Award-winning author spreads stories in SA
Award-winning British children’s author Alan Durant talks to Carla Lever in this Q & A.
What inspired you to come and visit South Africa?
I’m visiting to run a couple of workshops for local children’s authors, discuss a literacy project I’m hoping to get off the ground with the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa and meet up with the illustrator of my next picture book. I’m excited to be here!
How did you start writing for young people and what have been your career highlights?
It’s difficult to answer this briefly – I’ve been a published author now for 27 years and my next story, a middle grade novel, will be my 100th book! It actually wasn’t until I started work at a children’s book publisher that I realised how much I wanted to write for young people. My first books were for young adults and then, when I had children myself, I started writing picture books. I’ve won a few awards, including the Scottish Children’s Book Award (the illustrator was Scottish, not me!), but the highlights are too numerous to list. I love visiting schools and inspiring children to read and write.
Your latest picture book, Quill Soup, has several connections with Africa. Tell us a little about those and what inspired it.
A very good South African friend, the illustrator Sam van Riet, introduced me to the story of Stone Soup and I loved it. I did my own version, Quill Soup, in which all the characters are African animals and it is going to be published by Tiny Owl in the UK next year. The illustrator, Dale Blankenaar, is also South African.
You are holding some writing workshops for aspiring children's authors here in South Africa. What expectations did you have of our local writing talent and have those changed or been challenged now that you're here?
I don’t have expectations one way or the other. People in South Africa have lots to say! I want to help them to say it – best of all in their own language, not just English. You have so many languages and it’s really important that there are good written stories in all of them for children – and adults – to read.
Why do you think reading to and with children is so important – for both children and adults?
Stories are the way we make sense of the world. They are the life-blood of humanity. Reading and listening to stories is the best way to develop imagination, which isn’t only important for creating writers but for making more interesting and rewarding lives. In fact, imagination affects everything and reading is the best way to grow it.
Perhaps you’ve heard about some of our reading challenges here in South Africa. Where do children's authors like yourselves begin to make inroads to feed that kind of desperate need for engaging content, particularly in mother tongue?
We need more authors and illustrators from diverse backgrounds – across the world, but perhaps especially in Africa. When I began publishing there were almost no books about children who weren’t white, which was appalling considering what a multicultural country Britain is – as is South Africa. Things are improving, but there’s still a long way to go. We have to encourage more storytellers to write down their stories and share them.
What advice would you give to somebody looking to start out a writing career in children's literature?
Don’t get hung up on being published. Write because you want to, because you have something you want to express about the world, and don’t forget to entertain! Children don’t want to be preached at. Be prepared for rejection – this is a very hard business – but believe in yourself. Go to libraries and bookshops and see what is being published and try out your stories on children.
Have you come across any exciting new initiatives to bring stories alive for children and get them hooked on reading, either back in the UK or over here?
I mentioned Nal’ibali and Book Dash in South Africa, both of which are amazing initiatives for making available stories in a wide range of languages and giving opportunities to new authors and illustrators. I think the most useful scheme we have in the UK is having authors and illustrators visit schools. A good author visit can do so much to bring the world of books and stories alive. We are the flesh on literacy’s bones.
Nal’ibali publishes its supplements in two new languages. An English-Setswana edition will be published in the Sunday World in the North West, and an English-Xitsonga edition will be donated to reading clubs in Limpopo. Clubs in both provinces will collect their copies from select post offices. The post offices (10 in each province) will also have 50 additional editions each to give away to member of the public.