helsinki, came to stay with us for two weeks. We set up a bedroom for him. In the Eric story, the exchange student prefers to sleep in the kitchen pantry, which is tolerated because the family want him to be comfortable. When Aki was staying with us, he would get on with his studies, bent over a book, reading intently, I could see him through the gap in the door. Whenever I am doing an illustration, no matter how fanciful it is, there is always some reference to something in my own life. Not to be autobiographical but because it helps me draw the picture. It helps you project emotion into the picture. It’s very difficult to just draw things without feeling.
Much much more insight into Tan’s works and his method in the link.
1 Comments on Must Read: Shaun Tan on ideas and art, last added: 8/22/2012
Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations, to be held at Imperial College, London, from 23rd to 26th August 2012.
It’s going to be fantastic and I get to see friends from all over the world.
Shaun Tan, Mark Greenwood, Frane Lessac – the fantastic Aussie contingent of authors/illustrators from the West are coming.
Can’t wait to speak about ‘Ships in the Field’ on a panel with Marjorie Coughlan editor of Paper Tigers
Picture Books about Migration
Zeynep Bassa (Author and Illustrator, Turkey) Picture Books on the Theme of Migration in Germany Questions of migration, discrimination, social marginalisation and integration appear as newly emerging topics in children’s books. Based partially on the author’s personal experiences as a migrant mother of two children in Germany and from work with migrant children, this paper reviews some of the children’s books published in Germany on the subjects of tolerance and acceptance of different identities.
Marjorie Coughlan (Editor, Paper Tigers, U.K.) Escaping Conflict, Seeking Peace: picture books that relate refugee stories, and their importance Attention is drawn to picture books in English from around the world about children and young people who have been forced from their homes because of conflict. These are stories that need to be told, whether they are biographical or fictionalised accounts, for understanding of the past, healing in the present, and hope for the future.
Susanne Gervay (Author, Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrato
This book is Epic. It doesn’t just “tell” an immigrant’s story, it magically (or I suppose, skillfully) brings us INTO the very experience. - Aaron Zenz
Because it’s a richly imagined, beautifully rendered, wordless graphic narrative of immigration, dislocation, and hope. - Phillip Nel
#68 then. #65 now. There’s no question it belongs on this list.
So is it a picture book? Well, let’s see. It tells a story entirely with pictures and not a single word (or, at least, not a single word we can understand). You might call it a graphic novel too, except it eschews thought bubbles and speech balloons. Yet it does break itself into panels quite often… but can’t the same be said of many picture books, like The Adventures of Polo and the like? Is there an age limit to it? Maybe (there are some scary scenes) but when do children stop reading picture books? Many read them for years, though often on the sly when around peers or siblings.
I hereby proclaim that until someone can pin down a definite genre for a book as amazing, miraculous, and downright fun as The Arrival, here it shall remain on this Top 100 Books poll.
My review back in the day of it said this about the plot: “A man prepares to leave his family for a new world. Tearfully they let him go as he boards a ship for another land. Once he arrives, however, he finds himself at a loss. Everything from the language to the buildings to the birds is strange here. The reader of this book sympathizes easily with the man since author/illustrator Shaun Tan has created a world that is just as odd to us as it is to our protagonist. Appliances consist of confusing pulls and toggles. People live and work in plate and cone-shaped structures, traveling via dirigibles and strange ship-shaped machinations of flight. As the man proceeds to discover how to find lodging, food, and work, he meets other immigrants who tell their own stories of hardship and escape. Through all this, our man grows richer for his experiences and even grows to love the odd little white-legged cat-sized tadpole creature that follows him everywhere. By the end, his family has arrived as well and the last image in the book is of his daughter as she helps another immigrant get directions in this dazzling and magnificent city.”
Are there those amongst ye who have not read this book? Then go to it. I could wax rhapsodic for days on end about the power and beauty of this story, but I’ll let the experts do it for me.
The New York Times said of it, ” ‘The Arrival’ tells not an immigrant’s story, but the immigrant’s story. . . The effect is mesmerizing. Reading ‘The Arrival’ feels like paging through a family treasure newly discovered up in the attic.”
Booklist said, “Filled with subtlety and grandeur, the book is a unique work that not only fulfills but also expands the potential of its form.”
The Washington Post said, “Hundreds of sepia-toned drawings, some tiny, some panoramic, all pulsing with detail, combine to produce an effect reminiscent of silent movies or mime, the absence of words forcing the eye and the brain to work harder.”
And Kirkus said, “It’s an unashamed paean to the immigrant’s spirit, tenacity and guts, perfectly crafted for maximum effect.”
As of this post, Shaun Tan has still not had a chance to visit Ellis Island. And any questions you might have about the
0 Comments on Top 100 Picture Books #65: The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2006) as of 1/1/1900
Shaun Tan, The Bird King and Other Sketches Templar Publishing (UK), 2011; first published by Windy Hollow Books (Australia), 2010.
