WHAT CAN WE DO? – Dianne Hofmeyr

 

So how do we hope for a little gold fairy dust to be sprinkled on a new baby? As birthday parties go, Sleeping Beauty's wasn't too successful. And as far as book parties go, we definitely seem to be short on gold dust these days but at least let's eat cake... and make that a tiger cake! 

Today I'm unashamedly eating tiger cake and sharing the work of Jesse Hodgson, who has iIllustrated TIGER WALK in glorious detail with her magic coloured pencils (the finer detail of that magic shown below in close-ups of the spreads). It's published by Otterbarry Books and out today. Thank you Janetta OB and to Judith Eskreet for the art direction.

The story of TIGER WALK was inspired by the painting Surprised! painted by Henri Rousseau in 1891 which hangs in the National Gallery,  LONDON... so here I am contemplating that tigery image. Sorry no gold dust but please celebrate with some virtual cake! 

www.diannehofmeyr.com

Twitter: @dihofmeyr

Instagram: diannehofmeyr

A NEW REALITY – growing up with Henri Rousseau – Dianne Hofmeyr

The second of September seems auspicious to me. I love the rhythmic quality of the two ‘ssss’ sounds and growing up in a southern hemisphere, the date was also the harbinger of summer.

The second of September happens also to be the anniversary of the death of Henri Rousseau. As a child his flat, saturated, naïve jungle scenes where tigers peep through monstrous leaves and panthers prowl and a woman lies dreaming as a lion silently sniffs her body, watched only by the moon… the moon and me!... were a source of immense fascination.

The fact that it was all slightly improbable, only added to the mystery. In The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope, the lion snaps through the backbone of an antelope while a panther waits and birds of prey already have ribbons of red flesh trailing from their beaks... even though the lion has not yet killed the antelope. As an imaginative child I could smell the jungle, sense the heat and hear the crunching.

The scenes filled me with a sense of foreboding and a deep frisson of fear… the same I felt when I knew the bears would come back and find Goldilocks sleeping in their house. His paintings were terrifying fairytales told in colour instead of print where the familiar becomes strange, and the strange, familiar.

Why was the The lovely snake (painted from a story about the painter Delaunay’s mother on a trip to India) called lovely... when it gave me such shudders? Is the woman playing the flute in the middle of this lush landscape with snakes sinuously surrounding her, trying to hypnotize them? Is she Eve in the Garden of Eden?

Like a writer drawing images from the subconscious to reflect a new world, Rousseau creates a new visual reality. But his figures and his animals are far removed from everyday life, his Botany and Biology skewed, his images conjured up from his imagination and visits to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and paging through journals for inspiration. Some of his early works like the hatchet-faced woman with hands twice the size of the little cat cowering in the corner, and the monstrous child dangling its father, like a string puppet, have a sinister almost Paula Rego-like quality.

Sleeping Gypsy with it's huge-maned lion, the mane blowing in what we can only imagine a hot desert wind, sniffing the body of a sleeping mandolin player in bright moonlight, crept into one of my children’s novels. When Oliver finds himself alone in the Okavango Swamps in Oliver Strange and the Journey to the Swamps, he recalls the silent fear this painting held for him (and me).

  

Rousseau's Surprised! or  Tiger in Tropical Storm, which hangs in the National Gallery, is the inspiration for my new picture book TIGER WALK, illustrated by Jesse Hodgson. It's out in October, published by Otterbarry Books.

That same moon silently observes the stealth of the tiger as it steps out from the painting with green jewel-eyes and swishing tail. I wrote this story for the child I used to be… and the child I still am! The eerie jungle scenes that fascinated me with that all-pervading: don't go into that forest, my darling, there's a monster waiting to gobble you up!... still do.

