Children’s author and creative crafter Anna Branford will be presenting talks at the Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF).
The Melbourne-based author has received many awards and nominations for her ‘Violet Mackerel’ series; ‘Violet Mackerel’s Possible Friend’ was shortlisted in the 2014 Children’s Book Council Of Australia Awards. Her latest series, ‘Lily The Elf’, saw her tour throughout schools, bookshops and libraries in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, to a great reception of adoring fans.
Anna will be appearing at several ‘Where Do Ideas Come From’ talks over the five-day festival, as well as her own presentation, titled ‘Craftivism’.
Have you attended the BWF previously? What are you looking forward to this year?
I have never attended before and in fact I have only visited Brisbane three times in my whole life. It is such a beautiful city and in addition to the excitement of the festival, I must admit I am looking forward to feeling some sunshine on my wintery Melbourne self! But what I love best about festivals is always the buzz of creativity and good ideas and the delightful feeling that it is all very infectious.
You're presenting a talk at BWF titled 'Craftivism' – how did this concept come about?The concept itself is associated with Betsy Greer, an inspirational craftivist and writer, but it is a practice that found its way into my own life sort of by accident. I use handwork, like hand stitching and knitting, as a kind of meditation – especially if I am feeling worried or confused about something. And many of the things worrying and confusing me these days are the issues of social injustice I see all around me.
As I poured my most difficult worries out into my stitching, I had the idea that the things I was creating could be offered in support of the very causes I was concerned about. As part of my talk at BWF, I’ll be discussing the project I helped to develop to invite lots of other crafters to use their work to raise funds for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne.
What was the response like to the school tour you did of your book series 'Lily The Elf'?It was incredible. I’m not sure when I’ve had so much fun! The children and their teachers seemed to be every bit as enthusiastic about elves as I am. One of the questions I asked the classes I spoke with was, ‘if there were elves or fairies at your school, where do you think they would live?’ I thought I might get to hear about little mossy corners in playgrounds and special spaces behind library books, and I did hear lots of lovely answers like that. But I also found that some of the schools actually had fairy gardens and elf corners set up and ready for any tiny magical beings who came visiting! I loved meeting and chatting with so many people who I knew would be such good friends with Lily the elf and her family!
Which languages has your popular 'Violet Mackerel' series been published in? Do you speak any other languages?
'Violet Mackerel' has, to my delight, been translated into French and Turkish, has different incarnations in the USA and the UK, and has travelled to many countries I’ve never been to myself. I envy her all those adventures! I don’t yet speak any languages besides English, but as part of developing the 'Lily The Elf' books I did have a close look at the original language of the place I was born, the Isle Of Man, which has some very magical sorts of words for its own elves and fairies.
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Were there any funny mishaps of translation that came up?
One of the unexpected challenges was that some parts of the 'Violet Mackerel' books have little rhymes and songs in them, usually written by Violet, who especially likes to create new versions of the lovely song from the 'Sound Of Music' – ‘These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things’. These songs are very tricky to translate, because when the words change they don’t rhyme any more! Violet’s translators are kindred spirits though, because the songs they write for her (as far as I can tell!) are perfect.
You make many adorable hand-made things; what is your favourite material to craft with?
I think my favourite must be felt. It is gorgeous to work with because it doesn’t fray, but also because it has lots of its own character, depending on how thick and dense it is. Sometimes it almost seems to have its own ideas about what it would like to be made into! That is especially true of handmade and hand-dyed felt, which is always unique and heavenly to work with.
Which illustrators have you worked with recently? Is it difficult to choose a style for a certain book?Recently I have been working with Lisa Coutts on the 'Lily The Elf' books, which has not been difficult at all because she is amazing and I secretly suspect she might actually be an elf herself. She has such lovely ideas for all the little details of their clothes and their homes! I try as hard as I can to avoid having fixed ideas about the styles of different books I write, so that it’s generally an absolutely lovely surprise to discover the magic the illustrators, designers and publishers have woven around the characters I create.
Do you think the role of children's books has changed, in an age where young children are increasingly exposed to screens?
I’m not sure, but I do wonder about this a lot. One of the interesting things about children’s books, I think, is that they have a tendency to lean towards the past. There are elements of the medieval, the Victorian, even the 1960s and 70s in so many of the most popular and modern children’s books. And this isn’t new either. Lots of the books we reprint year after year and might think of as ‘nostalgia’ were actually quite old fashioned the day they were published, like Beatrix Potter’s books and CS Lewis’s books for example. So while I think screens can bring us all sorts of wonderful new experiences, I can’t help thinking that children’s books are carefully preserving something about the past that people rather like, and perhaps need more than ever, as so many other aspects of our lives are in flux.
What are you writing at the moment/ in the future?I am a very secretive writer so I’m afraid I can’t offer a very good answer to this question – other than to say that it’s a bigger and longer project than I’ve worked on before, and I’m very excited about.
Anna Branford will host 'Where Do Ideas Come From?' 2 & 4 September and 'Craftivism' 5 September at Brisbane Writers Festival, which runs 2-6 September.