Ages 9 +
Shaun Tan’s beautifully produced sketchbook, The Bird King, generously lays bare the creative process of illustration. While not specifically designed for children, Tan’s familiar images are of instant, near-universal appeal, and his explanatory text will be a revelation to young fans, especially aspiring artists.
Tan’s introduction references Klee’s famous description of drawing as “taking a line for a walk.” The colored and black-and-white drawings are divided into sections. Images in which “one little drawing is enough” to suggest a whole story comprise the untold stories section. In book, theatre and film, Tan describes his preliminary sketches as “a constant reminder of what I was ‘getting at’ in the first place” during longer creative processes. In drawings from life, we see “ongoing studies in the relationship of line, form, colour and light” that are crucial to an artist’s lifelong process of learning to see. A final section, notebooks, is culled from small ball point pen sketches, doodles and scribbles, some “an equivalent to daydreaming” that Tan poetically compares to fishing: “casting loose lines into a random sea… catching ideas that might otherwise be hidden beneath the waves.”
The drawings themselves also include little notes, ideas for development, and titles that further decipher the artist’s visual language. One double-page drawing entitled “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” features a dozen of Tan’s creatures marching behind a small boy, bird on his head, palette in hand. The only color on the page is a splash of orange dropping from his brush, repeated on the body of a goldfish, held aloft in a bowl, by a large creature with a diving bell head in which a bird in a beret stands at the wheel. In Tan’s quixotic imagination, the robotic and the humanizing hover in edgy balance.
The production quality of this small hardcover book is excellent. Partially bound in red cloth, with embossed lettering on the front cover, it’s held closed with a red elastic band; a blue ribbon bookmark is sewn into the binding. The back matter includes a list of the drawings in the book (noting materials used and the original purpose of each sketch) and a bibliography of Tan’s published works.
Young artists will learn more from studying the lines Tan takes for a walk than from any number of art classes. Children who already know and love books by the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner will recognize preliminary sketches of work from favorite books. For newcomers, The Bird King is a great introduction to this evocative Australian writer-illustrator.
Charlotte Richardson February 2012
0 Comments on Week-end Book Reviews: The Bird King And Other Sketches by Shaun Tan as of 1/1/1900
Thanks to Zoe Toft at Playing by the Book for alerting me to this video of Shaun Tan’s award winning bookThe Arrival set to a musical score on the Sydney Opera House’s website.
Watch highlights of Shaun Tan’s visual masterpiece The Arrival featuring a live score by Ben Walsh and The Orkestra of the Underground.
The Arrival is a migrant story told as a series of wordless images. With his Orkestra of the Underground, Ben Walsh pooled a diverse range of musical talent and composed a score to accompany Tan’s beautiful illustrations in a rare and unique audio-visual experience.
Eric is a foreign exchange student who has come to stay. His host family do their best to make Eric feel welcome but they never feel quite sure that Eric is enjoying his stay with them. And then one day, “with little more than a wave and a polite goodbye” Eric departs. The host family feel uneasy and a little confused until they find the secret Eric has left behind, a secret that shows Eric has indeed had a wonderful time.
Tan’s moving, thoughtful story is funny and profound; we cannot know the seeds we are planting with our behaviour and actions. But Eric allows us to believe that if we give people the space and time they need, if we are kind and generous, beautiful things will grow.
Eric also reminds me that even if people appear unmoved, uninvolved, they are not without emotion and internal life. Indeed, in the Guardian interview, Tan admits that Eric is perhaps a little autobiographical in this regard:
As an adolescent people would always say I was not expressive and they always made the mistake of thinking that I didn’t feel anything, because I didn’t react to things. My mind reacts but usually a long time after the fact – if something exciting happens I’ll just sort of go “okaaaay, let me process that”, and then three days later I’m excited about it, when everyone else has left the room.
Eric is a treasure of a book, the perfect book to match with the Chinese saying “A book is like a garden carried in your pocket”. It does fit perfectly in a pocket (or a Christmas stocking) and encourages us reflect with curiosity and trust on cultural differences (a recurring theme in Tan’s work) and how, even if differences are initially confounding they enrich our world.
****************
Playing “Eric” is a variant of a very popular game in our home, “Mummy knows nothing”. It’s a game in which M and J get to explain what everything and anything is, and how the world works. Eric / Mummy doesn’t know that that thing on the wall is a bookcase. They think it is a fridge. M and J get to be the clever ones and explain what it really is. Eric / Mummy thinks what M and J call a bed is actually a trampoline (where on earth would I get that idea from?), so the girls go into lots of detail describing how to use a bed.
M and J share this delight with the narrator of Eric:
Secretly I had been looking forward to having a foreign visitor – I had so many things to show him. For once I could be a local expert, a fountain of interesting facts and opinions.
