The illustrator’s wall and contributions by new and amazingly talented illustrators from all over the world was an absolute highlight.
Bologna Children’s Book Fair – a small section of the illustrators wall…
In fact after two days it became increasingly hypnotic with so many beautiful images collected together on the entrance walls.
Sometimes confusing too that cards, postcards, posters and information were scattered across the floor, just waiting to be picked up and gathered into people’s canvas bags.
Have certainly spotted some wonderful talent and a joy for years ahead of book reviews.
The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is immensely large and awe-inspiring. My plans of looking carefully at the guide went out of the window as we walked around stand after stand, finding ones which appealed to the Books Go Walkabout team. We also spent time with colleagues we had planned to visit.
The Sea, illustrated by Jill Calder, on display at the event…
Highlights for BGW were the books for Irelandand also Vietnam, two more places in the vast world to engage with and bring authors and children together from all over the world.
And so we returned late at night via the last flight that day on Ryanair, ready and geared up to bring books, stories and illustrations to children across the planet.
The V&A Museum in London is holding an exhibition of the work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
In our Dolphin Book Blog we wrote about the Little People, Big Dreams series of books from Frances Lincoln Children’s Books featuring Frida, and are delighted that this exhibition is taking place. This book can be purchased by clicking on the book cover.
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist born in 1907, she painted many portraits, including self-portraits with a strong style and combination of colour, realism and surrealism. Frida was interested in politics and in 1927 joined the communist party, where she met Diego Riviera. Later that year they married and through a tumultuous time they travelled across Mexico and the United States in the 1930’s.
…with free delivery!
In 1938 Frida had a solo exhibition in The Julien Levy Gallery in New York, which led to other exhibitions, some solo and some with Diego. After an exhibition in Paris, the Louvre purchased one of Frida’s paintings, which was the first Mexican artist to be featured in their collections.
In 1953, Frida had her first solo exhibition in Mexico, but sadly her health had deteriorated and she died in 1954 at the age of 47. By the 1970’s Frida became a recognised figure in art history and also as an icon for Chicanos, the feminist movement and LGBTQ movement.
The exhibition at the V&A Museum presents an extraordinary collection of personal artefacts and clothing belonging to Frida, which has been locked away for over 50 years. There are also some of her paintings and the chance to see this remarkable style should not be missed.
Seven Stories is the National Centre for Children’s Books. Nowhere else in the UK matches the uniqueness of Seven Stories.
There are collections from authors with titles galore and notes of their work as it progressed. There are amazing original pieces of artwork from illustrators, as well as the printed book.
Seven Stories are custodians of the only collection in the world of British authors from 1930’s to present day.
Children’s books change the lives of those who read them, they capture thoughts and feelings, they create adventure and exploration, they help children to face and understand the world.
The centre has many roles and activities, including workshops, events for children of all ages, connections with schools in the North-East. It has a wonderful bookshop and a café for lunches, with a view over the Ouseburn river.
Exhibitions have a big place in Seven Stories. The two exhibitions running now are about Bears and Comics. There are also exhibitions with material from previous exhibitions, archived digitally and accessible as a resource. Once the exhibitions have finished at Seven Stories they often go on tour around the country, such as the recent Michael Morpurgo exhibition, on tour this year.
Always worth a visit to Seven Stories…
The Comics exhibition, is showing until Summer 2018 on the fifth floor and once you enter, you are immersed in the world of comics, old and new.
Comics, illustrations, graphic novels, adventure, showing a whole world of characters and story. One page of a comic would lead you into another world with weekly episodes keeping you on the edge of your seat. There are many favourite characters, heroes and superheroes, good guys and bad guys.
The exhibition is set out to show the different aspects of comics; story, character, setting, props and power, and style. As you journey through the exhibition there is a really good sense of the components of creating a comic adventure, with characters and plots larger than life! The quality of the illustrations and huge amount of time involved in creating a page with many panels of sketches is enormous.
Ahoy there?
A story for a comic is generally made in a series of panels, with each panel including some words in speech bubbles or a displayed text, but often there are no words at all!