NOTE: There are less than 3900 wild tigers left in the world. In years to come tigers might only exist in stories.
www.diannehofmeyr.comwww.diannehofmeyr.com
Twitter: dihofmeyr
Instagram: diannehofmeyr

TOP TWELVE TIPS for NEW WRITERS – Dianne Hofmeyr

In the 80’s when hair was permed and big and shoulders broad, I was a potter working towards my first ceramics exhibition. Then in 1987 my first novel was published. Thirty years later I’m still writing.

Last week, a question asked by a young man from HMS Census Dept: Does being a writer require any qualification? sparked my immediate reaction:  'Anyone can be a writer.' But after he left, I felt I had too easily dismissed the years and years of 'qualification.'

So in no special order, I’ve made a list of things that might smooth the process for a first-time published writer.

1. Celebrate being a debut author. The world loves a debut. It puts possibility in sight for anyone with aspiration. Even if the publisher doesn’t offer, have your own party. There’ll never be another debut book for you. So party on...

Illustration by Piet Grobler from my story Fiddle Dee Dee to be published soon by Otterbarry Books

Illustration by my friend Niki Day, from his book Welcome to Zanzibar Road. 

Illustration by my friend Fiona Moodie from her book Noko's Surprise Party published by Frances Lincoln

2. Plan in advance for how you think your book could be marketed or what events it might fit with. Don’t wait for the day it’s published. Publishers don't necessarily know everything.

Carol Thompson's marvellous tiger from her workshop for our book, My Daddy is a Silly Monkey, Otterbarry Books. 

3. Say thank you… thank you to everyone along the way – your editor, your agent, the bookshop, the librarian, the teacher, your foreign rights person. Grace generates grace.

4. Writing is a lonely business. Get out there. Do things… photography, fabric design, learn a new instrument, do high-wire trapeze… anything that involves other people.

Illustration by Piet Grobler from my book Fiddle Dee Dee to be published soon by Otterbarry Books

5. Join the SOA (Society of Authors). They are your Trade Union and lifeline for helping with Contracts, Questions on Tax, Copyright, Agents etc etc. and they’re a jolly nice crowd. Join Here. IBBY (International Board of Books for Young Children) is also worth joining. Also a jolly nice crowd! Join Here.

6. Don’t compare yourself to others. It's a bad habit. Your voice is unique.

7. If, like me, you are hopeless at paperwork, use an accountant. Look out for tax deductions. Have I said it before...? Join the SOA.

8. Only use social media if you’re comfortable with it. Choose what suits you best. If you write picture books, Instagram might work for you.

9. Write a good bio (high-wire trapeze? be sure to mention it) and insist on being introduced at events. It sends a much more positive message to an audience, than standing there saying… hi, I’m an author.

10. Even though you may already have signed 100 books, make eye contact with the person in front of you. It might be the first book that child or adult, will ever have signed.

Jane Ray signing at The Illustration Cupboard for her book Feather Girl pub by Frances Lincoln

Polly Dunbar signing at Daunts Bookshop, Marylbone High Street.

11. Be generous. Build a book community. Photograph friends’ books in bookshops and fairs. Send the message out there. Books are great!

12. Lastly – writers empower people. Why else have so many writers been imprisoned or banned over the centuries? Ovid was banned from Rome to Constanta in Romania in 8 AD for his writing, Beverley Naidoo’s Journey to Jo’burg, a children’s novel, was banned in the apartheid years of South Africa.

Beverley Naidoo reading When I Coloured in the World by Ahmadreza Ahmedi, illustr by Ehsan Abdollahi, Tiny Owl

So get out there. Empower people with your writing. Break boundaries. Break down barriers. Dream adventures. Explore down the rabbit hole. Open trapdoors to other worlds. Take courage and write! And most of all, have fun doing it. And feel free to add some more tips in your comments.

PS this blog is full of links to publishers and writers if you want to find out more.

www.diannehofmeyr.com
Instagram: diannehofmeyr

Dianne Hofmeyr's next picture book TIGER WALK will be out in October this year and is illustrated by the very talented Jesse Hodgson and published by Otter-barry Books.