Introducing Fifi Colston

Graduating in Wellington with a Diploma of Visual Communications Design, Fifi freelances with fingers in many creative pies. She is a published junior fiction novelist, children’s book illustrator of more than 30 titles and was a long standing television presenter of arts and crafts on firstly TVNZ’s ‘What Now’ and then ‘The Good Morning Show’. Fifi is a veteran of Wearable Arts; a finalist and award winner over 20 years with 22 entries in show. She has also worked with Weta Workshop, 3 Foot 7 Productions, Pukeko Pictures and The Production Shed in the New Zealand TV and film industry as a costumier, puppet maker and illustrator. When she has a moment, Fifi visits schools and community groups, inspires budding artists and writers and runs workshops in creative process.

All the answers relate to The Red Poppy

My husband’s grandfather Rothwell, wrote postcards to his fiancé Hilda, from 1914-1918. Particularly poignant were two from France; they said simply “Am O.K” and “Keep smiling!” I was in the process of scanning and blogging these cards for the family when I read David’s story.  Jim’s letter home never mentioning the horrors of the trenches struck an immediate chord with me; those cheerful words from a young man, disguising the reality of his situation. Rothwell did come home from France to be a husband and father, but was far from ‘o.k’; dying just a few short years later from the cruel ravages of his war experience. Illustrating this book was a journey through his time for me. I visited the Army Museum in Waiouru (a must see- really great!) studied WW1 uniforms up close (collected by passionate people), grew red poppies, (harder than you'd think) photographed mud (outside our house) and rubbed chalk pastel until my fingers were raw. I learned much about pastel illustration technique, but more about the horror and sadness of war. 

Introducing Anna Mackenzie

Anna Mackenzie lives on a farm in Hawke’s Bay, NZ, where she writes contemporary, speculative and historic fiction. Her nine titles have netted her seven Notable Book Awards, an NZ Post Honour Award, Sir Julius Vogel Award and other accolades. She wrote her first book when she was seven – and is very glad her mother kept it!

Anna says:

“My interest in WWI is based in family stories. I wanted to properly understand my grandfather’s and other family members’ experiences.

“A real high point of writing Evie’s War was having a writing residency in Belgium, which allowed me to thoroughly immerse myself in WWI history. I could walk battlefields, seek out buildings where hospitals had been based, study landscapes, weather, the day-to-day things our servicemen and women would have experienced. And of course, I wrote!

“Sometimes the research made me cry: standing at my great-uncle’s grave, listening to ‘The Last Post’ played beneath the Menin Gate in Ieper, walking around trenches and cemeteries – there was so much suffering and waste. It’s impossible not to feel saddened by it. But even during the very worst of it, our capacity for love and friendship – our humanity – shines through.

“I was surprised by how very real, and alive, those young men and women felt – and continue to feel – to me, and by how fascinated I’ve become by war and its aftermath. WWI isn’t yet ready to let me go.”

In addition to writing novels Mackenzie edits magazines, teaches creative writing, mentors beginning writers and travels ‘whenever it fits in’. She is Vice-President of the New Zealand Society of Authors.

Titles: High Tide (2003), Out on the Edge (2005), Shadow of the Mountain (2008); Sea-wreck Trilogy – The Sea-wreck Stranger (2007), Ebony Hill (2010), Finder’s Shore (2011); Elgard series – Cattra’s Legacy (2012), Donnel’s Promise (2013); WWI – Evie’s War (2015).

• WEBSITE: www.annamackenzieauthor.com
• FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/annamackenzie.nz.author

Introducing Jennifer Beck

Jennifer Beck – Background

I grew up on a farm in North Auckland, as one of five children. We didn’t have many toys, which meant we had to use our imagination and make up ways of entertaining ourselves.  Both my parents loved books, and reading books was a favourite pastime.  We often played ‘word games’ around the kitchen table. Art was also important in our family, and we were encouraged to draw and paint. Later, as the parent of young children I was involved in Playcentre, and was influenced by several very creative friends.  I think these experiences helped me become a writer.

I trained as a teacher and later as an educational psychologist, and later combined writing books while working in these occupations. Although I’ve written many educational school readers, a love of art as well as writing has lead to my specialising in picture books, many of which have won awards.  These include five books which deal with war, a topic which I believe requires special sensitivity when written for children. As well as enjoying collaborating with skilled illustrators such as Robyn
Belton, Lindy Fisher and Fifi Colston, I have also illustrated one of my own books.  Although I have always valued the work of illustrators, the experience of illustrating a book myself was an extra reminder of how difficult and time-consuming this role can be!

I live on the outskirts of Auckland with my husband Peter, and enjoy family and community events, reading, watercolour painting and travel, particularly around New Zealand.

Interview Questions:  I asked Jennifer Beck if anything positive, sad or interesting happened while writing the two books. Jennifer answered:

Positive:  The Anzac Violin

For years Robyn Belton and I had talked about writing the story of Alexander Aitken. He was a Dunedin soldier who carried a violin ashore at Gallipoli, and at times managed to play it to his comrades during the campaign.  A very special experience for me was visiting Otago Boys’ High School in 2011 and being able to hold that same violin which is now a treasured memento on display at his old school.  Returning to Dunedin in 2015 as Children’s Writer in Residence at the University of Otago, with the opportunity to write the story, was a wonderful follow-up experience.  

Sad:  The Bantam and the Soldier

Robyn Belton and I wrote this picture book over twenty years ago, and it is great to have it still in print.  Although the story relates to many New Zealand families, it is also very personal for both of us, and I must confess that when reading it I get a bit emotional at times, just as I did when writing it.

Interesting:  

Research for these two books and other war stories has led to meeting many interesting people, travelling to places I would never have otherwise visited, and sometimes making surprise discoveries and links that have enhanced the original story.  Research may sound a bit dull, but it can lead to exciting discoveries such as seemingly astonishing coincidences.  

Introducing Diana Menefy

Diana Menefy            

Diana was born in Christchurch. Growing up in the South Island gave her a rich collection of experiences and images: the snow on the mountains, the autumn colours, the north-west winds - having to push her bike home as the payoff for an express ride to school.

In 1974 Diana and her husband bought the dairy farm in Tapuhi, Northland. Life on the farm with a river that flooded and three adventurous children was a great background for a budding writer.  Her first stories and articles were published in the New Zealand Farmer and School Journal in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

 For the next ten years most of her published work was non-fiction although she had several short stories in anthologies. She worked as a part-time feature writer for the local paper, then went freelance to work on commissioned histories. Running parallel with this was a passion for children's literature that culminated as the specialty for her master's degree in education in 2001.

2001 saw her first junior novel River Crossing and her sixth commissioned non-fiction book The Centenary of Whangarei Hospital  published. Learning Media accepted four of her readers for the American market and sales of Pounamu New Zealand Jade, a book aimed at the tourist market, were reaching towards 12,000. This was also the year Diana started to work for NorthTec tutoring and doing the course design for the online diplomas of applied writing. She is now a principal academic staff member at Northtec.

In 2010 Shadow of the Boyd was published by HarperCollins and went on to be shortlisted in the N.Z. Post Children’s Book Awards and won the LIANZA Esther Glen Medal in 2011. In 2013 Diana was asked to write one of the Kiwis at War series for Scholastic.  1915: Wounds of War was published in 2015.

1915: Wounds of War
Teaching notes: http://www.scholastic.co.nz/Club/pdfs/1915_wounds_of_war.pdf
ISBN: 9781775432746
RRP $19.00