3 Comments on What happens when you give but don’t know how it is received?, last added: 12/5/2011
This is a pocket-sized treasure of a post, too. I love the way in which you brought the touching, wonderful story of Eric into family life with so much creativity and thought. Wonderful!
Stacey said, on 12/5/2011 3:50:00 AM
So, so lovely!! Added to my list for sure! And I am inspired by the houses for Eric. My girls would love that idea.
Joanna said, on 12/5/2011 4:11:00 AM
I love the sound of this gentle story. Having lived in so many different nations, I know I need a lot of time to absorb and reflect on the experience!
I went to Chicago on Friday and took part in the recording of the "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me... Royal Pain In The Year" 2011 Special. It airs on BBC America (TV) and on Public Radio on December the 23rd. I was the "Not my job" guest, and answered three questions. Whether or not I got any of them right, you will have to wait until the 23rd to find out.
There's a conversation between Shaun Tan and me in the Guardian right now, and it's fun. We talk about art and suchlike. In the photo above we were standing behind the Edinburgh Book Festival authors' yurt taking it in turns to point at imaginary interesting things.
ST: I don't know about you but when someone first mentions an adaptation, I have, probably a little bit inappropriately, a feeling of weariness at revisiting that work after I'd struggled with it for so many months or years. But then the second thought is "Wow, what a great opportunity to fix up all those dodgy bits."
NG: It's so nice to hear you say that. Somebody asked me recently if I plot ahead of time. I said yes I do, but there is always so much room for surprise and definitely points where I don't know what's going to happen. They quoted somebody who had said: "All writers who say that they do not know what's going to happen are liars, would you believe someone who started an anecdote without knowing where it was going?" I thought, but I don't start an anecdote to find out what I think about something, I start an anecdote to say this interesting thing happened to me. Whereas I'll start any piece of art to find out what I think about something.
0 Comments on It's beginning to look a lot like a Christmas Card out there as of 12/4/2011 12:51:00 PM
By Candy Gourlay
Kuper's piece in last Saturday's FT Magazine
In this past weekend's FT Magazine, Simon Kuper wrote a piece entitled How I lost my love of reading - the illustration by Luis Granena was of a man struggling to carry massive tomes on his back. Kuper writes:
My daughter (age five) simply lives the book. Better, she doesn't know yet that books are both status symbols and good for
19 Comments on Does writing affect one's love of reading?, last added: 9/27/2011
This is me and I fear I am becoming a book bore. On reading the first page of my book club choice this month, I sighed heavily saying 'well that's a cheap devise to get me hooked.' <br /><br />Spoiled. Mind you, when a book does suck me in, it's all the more magic for it!
Interesting, Candy. For me, this problem happened years ago - doing an English degree and then PhD meant for a while that I analysed books rather than enjoying them. But after a while, the analysis part becomes assimilated and the enjoyment returns but is enriched by understanding and knowledge. It means you can work out why something works - but you don't have to, after a while you just know
>Mind you, when a book does suck me in, it's all the more magic for it!<br /><br />Well that's the amazing thing isn't it ... the books that can surprise and delight readers as jaded as us are real treasure! I've read a three books like that recently, couldn't put them down, read under the covers by torchlight ... so satisfying.
Helen Peters said, on 9/26/2011 2:32:00 AM
Ooh, Candy, tell us what those three books were!<br /><br />Great post - I think the advice to slow down is spot on. I left the first draft of my book alone for the whole of the school summer holidays, although sometimes I was itching to pick it up and read it. The first draft had been a rush to get the story down on paper and see if it made sense. But in those seven weeks spent doing other
Oh lord, and I thought it was just happening to me - I am so glad I'm not alone. Both a degree in English literature, and now writing, seem to have dulled my appetite for books, or rather, books that are anything less than excellent (which, I acknowledge is entirely subjective). With many, I struggle to get past the first chapter, if I'm not engaged, I find it hard to continue, I find I
Well it's very subjective - what I love might not be your cup of tea ... but for what it's worth - Fifteen Days Without a Head by Dave Cousins (in manuscript form), Moon Pie by Simon Mason and The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan (I read this 19 years ago through the night while at the bedside of my first born in hospital ... picked it up recently and couldn't put it down).
Candy & I have had this conversation before! But this blog reminds me what law school did to me. I spent so MANY hours reading cases - reams and reams and reams... - and having to pick out the important points. Usual with a highlighter in one hand. I went through literally years when I just couldn't read for pleasure any more, couldn't even read at a normal speed. <br />When I started
My daughter (17) and a fair few of her mates are still in love with the world of Harry POtter. They reread and play on Pottermore because they LOVE the characters. <br />I do find that I can suspend my critical faculties fairly easily which probably says less about the books and more about me.<br />Interesting post, Candy. Thanks!
what a coincidence, my family is re-watching all the HP movies and last weekend we watched The Prisoner of Azkhaban - what a brilliant ending! JK Rowling deserves some kudos for making us suspend our critical faculties! (It's not just you)
And there are some books that just take you beyond all of that nevertheless. One or two will stop Chunterhead. (That's what I call my perpetual inner editor) Occasionally one of my students will do the same. Recent e.g. "The Horses" by Elaine Walker. Recommended. <br />But even so, I don't think Chunterhead matters all that much. it allows me, in a perverse way, to enjoy some
I've been through phases like this before, but happily I still seem able to immerse myself in fiction without any side effects. One thing I have noticed though, is that I've become harder to please over the years. I enjoy reading lots of books, but very few hit that magic spot. I think that's probably why I started to write my own stories.
