First-timers draw on the write stuff
Dani McDonald talks to NZ Book Award finalists Kieran Rynhart and Ripeka Takotowai Goddard about the inspiration for their work.
Was it a spark of genius that struck as they had pen in hand, or was it plain old luck? Either way, it earned a firsttime children’s illustrator and first-time children’s writer spots on the list of NZ Book Award finalists alongside their idols.
For Petone illustrator Kieran Rynhart, 36, and Feilding writer Ripeka Takotowai Goddard, 28, it was all a pleasant surprise.
Rynhart said he would never have imagined his work to be rated alongside his idol illustrators Toby Morris and Donovan Bixley – both also finalists this year in the Russell Clark Award for Illustrators.
Rynhart’s rustic and organic illustrations bring Alexandra Tylee’s children’s book IfIWasa Banana to life.
He set out to capture the essence of a child’s world revealed in the book’s storyline: ‘‘If I was a banana, I would be that one, all yellow and fat and full of banana…’’
‘‘I wanted my images to fill out this child’s inner world and imagination, and to give it a sense of space and a sense of feeling of a child who knows a little bit of solitude, but also knows joy and humour as well,’’ Rynhart said.
‘‘There’s an emphasis on things being a little organic, a little bit texturist and a little bit rough at the edges.
‘‘There’s a slightly earthiness to it but also a sense of space or imagination.’’
Nestled in nature and surrounded by the striking hills of Lower Hutt, Rynhart draws his inspiration from musicians and composers including Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros,Europebasedambient music duoA Winged Victory for the Sullen, Tennessee ambient/post-rock band Hammock and Wellington’s Rhian Sheehan.
‘‘There’s that phrase, ‘we’re all dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants’, and I just like to surround myself with a lot of different artists,’’ Rynhart says.
‘‘I find as many different classic art books as I can and draw inspiration from them.
‘‘I’ve always loved music that has strong emotion in it and a sense of mood, that’s always drawn me in and it’s a feeling I love to try and capture with an image.’’
He escapes to the Belmont Regional Park where he can look down on his seaside suburb, of which he says has slightly infused itself into the book pages.
‘‘There was a little nod to Petone, a little stormy scene. A nod to the Wellington southerly,’’ he describes.
‘‘I couldn’t quite have a Somes Island in there, but just that feeling of being on the beach, you can see the next wave coming in and the next storm approaching and I wanted to capture that feel of Petone Beach and then on the last page there is a lookout – if you’re going out on the Maungaraki Hill you can look down onto the harbour from various lookouts – and I really wanted to get that feeling.
‘‘There’s no way I can capture how incredible the world is around me, but just to give that sense that beauty that’s already out there and put that down into an illustrated image is something I try and search for as well.’’
Rynhart’s next project allows him to work with a ‘‘really cool New Zealand poet’’, although he won’t disclose whom.
‘‘I love it,’’ he says. ‘‘I love the idea of making quality work for kids, I remember so well being a kid and that magic of images and ideas in the films you watched and the books you read, and how much that enriched your day.
‘‘There’s also the idea that these books will be popular and one day they’ll end up in the second-hand store. I just love to know that it had its tiny moment in our culture.’’
For Takotowai Goddard, the story of Tuna Raua ko Hiriwa spilled out onto her pad at a writing workshop held by publishers Huia, after being encouraged to attend by her aunt and uncle.
The story of how the tuna got its silver belly but forever had to live in the dark depths of the river, written in te reo Maori in just 40 minutes, has earned the newlypublished writer a finalist spot for Te Kura Pounamu Award – for books written completely in te reo Maori.
‘‘It’s kind of a bit overwhelming because, at first, I was just stoked to have a book published, and that people think it’s a good story is amazing,’’ she says.
The Massey University student is finishing off her studies in Maori and Environment, but writing has always been a hobby for her – her last book was a teenage romance shared around her form in her final year of high school.
But it was the dark fairy tales by the likes of the Grimm Brothers that drew her in. She also had a liking for Russian fairy tales.
‘‘They were all very dark but also magical and they always had a lesson – so I guess those kinds of stories really inspired my stories as well,’’ she says.
‘‘I didn’t want to teach the children a lesson but I wanted it to have a ‘be careful what you wish for’ kind of thing.’’
Tuna Raua ko Hiriwa is written, initially, in Maori and translated into English with stunning illustrations by Kimberly Andrews.
Takotowai Goddard is moved by the language used by Peti Nohotima, a Maori story teller, who won the same award for her novel, Mihiroa, in 2009.
‘‘I would aspire to write to that type of level,’’ Takotowai Goddard says.
She hopes to combine her passion for fresh waterways into her next book for children.
‘‘I’ve been trying to work on a story but it’s a bit hard to make it appealing to read by bringing in an environmental issue. I’d definitely like to write a story that inspires kids to be more thoughtful and empathetic about the environment,’’ she says.
The winners of the 2017 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults will be announced on August 14.
For the full list of winners see nzbookawards.nz