Characters can be anyone really, monsters, jokers, friends, people you know or even yourself. The exhibition shows how you can define your character in clothes, height, features and special powers.
Other areas are Props and Power; an amazing collection held in some drawers of destiny and a wardrobe full of ideas or possible impossibilities!
Alongside the comics with superheroes and other characters were also some well-known novels, made into comic or graphic style. My favourite was Tom’s Midnight Garden, which looked amazing and also Moomin on the Riviera, The Snowman, Guardians of the Galaxy and Asterix.
Would you enter the wardrobe?
This is a fantastic exhibition and we could well have spent a whole day there.
The team at Seven Stories, who collate and present the exhibitions, have real professionalism and flair in the creation of this amazing space, especially the interactivity of many of the displayed artefacts.
Maybe one day soon, I will go back and wander into the Wardrobe of Impossible Possibilities. If you visit the exhibition and find the wardrobe you may discover new solar systems, characters and stories within.
A visit to Seven Stories and the Comics Exhibition is a must for the school holidays or at any time.
First impressions on arriving at Bologna Children’s Bookfair in April are of a truly global event.
If this is the world of children’s books then there is a huge potential for working together, for creativity, sharing stories, making connections, discovering new places, new authors and new illustrators.
Much of the fair is given to the mechanics of creating books, the publishers, the printers, the translators, the agents, the IT and digital media, the new way of creating apps and stories and much more.
Bursting out of this were displays of creative illustrators, authors, story tellers, and these show just a tiny glimpse of the work and inspiration that enable stories, ideas, art and technology to be shared across the world.
After looking at the map and guide for the Bookfair we became completely immersed in the Illustrators’ Wall, which became a focal point for our team. It was full of cards, illustrations, concepts; and behind the wall were more displays and galleries.
It became a meeting point for the team as we wandered through the halls and were diverted through stands, work, coffee points and people. It became a resting place too, just to take a glance at the other Bookfair people, wandering, gazing and finding their way.
Books Go Walkabout is rather like the glue between the book spine and the pages. We hold stories together and send them out across the world.
We didn’t need a stand to meet people, to share thoughts or ideas and to find ways of working together. Our style of working is to be adaptive and free from the ‘inside of the box’ approach. And the people we met seemed to share that vision and keen to be involved.
Some of the highlights for us are below, although there were many more thoughts and contacts, which will support our work in the next year.
Discover more here…
IbBy – International Board on Books for Young People
‘The International Board on Books for Young People is a unique international alliance of everyone interested in children’s literature: academics, librarians, writers, illustrators, publishers, teachers, literacy workers, booksellers, parents and others.
IbBy UK is just one of IBBY’s 70+ national sections in countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe‘.
The Hong Kong Printers Association had a wonderful display of books published within the HK Printers eco-system. A feast to the eye…
Discover more here…
Lithuanian Publishing Company – tikra knyga
• Lithuanian authors design the books – the original text and illustrations.
• Coloring, mandalas, study books that are not only fun, but help develop the reader.
• Interesting hero adventure series of books telling, “growing” with the child.
• Positive, educational books that help a child to get to know the world around, conveying values.
”Catalonia and the Balearic Islands were exhibiting in Bologna with the theme Sharing a Future: Books in Catalan, in a clear reference to the importance of children and young people for the future of literature, with a programme that includes over forty activities with more than sixty participants for the fair and around the city”.
‘Allen & Unwin is Australia’s leading independent publisher and has been voted “Publisher of the Year” thirteen times including the inaugural award in 1992 and eleven times since 2000.
They publish around 250 new titles each year including literary and commercial fiction, a broad range of general non fiction, academic and professional titles and books for children and young adults. Their imprints include Allen & Unwin, Arena, Crows Nest, House of Books, Inspired Living (MBS), Murdoch Books and Pier 9′. Read more about this dynamic publisher here…
Leigh in session at Bologna
Australian Children’s Laureate Leigh Hobbs
‘Leigh Hobbs grew up in the Australian country town of Bairnsdale.