>I enjoy reading lots of books, but very few hit that magic spot.<br /><br />I'll bet everyone's got a different magic spot. When I was younger, anything with time travel or amnesia was cool. Now I can't get into a book unless I really care for the characters.
I can still immerse myself, though the book has to be pretty good - but perhaps unusually, I'm willing to read more than one page before making my judgement about reading on. Trouble is, while immersed, I'm also feeling guilty that this is writing time going awol. And like most of you, I also stop occasionally and think aha that's what is happening. I try to make it a learning point
Gosh and I thought it was just me! <br /><br />So interesting to read others thoughts on your topic Candy. I think that we edit our own work to the point of nearly going crazy and then start 're-editing' and dissecting the books that we have bought for enjoyment!<br /><br />I hasten to add that I didn't re-edit Tall Story!
Yes, I have become hypercritical too. In fact, when doing critique I have to do my first read-through while sitting on my hands, otherwise I'm in there marking up mistakes without even getting into the story.<br /><br />I do find I'm much less critical with books written by people I don't know. I think there's a competitive pressure that surrounds work by my peers and it makes me
Ruh-roh. I’ve been having too much fun earning a living to leave enough time for blogging. Time yet again for a super quickie point-by-point-without-the-details Fusenews! Hold onto your hats . . .
Who are the artists overlooked by the Caldecott? Elizabeth Bluemle has the scoop.
An East Harlem bookstore needs your help! Thanks to Heather Scott for the link.
Everything in this Horn Book article Board-book-a-palooza by Cynthia K. Ritter I agree with. Everything.
Speaking of HB, Roger’s blog has a new format. Love that bow-tied avatar of his. Who drew it, I wonder?
Don Tate has a fun piece about his time at the Highlights first illustrators intensive Founders workshop. He happened to stay in the same cabin that I did when I visited last summer. I had no idea I’d stayed where Floyd Cooper had. Fabulous!
Don’t get me wrong. I love Where’s Waldo but how dedicated am I? Not this dedicated. Yeesh! Thanks to Molly O’Neill for the link.
Dunno. If I were to find a title for this story of the 1500 pound Mo Willems sculpture of a pachyderm I think I would have gone with “Elephant and Piggie Iron”. But that’s me.
Who knew that random stills of that old Spider-Man cartoon could be this fun? Particularly when they involve librarians.
That’s it. I’m making my own Funny Book prize. This time for American books. Because, quite frankly, they’re hard to write and I’m jealous of the Brits for getting to have their Roald Dahl Funny Prize.<
8 Comments on Fusenews: Zap! Pow! Zam! (Zam?), last added: 9/21/2011
I see in your Gatekeeper’s post you mention Jon Klassen’s book… he’s on my blog today talking about his bookish inspiration. I was quite surprised by his choices, I wonder what you’ll make of them. I love these round ups – like a magpie’s nest full of lovely sparkly bits I want to pick up and have a look at.
Nina Crittenden said, on 9/20/2011 6:53:00 AM
Thank for posting the Lord of the Flies link- I sent it on to my neighbor’s son (who is quite a talented young artist).
MR said, on 9/20/2011 7:06:00 AM
Doesn’t the Sid Fleischman humor award count?
Elizabeth Bird said, on 9/20/2011 7:10:00 AM
It does but I like the shortlist aspect. The Fleischman Award only goes to one book a year, yes?
Jennifer Schultz said, on 9/20/2011 10:11:00 AM
Did you see that Emma Thompson is writing a new Peter Rabbit story?
Oh yes. Hard not to be torn on that one. On the one hand, we all like Emma Thompson. On the other hand, is this the first time where a public domain children’s literary character had their story appropriated by a celebrity author?
Jennifer Schultz said, on 9/21/2011 6:03:00 AM
I wish she would write her own story. She’s a talented and witty writer (the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility is a treat to read); it’s not like she just decided to start writing out of the blue.
Elizabeth Bird said, on 9/21/2011 6:17:00 AM
Actually she did write a Nanny McPhee sequel. But again that was taking an existing character and expanding on it rather than thinking up her own work. She could potentially be the next Julie Andrews Edwards of children’s literature if she let herself.
