ESMERALDA ON THE RADIO!
Radio Maria, the new national Catholic radio station, based in Cambridge invited me to take part in their weekly “Women together Programme” on 3rd June 2021. The theme was children’s literature and I was invited to talk about my inspiration for “The Little Witch Who Wanted to Be Good” and children’s books generally.
Apart from presenter Genevieve Wedgbury, the other person participating in the discussion was Diane Redmond. Diane has written 200 books both for children and adults. She said that she had always loved writing stories and when she was about 13 years old, her mother, without her knowledge, sent one of her stories about a romantic weekend to Venice, to a local newspaper. The first thing she knew about it was when she opened the paper and there it was! She said she felt rather embarrassed at the time but it was the start of a long career which has included working as part of the team on Bob the Builder for BBC TV.
CREATING YOUR OWN CHILDREN’S BOOK
Diane has also done writing workshops for primary school children. She shared what I thought was a great tip to help children to understand about the pacing of a story. She said that the standard size for a children’s picture book is 32 pages, so she would get 8 pieces of A4 paper and staple them down the middle for the children, so it became a little book of 32 pages. The children then would be invited to illustrate a front cover and write and illustrate their story. Some children felt happier drawing than writing, but if this happened she encouraged children to work together with some doing the writing and some doing the pictures. So a challenge for Readies who are would be story tellers.
If you would like to listen to a podcast of the programme click link below:
For other programmes on Radio Maria see:
Premier Radio, the popular Christian Radio station has also expressed an interest in finding out more about Esmeralda and her friends for their Inspirational Breakfast slot. So this is on the cards too. So listen out!
HOW’S YOUR IRISH?
Who would have thought the first translation of “The Little Witch Who Wanted to Be Good” into another language would be in Irish? Marie, the niece of my friend, Helen who lives in County Cork, has started work on translating Esmeralda’s adventures into Irish. I was sent the first chapter to have a look at. I confess I have absolutely no idea what it says, but I did work out “hAintin Agatha” means “Aunt Agatha” and “hAintini” means “aunt” plural! So serious Wonder Words to learn and impress your friends!