From childhood he had two burning ambitions, to be an artist and to go to England…’ He achieved them.
‘…they have a unique view of the picture book industry, seen from many angles – librarian, bookseller, gallery director, writer and illustrator. Books Illustrated is a centre celebrating Australian children’s literature, in particular picture books and their creators. It has an interesting history that has culminated in a program of exhibitions promoting the work of Australian book illustrators throughout Australia and in international venues’. Discover them on-line here…
Global children’s literature on-line…
Tiny Owl – publishers and translators of stories from Iran
‘Tiny Owl is an independent publishing company committed to producing beautiful, original books for children.
Established in 2015, our energy and passion stems from our belief that stories act as bridges – providing pathways to new experiences whilst connecting us to here and there. Our stories are visually rich and conceptually meaningful. They give children unique perspectives on universal themes such as love, friendship and freedom and a greater awareness of the diverse and colourful world we live in’.
‘Ever since QED’s inception in 2003, each book has been specifically designed to make learning exciting, stimulating and fun for children. Our diverse range of titles covers everything from entertaining, innovative facts for the classroom to beautifully illustrated fiction that kids will want to take home. Get inspired and get learning – the fun starts here!’
Unesco – education, science, culture and communication
Unesco – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
… is responsible for coordinating international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication. It strengthens the ties between nations and societies, and mobilises the wider public…
Books Go Walkabout team have written more about the event in Bologna, Books and Bigliette at Conversations East. Another insight and a focus on the art and illustration of good books.
Bologna Children’s Bookfair 2017, was a great event for Books Go Walkabout and a wonderful occasion which demonstrates the importance of children’s books, which is not diminishing, and is more than a commercial value.
There is real benefit for children and our shared world in the power of children’s stories and ideas across the world.
Ifeoma is a writer, children’s author and photographer. Her books and photographs reflect life in Africa and are an amazing collection of images and stories.
There was a well attended post exhibition talk at Archway Library on Monday 1st August and Ifeoma talked about her work, her travels and her books.The next day there was a workshop and activities for children.
Part 2: This article was written by Sue Martin, FRSA. Sue is our Partnership Bookseller and literacy and Early Years education specialist. Sue leads on our literacy projects at home and overseas.
Discover Seven Stories on-line here…
Michael Morpurgo, A Lifetime in Stories; an exhibition curated by Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, Newcastle upon Tyne from the 2nd July 2016 to June 2017…
This is a unique opportunity to visit this remarkable collection of notebooks, manuscripts and correspondence that have been part of Michael Morpurgo’s story writing, life and dreams. The exhibition combines much of his life and ethos and is woven into an iconic display, on the fourth floor of Seven Stories.
Take your time…this exhibition requires that you stop and dream a while, reminisce or ponder on the way Michael can find stories in places, wherever he is; stories from the past, stories of animals, children and people, from war time and in present day. He is a great story-teller and story writer and the author of over 150 books for children, Children’s Laureate and a voice for reason and peace.
This blog will take you on our journey through the exhibition and point you in some directions, we hope it will mean you also will have chance to make this journey one day over the next year. It’s worth it!
Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943 and went to boarding school at seven, and eventually into military officer training at Sandhurst and then he became a teacher. He found the military life difficult and as a teacher he wanted to help children to be creative, give them opportunities, take them out into the world and fire their imaginations, tell stories. There was a clash between curriculum driven tasks and this approach. Later, with his wife Clare, they moved to Devon, where they developed Farms for City Children.
He became friends with Ted Hughes and learnt that, as he said, “I have a story of my own to tell and a voice of my own with which to tell it.”
Interesting quotes from the videos at the exhibition in the Dreamtime corner are; “Live an interesting life. Fill your head with this world, of which you are part, care about it deeply, make up your mind to write about events, memories, conversations and something will emerge.”
“Lose yourself in the story, get into it and go for it; know the people, the place, let the dreams in your head reach the pen on your page, tell it as if to your best friend, as a secret.”