I've just read this year's Hugo and John Campbell Awards, which are up on the Locus web site. Go take a look.For once I've actually read a little of what's on the list. I loved the Connie Willis books and am slowly savouring Cryoburn. Connie Willis's time travel stories are always wonderful. The first I read was The Doomsday Book, then To Say Nothing Of The Dog, then some of the short fiction. These two were really one very long novel broken up, in which the time-travelling heroes are in wartime Britain. Lovely stuff! I'm going slow with the Lois McMaster Bujold book because it has been so very long since there was a Miles Vorkosigan novel. And nice to see a couple of Aussies there too. Shaun Tan for Best Professional Artist - yay! I've been a big fan of his work for years now. Well, why wouldn't I be? I'm a teacher-librarian, after all. I was lucky enough to have a long chat with him at last year's Aussiecon.Sean McMullen and I used to be in a Melbourne SF writers' group together; he was the one, by the way, who persuaded me to join the SCA and learn what you could and couldn't do with a sword and shield! Good on him for getting on the Hugo short list. I couldn't be more proud of him.
3 Comments on This Year's Hugos, last added: 9/11/2011
Lan, you're not the only one. Most years, I haven't even HEARD of the short-listed works! You can't keep up with them all unless you subscribe to the various magazines. If you're a member of the Worldcon, they send you files of all the short-listed entries, which gives you a chance to read them before voting, but how often are any of us members? :-)
I've loved everything of Connie Willis's, including the WWII books - but opinions seem divided. I have several friends who loved her earlier work and really hated Blackout and All Clear. Reasons varied from "too long and complex" to "I couldn't stand the characters". Diff'rent strokes, I guess...
If you've never seen a water buffalo giving directions, or had a strange visitor who's questioned your ideas and opinions, or had toys disappear in a garden visited by a faceless, barnacled diver, or discovered a dugong on your lawn, or heard a chorus of dogs howling at the night, or found that maps actually can lead you to the edge of the world, then I'll direct you (not with a pointy hoof I must say) to go immediately to a certain secret door to a cupboard that is marked The Illustration Cupboard at no 22 Bury Place in St James, London where you'll be 'surprised, relieved and delighted' at what you find.
Last Wednesday 30th August Shaun Tan appeared inside The Illustration Cupboard as quietly and mysteriously as his character Eric and left behind a trail of signatures and delicate bird drawings and magical red flowers that blossomed from his thumbprint inside the covers of the books that were piled everywhere. If you hurry and get there before the 10th September you'll still be in time to see his incredible pencil sketches and prints from Tales from Outer Suburbia, The Bird King,The Arrival,The Lost Thing and The Rabbits - an exhibition that is a magical celebration of quiet mysteries.
I love Shaun Tan's work - and the Illustration Cupboard is a great place. 'My' illustration MA students had their exhibition there each summer - it's wonderful.
Stroppy Author, didn't realise those are your students I go to see every year! Amazing work! Thks Adele and Anonymous and read your interview Bookwitch. What I loved there was that he enjoyed the fun bits at the start and end but it was the middle bit that was hard... I guess like writing a novel!!! What I failed to mention in the blog is how many followers he has at student level. If someone making a video clip of your work is the litmus test then Shaun Tan's work is currently spot on and perfectly reflects what the young feel about the world right now... which makes me feel very positive.
Forgot to say... missed a comment from you, Catdownunder. It would've been good to know what you thought of a fellow artist and also those 'strange' cats were specially for you!!!
The trouble is, when I've visited The Illustration Cupboard, I've wanted to buy everything but can afford nothing! However, after reading your blog, I'm still going to try and visit on Saturday (wish I'd booked a later train, darn it).
The trouble is, when I've visited The Illustration Cupboard, I've wanted to buy everything but can afford nothing! However, after reading your blog, I'm still going to try and visit on Saturday (wish I'd booked a later train, darn it).
On Wednesday, Older Brother, Little Brother and I had the thrill of hearing this year’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Shaun Tan speak at Seven Stories in Newcastle, during his whistle-stop visit to the UK. I’ve loved his work since being mesmerised by The Arrival four years ago; and we’ve also had the privilege of featuring Shaun’s work in our PaperTigers Gallery. Shaun’s picture books truly tap into something essential in our existence so that no matter how old you are and whatever your life experience, there is something there for everyone to absorb and distill. His books have had a big impact on the boys too, and it was a real eye-opener for them to meet their creator and hear about the drawn out process and sheer hard work that goes into producing a book. Now we are all desperate to see the Oscar-winning short of The Lost Thing!
Older Brother was most struck by Shaun saying that imperfection was a “very important concept for an artist”; and that he is always aiming for simplicity, because it’s through that apparent simplicity that he can achieve layer upon layer of meaning. Then accompanying the text with unexpected illustrations to create further tensions – but he pointed out that he wouldn’t call his work surreal per se: rather, the unexpected juxtaposition of familiar objects in his work is what is surreal.
