It’s a new YA novel that threads the 1981 Springbok Tour together with modern anti-racism protests and Covid-19 lockdowns, and it also nabbed number one in the adults’ charts last week.Ģ How Do I Feel? A Dictionary of Emotions for Children by Rebekah Lipp & Craig Phillips (Wildling Books, $40, 3+) AUCKLANDġ In Our Own Backyard by Anne Kayes (Bateman, $22, 13+)Īfter the launch (featuring speeches by John Minto and Chlöe Swarbrick) Jo McColl of Unity Books called us with a heads-up that this book was going to be huge. I run writing workshops for teachers and students too.What’s the best way to get adults reading? Get them reading when they’re children – and there’s no better place to start than the Unity Children’s Bestseller Chart. I love visiting schools and doing animated, dramatic readings for students. He's much better than a pair of slippers! My husband and grown-up son and daughter often listen to my ideas for stories and give me feedback, which I mostly listen to! In winter, he lies on top of my feet and keeps them warm. When I write, I have my dog, Logan, lying by my feet. It's definitely a team effort, as well as an individual one. Craig Phillips created perfect illustrations for the Tūī Street books, and Keely O'Shannessy worked wonders at making the cover of In Our Own Back Yard look like an anti-tour poster from 1981. Scholastic, Wildling Books and Bateman Books helped me with editing and turning stories into books. I had a lecturer, James George, who gave me lots of suggestions. Friends and family are always part of the process with their encouragement and support. One thing I've realised is that, even though a writer writes alone, there are a number of people who are involved. Actually, Tūī Street Tales is named after Tui, because she often chatted about story ideas with me, so I felt that she was sort of involved. People passing by must have wondered why we were leaping around, screaming and laughing.
when I found out Tūī Street Tales had won the 2016 Storylines' Tom Fitzgibbon Award competition, my friend, Tui, also a teacher, was with me in our office. This was where Tūī Street Tales began to take shape. In 2014, I did a Masters in Creative Writing at AUT. I was always keen to write stories though. One year, I co-wrote a solo show that I performed in schools.
I even wrote crazy skits that I performed in comedy shows. When I worked as a secondary school Drama and English teacher, I often wrote plays for my students to perform.
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