There are many orange notebooks in the exhibition, school notebooks filled with Michael’s writing, thoughts, changes, crossings out and revision. He works and receives inspiration wherever he is, but his favourite place is his converted shepherds hut.
There are too many books to mention them all, but my favourites are; War Horse, which only sold a few thousand copies until it was made into a stage production and is now his most famous book. Farm Boy, the sequel to Joey the war horse, Why the Wales Came, set on Samson island in The Scillies. Along with The Wreck of the Zanzibar, Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea, The Dancing Bear and Waiting for Anya.
Seven Stories – nestling on the river bank…
There is a curiosity about the books, the man and his talents at finding the story and retelling in a wonderful style, which will mean further reading and an excuse to add more of his titles to our bookshelves.
A final quote… “I know it, lying under the sun on a summer’s night. I know it watching buzzards floating over the valley where I live. It is a learnt belonging from children who stop to gaze, to breath in the world about them, to feel part of it.”
Michael Morpurgo, A Lifetime in Stories at Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, Newcastle upon Tyne. A digitised archive is available on www.sevenstories.org.uk/collection
Part 1: This article was first published on the pages of conversationsEAST, another project of SmithMartin LLP in the East of England. Part of a series of articles celebrating culture, technology and the arts in The North.
Continuing our theme of ‘Northern Energy’, we were in Newcastle upon Tyne this week and, on Friday afternoon, took time to visit Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books. They have an important exhibition and research project into the donated archive of the writer Michael Morpurgo. Below is what we thought.
”Michael Morpurgo Exhibition 2 July 2016 – Sunday 2 July 2017, Newcastle UK. A Lifetime in Stories. Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books introduces an exclusive exhibition drawn directly from Michael Morpurgo’s extensive archive donated to Seven Stories in 2015”.
View, print or download this Guide here…pdf
Through one of our our sister projects, Books go Walkabout, an international delivery system to get authors, illustrators and poets, and their books, to corners of the world previously unreached, we have an abiding interest in children’s literature as you would expect.
The Seven Stories Morpurgo exhibition is certainly about a fantastic canon of work dedicated to the young imagination. However, the research team have extracted illustrative and delightful insights into, and evidence of, the writing process, using the archive generously donated to the Centre by Michael Morpurgo in 2015.
What the display and featured narrative does offer, in the broadest terms, is an insight into the creative process, the research and writing of a book, much of which in this Seven Stories gallery has taken place before the arrival and dominance of the word processor.
Not only an exhibition in praise of the work of Michael Morpurgo, but an illustration in itself of what can be achieved with a simple notebook and a pen or pencil. The imagination does not need an elecrical socket and plug to thrive apparently!
Some key exhibition elements:
Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943, and his early life was beset by sadness and conflicting tensions. It was interesting to see the detail of Michael’s school, home life and reaction to his early experiences in the British Army. This thematic thread of war and militarism can be traced through the exhibition, as in Michael’s life. His mother’s grief at the loss of her brother in the Second World War was an equally powerful emotional driver for the writing.
In 1962 Michael met his future wife Clare, and it was the summons home by his mother, with the pretence of an imaginary illness, that offered the opportunity for them to get married, against the prevailing condition that cadets of the Royal Military College Sandhurst must be single. A signal turning point in a creative life which solidified his pacifism, well evidenced and illustrated by this exhibition.
Own your own Wombat here, from Amazon.co.uk
His first short book, published in 1974, was It Never Rained, an interconnected narrative about five children. By 1999 Mopurgo was ready to publish Wombat Goes Walkabout, with wonderful illustrations by Christian Birmingham. A great story about digging holes and how a wombat can save the day.
1982 saw the release of War Horse, perhaps Mopurgo’s most famous creation. The exhibition offers the visitor a display of many of the notebooks, first drafts, corrections and re-typed double spaced manuscripts that drove the creation of this seminal work.
This series of displays offers, we thought, a powerful illustration of how writing is both a physical and an intellectually layered process, but which requires a gritty determination to see the story through to the final end – publication. It is this revisiting and deterministic approach to his craft of writing that makes a Mopurgo novel so dramatic and engaging we suspect.