Little Brother especially loved the first in Shaun’s series of cartoons depicting a day in his life: Waking to the Sound of a Solitary Cicada – a huge cicada looming in through the open window. He’s still laughing about that (but, as is so often the case with Shaun’s work, for me, the more I think about it, the more the funniness is tempered with a feeling of unease…). Little Brother also came home thinking about the humor and tensions achieved by people/creatures doing extrordinary things as though they are completely normal – like feeding Christmas decorations to a huge, friendly monster-machine aka the Lost Thing. And when Shaun pointed out that, as per the element of the familiar present in all his creations, the Lost Thing is a cross between a dog, a horse and an elephant, yes, you can absolutely see it.
I was bowled over by Shaun’s generosity in handing over his creations to their audience with an open invitation to interpret. He told us how in his writing, he pares the words down, excluding any emotional words because he wants the readers to have space to bring their own interpretation to his work. And he took us through his creation of the water buffalo giving directions to the little girl with a box from Tales from Outer Suburbia (you can see it in Shaun’s interview with Drawn here): how initially there was something peeping out of the box, and how he felt it wasn’t fair on the viewer to be so prescriptive, so he left it up to each person to imagine what was in the box.
It was also a real treat to see two extracts from the animated version of The Lost Thing and to hear about the ten-year project to bring the book to the screen, including Shaun’s determination to retain the fl
0 Comments on Shaun Tan at Seven Stories as of 1/1/1900
Wandering through the Reading Room exhibiting children’s illustrations by wonderful artists such as Cathy Wilcox, Sarah Davis, Shaun Tan, Donna Rawlings, Nina Rycroft, the Children’s Book Council gathered in the warm candle-lit sun lounge of The Hughenden.
Everyone was waiting for Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir, Governor of NSW and patron of the Children’s Book Council.
Carol Keeble Pesident of the CBCA (NSW), Maurice Saxby a father of Australian children’s literature and Margaret Hamilton former President of the Children’s Book Council, the CBCA Foundation and a leading literary figure in Australia welcomed the Governor.
It was a wonderful evening of fine food, the company of authors and the children’s literary community.
Some of the authors included J.C. Burke, Christopher Cheng, Sue Whiting, Mary Small, Jill Bruce, Margaret Roc joining the President of the CBCA NSW and supporters to discuss books, listen to an address by Jill Bruce the new judge of the CBCA Awards and Wendy Smith the outgoing judge.
Fabulous night with everyone lingering on to share good company, food and celebrate children’s books.
I feel like the White Rabbit here. No time, no time! We’ll have to do this round-up of Fusenews in a quick quick fashion then. Forgive the brevity! It may be the soul of wit but it is really not my preferred strength. In brief, then!
Dean Trippe, its creator, calls it YA. I call it middle grade. I also call it a great idea that we desperately need. COME ON, DC! Thanks to Hark, a Vagrant for the link.
This came out a little less than a year ago, but I find it useful. From American Indians in Children’s Literature, Debbie Reese presents her Top Ten Books Recommended for Elementary School.
The Scop is back! This is good news. It means that not only can author Jonathan Auxier show off a glimpse of his upcoming middle grade novel Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes but he also created a piece of true art: HoloShark with Easter Bunny.
If you know your Crockett Johnson (or your comics) you’ll know that long before Harold and that purple crayon of his the author/illustrator had a regular comic strip called Barnaby. What you may not have known? That it was turned into a stage play.
J.K. Rowling wants to create a Hagrid hut in her backyard? She should get some tips from Laurie Halse Anderson.
Why do we never get sick of Shaun Tan? Because the man is without ego. So if you’ve a mind to, you can learn more about him through these 5 Questions with Shaun Tan over at On Our Minds @ Scholastic.
A lesson plan database? I’ve been saying for years we needed something like that. Smart AASL. Clever ducks.
Thanks to the good people of Lerner, I got to hang out a bit with Klaus Flugge at a dinner in Bologna recently. Not long after he showed The Guardian some of his favorite illustrated envelopes. Hmm. Wouldn’t be bad fodder for a post of my own someday. Not that I have anything to compare to this:
… bite they little heads off, nibble on they tiny feet.
Leila said, on 4/26/2011 3:41:00 AM
In filling my new bookshelves (hooray!) I actually got some of my Three Investigators up there. Where do you put yours? I considered shelving them by series title, since Robert Arthur only wrote the first few, and I thought about filing them under Hitchcock, since that’s who everyone associates them with (and because I have a bunch of those Hitchcock collections), but I ended up putting ‘em in the ‘A’s.
But I still might move them when we add more shelves.
david e said, on 4/26/2011 4:30:00 AM
what rams said. there’s no way i can hear those opening lines by b. kliben and not sing the rest of that song.
what a power-packed post. so much goodness shared, so much to check out!
Elizabeth Bird said, on 4/26/2011 6:11:00 AM
Leila I wish I had enough 3 Investigators to have that problem. Mine are all Arthurs, but if I had a Hitchcock or two I’d probably store ‘em with the Arthur like you did.
Boy, what I wouldn’t give if you did with them what you did with Nancy Drew *hint hint*.
And thanks, David!
Jennifer Schultz said, on 4/26/2011 6:16:00 AM
I love Cake Wrecks-I thought about sending you a link, but I was pretty sure that you were a Cake Wrecks reader!
Elizabeth Fama said, on 4/26/2011 6:27:00 AM
I love Dean Trippe’s and Daniel Krall’s concept for young Lois, too, but the adventures in the proposal aren’t, well, adventurous enough yet (book one: a respected pharmaceuticals representative has cheated on the asthma drug’s safety tests in order to get a promotion and a raise; book two: an elite boarding school is giving scholarships to children of celebrities and politicians…). Also, Clark is influenced by Lois, but they haven’t met at this point, so if Clark’s story is presented separately in the same book, it will sort of stall Lois’s action. There are kinks that need to be worked out, but it’s a great concept. Is DC the only publishing outlet, because they own the characters?
Leila said, on 4/26/2011 6:40:00 AM
Yes! That does make sense — I’d have never even considered shelving Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys under Stratemeyer instead of Keene/Dixon, so Arthur it is… until I dig out my Hitchcocks, that is. *Then* I’ll have to re-evaluate.
I don’t think I could bear to tear up one of the Three Investigators books, as I don’t have as many doubles. But maybe, someday…
Elizabeth Bird said, on 4/26/2011 7:40:00 AM
Agreed. The idea of young Lois is enticing but the writing needs some work. Frankly, I don’t think we need Clark in there at all. But a young gutsy girl reporter middle grade series? Love it! Like Kiki Strike but with some social awareness.
Oh! Not to tear up the 3 Investigators for bags, but rather to do a book by book analysis of the plots, Leila. There’s a lot to pick apart there. Like the fact that they win a week with a personal chauffeur . . . and that week somehow never ends over the course of the entire series.
Kristi Hazelrigg said, on 4/26/2011 10:51:00 AM
Someone suggested to me that Robert Downey Jr. would make a good Haymitch. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Then there’s the whole “easy on the eye” issue, as well.
Debbie Reese said, on 4/26/2011 11:44:00 AM
Thanks for pointing people to my site!
And on the topic of creating houses… Romance fiction writer Cassie Edwards lives in a mansion modeled after Tara. Smart Bitches took her to task for plagiarism. She plagiarized from many, including N. Scott Momaday.
By now, I’m sure you already heard that Shaun Tan, amazing creator behind The Arrival, Tales from Outer Suburbia, and so on and such, was this year’s recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Why should you care? Well apart from the fact that it’s always nice to see genius rewarded, there is the small matter surrounding the money that comes with the prize. Second only to the Nobel in terms of price, I believe, the Lindgren Award is the most money an author or illustrator of children’s books can win. It amounts to 5 million krona, or $764,600. Wowzer.
Lest you pooh-pooh the win by saying that Shaun Tan is always a surefire bet, check out this list of the 2011 candidates. It’s not easy to beat out Quentin Blake, Eric Carle, Neil Gaiman, the International Youth Library, Julius Lester, and many talented others in one fell swoop, but Mr. Tan managed it.
Of course I was present when they announced the win. See?
Er . . . Okay, admittedly I’m a little obscured here. Uh, see the balding guy with the glasses and the gray suit, dead center? I’m right behind him. Hello! Of greater note, Kitty Crowther, last year’s winner (Belgium), is front and center. Thanks to the Astrid Memorial Award for the photo.
You can learn more about the award on its blog, which is fun. If you’d like to see how the announcement went down, Cristiana from The Tea Box was kind enough to record the moment:
And this would be incomplete without Mr. Tan’s reaction as well:
0 Comments on Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Winner Thoughts and Fancies as of 1/1/1900
Just announced, this year’s winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2011 is Australian illustrator and author Shaun Tan.
The jury’s citation reads:
Shaun Tan is a masterly visual storyteller, painting the way ahead to new possibilities for picture books. His pictorial worlds constitute a separate universe where nothing is self-evident and anything is possible. Memories of childhood and adolescence are fixed reference points, but the pictorial narrative is universal and touches everyone, regardless of age.
Behind a wealth of minutely detailed pictures, where civilization is criticized and history depicted through symbolism, there is a palpable warmth. People are always present, and Shauin Tan portrays both our searching and our alienation. He combines brilliant, magical narrative skill with deep humanism.
Watch the announcement broadcast from Sweden (including a recorded phone-call to Shaun in Melbourne) here; and the presentation of Shaun Tan’s work given by member of the jury Maria Lassèn-Seger here. View our Gallery feature of some of Shaun Tan’s work and read our reviews of two of his masterpieces The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia.
Many, many congratulations to Shaun Tan!
0 Comments on Shaun Tan wins Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2011 as of 1/1/1900
Last Friday I posted about the fabulous Austrailan picture book writer and illustrator, Shaun Tan, who won the Academy Award, best animated short film for The Lost Thing.