You can buy this book from Amazon.co.uk here…
To an archivist this is vital in determining the writers emotional condition on any particular creative day. As his pen moves rapidly across the notebook page, Michael has left a marker, a measure of intensity, for later researchers seeking to determine his emotional or creative state. Something a plastic keyboard, no matter how powerful the micro-processor it is connected to, could ever offer the interested reader in years to come.
Looking at the Morpurgo ‘war’ material, we pondered on what must be a pivotal issue for the contemporary archivist or researcher. With ready access to technology, publishing processes and cloud storage – how will future archivists and seekers of process engage with material that is electronic and resting, potentially, in a thousand different formats, storage facilities and locations around the globe.
Interestingly, MIT Technology Review has just published an article on the use of computing and data mining techniques to show that there are, it contests, only six basic ’emotional arcs’ in storytelling. These are…
…a steady, ongoing rise in emotional valence, as in a rags-to-riches story such as Alice’s Adventures Underground by Lewis Carroll. A steady ongoing fall in emotional valence, as in a tragedy such as Romeo and Juliet. A fall then a rise, such as the man-in-a-hole story, discussed by Vonnegut. A rise then a fall, such as the Greek myth of Icarus. Rise-fall-rise, such as Cinderella. Fall-rise-fall, such as Oedipus.
We are intense users of the notebook and pen ourselves, in our ordinary workaday lives, but have to recognise that research and analysis would now be immeasurably diminished without technology. We wondered, travelling through the Michael Morpurgo exhibition, an historical audit trail of the creative mind, what other contemporary children’s and young adult writers take on ‘techno’ is today?
Perhaps this is a Seven Stories seminar series in the making? Pen or Processor, the creative methodology in contemporary children’s literature. We would buy a ticket! (Ed.)
A visual treat:
Towards the end of the exhibition content is a section dedicated to Michael Morpurgo’s artistic collaborators, the artists who have contributed to the written work.
It offers the visitor a fascinating insight into how the imagination is populated by the story, how the psyche is suggested a character and landscape by Michael Morpurgo’s writing. It is also, within the context of this article, a soaring endorsement of the power and durability of putting a hand to paper. Surely no machine can replace the creative evocation of story by the artists below?
The work on display includes artwork from Quentin Blake, Gary Blythe, Peter Bailey, Christian Brimingham and Tony Kerins amongst others. We particularly warmed to the diversity of images in the exhibition that depicted the sea. Whether Kensuke’s Kingdom or When the Wales Came, the original cover art to be seen provokes an imaginative dream of action, wind, water and a tale to be told.
It was wonderful to see this collection of individual artistic work within the context of theSeven Stories Michael Morpurgo exhibition. But each artist has a separate body of work which is lively, imagination capturing and enchanting in equal measure. We hope you can use the links above to explore this on-line collection ‘gallery of galleries’ too.
Getting to Seven Stories NE1 2PQ :
If you leave the impressive Newcastle Central Station and turn right down towards Quayside, you can turn left along Quayside and walk, past the Pitcher and Piano until you come to St. Ann’s Steps on the left. Ascend them. At the top, look back down the river to the bridges receding into the distance. Turn and cross the road and right down to Cut Bank on the left, following the river left along for a couple of hundred yards and Seven Stories will apppear on your right.
The journey there, if the sun is shining, can be as uplifting as your visit to The National Centre for Children’s Books. This is a fascinating insight into the work of our national story teller. Seven Stories offers a whole rainbow of experience around ‘the children’s book’, whether a holidaying family looking to stimulate young imaginations, a visit to the cafe and bookshop, or a serious academic look at the sweep of children’s literature.
Editor Notes:
‘Seven Stories was able to support the acquisition from Michael Morpurgo through support from Heritage Lottery Fund’s ‘Collecting Cultures’ programme, which has been awarded to Seven Stories in recognition of the museum’s national role in telling a comprehensive story of modern British children’s literature’.
Source: Seven Stories web site. Accessed 09.07.2016 See http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/collection/collection-highlights/michael-morpurgo