Here is some advice he gives to writers:
"The strength of a good picture book text often lies in its brevity, and a very economic use of language, what the writer Margaret Wild calls 'essential storytelling'. Many of the manuscripts I've seen are unpublishable simply because they are way too long. Whittle everything down to bare bones, and see what you can do without."
"Show, don't tell, or better yet, give room for the illustrations to show. For instance, you do not need to describe an emotional state in words if you can express it visually through a situation, a facial expression, gesture, or some other illustrative device."
"As a writer, do not necessarily anticipate what an illustrator is going to draw or paint. A good picture book is a collaboration between two 'writers', one using words, one using pictures. It's more about creating free space for a visual 'director' within a good 'script'. Also be mindful that a text can change as words and pictures evolve."
"Accordingly, a good picture book has two texts that work together symbiotically, they can reveal different sides to the same story, or different stories altogether, involving disparity, irony and even contradiction. The best illustrations do not simply illustrate."
For more of Shaun Tan's insights and advice for writers and illustrators, visit his website. Be advised, though, you may get lost inside there for a very long time...it's just that good!
We’re sure Beat readers were as pleased as we were when the incredibly talented artist/animator Shaun Tan won the Oscar™ for Best Animated Short Film last weekend for THE LOST THING. Nine years in the making, the short is based on his book of the same name, which has been basically unavailable in the US for a while now.
However, a NEW edition has just come out from Scholastic in a collection called LOST & FOUND which includes not only THE LOST THING but two other magical Tan tales, THE RED TREE and THE RABBIT.
Thanks to our pals at Scholastic we’re giving away THREE copies of this book. To enter, email your name and address to beatgivaway @ gmail.com with LOST AND FOUND in the title. Three winners will be selected at random on Monday, 3/7 at 5 pm, E.S.T.
Here’s a bit more info and a preview:
A collection of three jaw-dropping stories: THE RED TREE, THE LOST THING, and THE RABBITS, by New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Shaun Tan.
A girl finds a bright spot in a dark world. A boy leads a strange, lost creature home. And a group of peaceful creatures loses their home to cruel invaders. Three stories, written and illustrated by Shaun Tan, about how we lose and find what matters most to us.
Never widely available in the U.S., these tales are presented in their entirety with new artwork and author’s notes.
Click for larger versions.
7 Comments on Beat Friday GIveaway: Win a copy of Oscar-winner Shaun Tan’s THE LOST THING, last added: 3/7/2011
This is one from a series of videos recorded during the London Book Fair of 2010. They are all fantastic I have to say. If you have the time make sure to watch them all.
This one shares some examples of picture books that work very well for older kids. I particularly enjoyed a book they showed "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" by Chris Van Allsburg where it's basically a compilation of short stories composed only of one illustration, a title and the first sentence of the story. You will find how this book came to be when you watch the video but what I love about it is the amazing potential it has to spark the imagination of young minds. This is a fantastic idea I have to say. I wish more people knew about this book. A book like this should be in every school's classroom around the world.
They also mention one of Shaun Tan's books and also Dinotopia by the amazing James Gurney. If you like to watch more, just click on the screen again and you will be redirected to youtube where you can see the rest of the videos.
Have a great weekend everyone!
2 Comments on The importance of illustration for older kids, last added: 3/6/2011
I saw this talk, great to see some film from it, and see some of it again, thanks for posting. It was a very inspirational talk, but also reminded me just how high the heights I'm aiming for are. I had to sit in a darkened room for a bit afterwards :)
Hi Jon! Oh you are so lucky to have been there. I understand your feeling tho, we've all been there.. sitting in the dark for a bit just contemplating our lives and future. You are not alone! *hugs* :o)
If you watched the Academy Awards Sunday night, you may have noticed that Shaun Tan won best animated short film for The Lost Thing, based on his 2002 picture book by the same name.
I've posted the trailer for the book, but you can also see the entire short film here.
Work on this film, produced by Passion Pictures Austrailia, began way back in 2002 with a small team of four people. The film is 15 minutes long, using CGI (computer generated imagery) with 2D handpainted elements. It was completed in April 2010. Shaun was involved in just about every aspect which included director, writer, designer and artist. He said it was a great opportunity to learn about the differences between book illustration and animated film. More accustomed to working with still, silent pictures that allow a viewer plenty of time to contemplate individual compositions, he was now faced with a medium where questions of time and pace are much more critical, not to mention layers of sound and music.
You must visit the official The Lost Thing website which is just beyond words it is so creative.
And it will lead you right into Shaun's own website featuring all his art.
Next week I will feature some of his insights into picuture book writing and illustrating.
Beautiful illustrations. Thanks, Dianne.
WOW! Have only just seen this, Dianne. It's fascinating. And the artwork from all those foreign artists is most beautiful and unusual, isn't it? Lovely post.